STICKEY TIMING — Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was executed Thursday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke for a 1996 killing tied to a series of deaths investigators dubbed the “Hog Trail Murders.” Prison officials pronounced Conahan dead at 6:12 p.m. after he received a three-drug lethal injection.
Execution and final moments
Authorities said prison staff began administering the lethal cocktail at 6:01 p.m. Observers reported Conahan briefly panted and twitched before becoming still. A medic checked for vital signs at 6:11 p.m., and the warden declared the sentence carried out one minute later. A spiritual adviser remained at Conahan’s feet and prayed during the procedure.
"No sir."
When asked by the warden if he wished to make a final statement, Conahan replied, "No sir."
Case background: the Hog Trail killings
Conahan was convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery in 1996. Montgomery’s mutilated body was discovered in a wooded area of southwest Florida — one of at least six human remains investigators found in the same swampy, forested region over about three years during the 1990s.
Law-enforcement officials have long associated those discoveries with the so-called Hog Trail Murders, a name that arose because many of the bodies were located near game trails and marshy areas used by hunters. The cluster of cases drew intense media attention at the time and has been revisited repeatedly in true-crime coverage and television programs.
Investigative links, not additional convictions
Although authorities identified Conahan as a person of interest in several of the related deaths, prosecutors did not pursue charges beyond the Montgomery case. Conahan maintained the evidence connecting him to Montgomery’s slaying was circumstantial.
Broader context: Florida’s execution pace
Thursday’s execution was the state’s 15th this year, accounting for more than half of the total carried out nationwide so far. Florida’s active death chamber at the Starke prison has been one of the busiest in the country during the current calendar year. The string of executions has unfolded under outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is set to leave office in January.
Procedural details and public records
Conahan was arrested in July 1996 after local and state investigators had spent more than two years probing the series of discoveries in Charlotte County and surrounding areas north of Fort Myers. The investigation culminated in his conviction in the Montgomery homicide; court records show prosecutors relied on the evidence developed in that case to secure a death sentence.
Local and lasting impact
The Hog Trail cases left a lasting imprint on communities in southwest Florida. For residents and hunters who used the expansive wetlands and wooded tracts where remains were recovered, the killings brought attention to vulnerabilities in remote areas and prompted long-term investigative and media scrutiny.
- Defendant: Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72
- Crime: Convicted in the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery
- Execution date/time: Pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.; drugs began at 6:01 p.m.
- Location: Florida State Prison, near Starke
- Yearly tally: Florida’s 15th execution this year
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pronouncement of death | 6:12 p.m. |
| Drug administration began | 6:01 p.m. |
| Medic checked vitals | 6:11 p.m. |
As with all executions, the department’s procedures and the evidence presented at trial remain part of the public record and subject to review by defense attorneys, appellate courts and oversight entities. Questions about unresolved links between Conahan and the other victims in the Hog Trail cluster persist in public discourse and in archival reporting, but no additional prosecutions were brought.
The case remains a focal point for those studying violent crime in Florida during the 1990s, and it continues to prompt conversations about investigative challenges in cases where multiple remains are found in isolated terrain.
Reporting for this story included review of prison timing and case background; officials involved in the original investigations and ongoing case records have previously detailed the connections between Conahan and the broader string of deaths that gave rise to the Hog Trail label.
