A Florida man convicted in one in all a collection of suspected killings that turned generally known as the “Hog Path Murders” within the Nineties was put to demise Thursday, turning into the state’s fifteenth particular person executed this yr.
Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was pronounced lifeless at 6:12 p.m. after receiving a three-drug deadly injection at Florida State Jail close to Starke.
He had been sentenced to die for the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, whose mutilated physique was present in a wooded southwest Florida space the place authorities discovered the stays of a minimum of six individuals over a three-year span.
Conahan was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the demise chamber went up at 6 p.m. A non secular adviser was at his ft and prayed all through the method.
The group warden requested Conahan if he had any remaining assertion, and Conahan replied, “No sir.” The lethal drug cocktail started to circulation at 6:01 p.m. Conahan started to pant after which twitch briefly earlier than going nonetheless.
A number of minutes later, the warden shook Conahan and shouted his identify however there was no response.
A medic entered the demise chamber at 6:11 p.m. to examine for vitals, and Conahan was declared lifeless a minute later.
Conahan died within the nation’s busiest demise chamber. Florida has carried out greater than half the 25 whole executions within the US thus far this yr underneath Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves workplace in January.
Conahan was recognized by authorities as an individual of curiosity within the different deaths, however he was by no means charged. He argued the proof in opposition to him in Montgomery’s demise was circumstantial.
A number of our bodies present in standard looking space
Conahan was arrested in July 1996 after native and state legislation enforcement officers spent greater than two years investigating a collection of homicides by which mutilated and decomposing our bodies have been found in a wooded space of Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers.
Because the variety of our bodies elevated, so did media protection.
The deaths finally have been dubbed the “Hog Path Murders” due to the swampy, wooded areas the place the our bodies have been discovered.
The case has been featured many instances over the previous three many years on true-crime tv exhibits, YouTube channels and podcasts.
Hunters discovered the primary physique in February 1994, and a minimum of 5 extra have been found over the following three years.
Whereas a lot of the stays have been severely decomposed, investigators believed Montgomery was discovered inside 24 hours of his demise. Investigators finally decided the killer was focusing on homeless males.
Investigators discovered similarities in instances
Detectives began wanting into Conahan in 1996 after a person in jail for stealing Conahan’s automobile claimed Conahan had lured him to a distant space and provided to pay him to pose for nude photographs.
The person stated he drove off within the automobile after seeing a knife.
Later, detectives discovered a few case with similarities in Fort Myers, by which a sufferer claimed a person who provided money for nude photographs had tied him to a tree and tried to strangle him.
Conahan was arrested and charged with tried homicide, and several other months later was additionally charged in Montgomery’s demise.
Conahan waived his proper to a jury trial and was convicted by a decide of homicide and kidnapping in August 1999.
Conahan was by no means charged with another homicides, however a sheriff’s workplace report concerning the investigation concluded that all the victims found inside a 10-mile radius have been seemingly killed by the identical particular person.
In 2007, a land survey crew found eight our bodies in Fort Myers.
The 4 victims recognized by authorities have been homeless, and officers stated all of them suffered related accidents to the Charlotte County victims.
Investigators on the time publicly recognized Conahan as an individual of curiosity, however he was by no means charged.
One relative of a Hog Path sufferer says her household would have fun Conahan’s demise
In response to corrections officers, 11 sufferer members of the family attended Thursday’s execution, however the officers wouldn’t say in the event that they have been relations of Montgomery or of Conahan’s different suspected victims.
Joan Rodemann, the sister of a Hog Path sufferer named William Melaragno, launched a written assertion saying that her household would have fun Conahan’s demise.
“Lastly, the gates of HELL will open and you’ll be a part of the opposite soulless spawns of the satan. Sadly, you received’t really feel the ache or worry you horrifically introduced onto your victims,” Rodemann stated. “Our prayers are for the victims and their households.”
Florida leads the way in which in executions
A complete of 47 individuals have been executed within the US in 2025. Florida led the way in which with 19 deadly injections, a state report because the demise penalty was reinstated in 1976.
In July, Florida executed two prisoners in sooner or later, the primary state in almost a decade to take action.
One other Florida execution is deliberate shortly, that of Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, on Sept. 29.
Beasley was convicted of beating a girl to demise with a hammer and stealing her automobile in 1995.
All Florida executions are by injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the guts, in keeping with the Division of Corrections.
