The Hog Trail Murders

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Hello everyone and welcome to episode 422 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson.

And this is Mike Morford.

Mr. Morford, how you doing this week, brother?

I'm doing pretty good. I got a couple of things going on that I'm not going to complain about, but other than that, just ready to get to work here. How you doing?

Yeah, no complaining, you know, hey, it is what it is. This is not complaining, but I will say it has rained where I am every day for like the last two and a half weeks, and it's starting to get on my nerves.

And that's funny because it's almost the opposite. It was raining every day here up until the last week or two, and then it just stopped. And you know, it's like we're trading weather.

Yeah, it's getting to the point where I can't get my grass mode because it just doesn't break long enough and, and the sun doesn't come out long enough before it rains again. It's, it's wild. Well, we didn't have any new Patreon supporters this week, but let's take a minute and thank all the people who do support us. We really appreciate it.

Yeah, it really helps the show out and can't thank everyone enough that helps support the show. If you want to help support it, head over to patreon.com/criminology.

All right, let's dive into this week's case and we're getting into a pretty infamous one from the 1990s. And more of, you know, much of this case we're talking about unfolded right in your backyard in the county you live in in Florida, on the border of Charlotte and Sarasota counties in southwestern Florida. We're talking about the Hog Trail Murders. This is a case which is making headlines because the man who was convicted for these shocking murders, 72-year-old Daniel Owen Conahan Jr. is scheduled to be executed just days after this episode is airing. The state of Florida thinks he's a serial killer, but

a lot of people agree that he was convicted on quite a bit of circumstantial evidence.

To tell this story, we have to go back to May 1996. That month, David Allen Payton, who was an inmate at Glades Correctional Institute in Moore Haven, Florida, reported an important tip to authorities. This was a tip he had been trying to report for months, but in May, someone finally listened to him. According to him, in March of the previous year, he had been day drinking at a bar in Fort Myers, Florida. On his walk home, still drunk, he stopped at a bus stop, which had a bench and some shade so that he could take a break. Before he could continue on, a man driving a blue Mercury Capri stopped beside him with the windows down. He called out to David, asking if he wanted to hang out.

He offered him some beer and said they could smoke some weed, too. David wasn't really one to turn down a good time, so he hopped in and they headed off.

All right. So right off the bat here, I'm just getting some strange vibes. I'm going to be honest with you. Now, do people day drink? Yeah, they do. I mean, it's not my thing. I don't really drink that much anyway, but I never was a, what you would call a day drinker to the point where you're just like stumbling home. I've seen people like that, but the thing that really grabbed me was, okay, he wants to stop at this, you know, this bus bench, bus stop bench. I get that, right? It's a, it's a way as home. You're, you're, you're hammered. But then just some random person drives by, rolls down their

window, offers you beer and weed. It just seems like a strange interaction. First of all, why are strangers just coming up to you to hand out beer and weed?

Yeah, I don't know what this guy David looked like, but maybe this guy driving by sees him and says, that looks like a fellow partier and just got the vibe and said, hey, jump in my car, let's go party. And David seemed like he was one to go along with that. And I think it just sort of unfolded that way. I could definitely see how some people think this story doesn't sound like it may have unfolded this way actually, but that's the story he gave anyhow.

The driver who said his name was Daniel Conahan, gave David a beer and offered him a Valium, which is, as we all know, most recognized as a prescription anxiety medication, despite a haze of intoxication. David recalled that they were driving on Zemel Road in Charlotte County, about 20 minutes from Fort Myers, when Daniel, the driver, propositioned him. He asked David if he could take naked pictures of him and said he would give him $100 for modeling. David declined, not feeling comfortable with the whole idea. David realized that Daniel

hadn't taken any of the Valium and he wasn't drinking. And David, although he hadn't taken the Valium, began to feel woozy and he started to suspect that Daniel had supplied him with crushed up Valium pills in the can of beer he had given him. David also noticed that there was a tarp in the car as well as a knife and a length of rope. This is when David really began to worry and get nervous, but he didn't say anything to Daniel because he didn't want to tip him off that he was concerned. And more if I said the, the beginning of the story sounded, you know, a little odd to me. This direction doesn't really

seem to right the ship a whole lot for me at least. I'm not saying this stuff couldn't happen, right? Could you be propositioned by somebody? Money for modeling? Yeah, it's, it's happened. We've heard other stories of it. The one thing that I did think was up was, okay, somebody offers you a beer and you believe it had crushed up Valium in it. Well, that means that the beer was already open. To me, that's a big red flag. It's almost like, you know, the scene in, in National Lampoon's Vacation, when Cousin Eddie, you

know, hands Clark a beer, but he gives him his. Can you just give me one that's not already opened? That seems like a much smoother transaction.

