Florida's 15th Execution This Year | Durham News

Seventy-two-year-old Daniel Owen Conahan Jr. is set to die today, becoming Florida’s 15th execution of the year — as the state’s busiest death chamber continues its grim pace under Governor Ron DeSantis. Convicted in 1999 for the 1996 kidnapping and strangulation of Richard Allen Montgomery — part of the chilling “Hog Trail Murders” that claimed at least six other victims over three years — Conahan has always maintained his innocence. Though never charged in the other killings, he was publicly linked to them after a prison informant in 1996 claimed Conahan lured him with money for nude photos before fleeing with a knife. The bodies, often homeless men found in remote swamps, began surfacing as early as 1994, with eight more discovered in Fort Myers in 2007. Despite mounting evidence and a judge’s conviction after waiving jury trial, Conahan’s final appeals were denied by Florida’s Supreme Court last week, with a pending U.S. Supreme Court review. As Florida executes more than half the nation’s death row inmates this year, Conahan’s case underscores the state’s relentless pursuit of justice — and the enduring controversy surrounding capital punishment.

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