Yeah, this is definitely a strange scenario. And I'm trying to put myself in that car, having a hard time doing it. You know, it's already strange, but now you look around and you see a tarp, a knife, rope. It's going to bring up some, some worrisome thoughts if, if I'm in that car for me.

Yeah, I would be getting serious serial killer vibes. There's just no way around it.

David was trying to play it cool, but the vibe in the car never really recovered after this. David was on edge of the rest of the ride and started getting nervous. He didn't feel any better when Daniel turned down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. The car ended up getting stuck in the mud, but Daniel wouldn't let David get out to try to push. He was considering his options for escape when a truck drove up. It was big enough to pull Daniel's car out of the mud. Daniel told David to stay in the car. He didn't know what else to do, so he just sat there, waiting while Daniel talked to the driver of the truck, who helped get his car unstuck. He was alone in the car when he saw his chance. The keys were still in it. David locked the doors, jumped behind the wheel and took off, leaving Daniel alone.

Although David had escaped, he wasn't thinking clearly and he passed out. The next morning, police found David and the car. It had been reported stolen. He was arrested for stealing the car, but due to the alcohol and value, couldn't remember anything in between leaving what he felt was a dangerous situation and getting arrested. Police determined that the car belonged to Daniel Conahan's father, Dan Conahan, Sr. Some reports state that he had already reported the vehicle stolen while his son, Daniel Jr., was driving it and that he had been unaware of the theft by David. Other sources note that Daniel

Jr. had the audacity to report it being stolen despite what seemed like shady intentions on his part and that when he lost the car, he had to tell his dad that someone stole it. And then Daniel Sr. officially reported the theft. Either way, David got nailed for having a stolen car.

David ended up being tried and convicted and sent to prison for stealing the car. He pled his case that he stole it only to escape a dangerous situation in which he felt threatened, but the authorities didn't believe his claims. He was completely unharmed after all, and Daniel didn't actually try to do anything to David. No crime had occurred other than the grand theft auto. Eventually though, investigators became interested in this story. And in May 1996, over a year after the incident, they administered a polygraph examination to David, one that he passed. Authorities began to dig deeper into Daniel Conahan because multiple people had mentioned his name related to suspicious behavior or incidents, and investigators believed he could be involved in the murder of a young

man named Richard Allen Montgomery.

Okay. So let's circle back around because we've talked about this incident. For me, there's two ways to look at it. Either David is lying about the whole thing. He stole this guy's car and then came up with this wild story. Or this wild story really happened. And David ended up being convicted and sent to prison for basically trying to get away from this guy, Daniel, who he thought was going to do him harm.

Yeah, I think you were, you know, right to be suspicious of the story that he gave. And even the police were, but it seems like they came around and became interested in what he had to say because of their suspicions of Daniel and these, in this other attack.

On April 17th, 1996, one month before David Payton passed the lie detector test about his run in with Daniel, a skull was discovered in a wooded area off of Highway 41 in Charlotte County by two storm utility engineers. When investigators searched the nearby area, attempting to discover any additional remains or evidence at the crime scene, they found two bodies. The first set of remains was identified due to a tattoo still visible on one man's shoulder. Authorities shared photos of the unidentified victim with local media.

And luckily, the sister of 25 year old Kenneth Lee Smith was watching the news and recognized the tattoo. His identity was confirmed through dental records. According to news reports, Kenneth's body appeared to have been sawed in half.

The second victim found with Kenneth Lee Smith was much easier to identify because he had been dead for only one day, maybe not even 24 full hours when his remains were discovered, covered up by old carpet padding. He was 21 year old Richard Allen Montgomery. He had been sexually assaulted before being strangled and his body mutilated. There were rope marks on his body, his wrist, the front of his neck and his chest. There were marks on a nearby tree that indicated a rope had been tied around it recently. Richard's mother, Mary, had information that implicated Daniel Conahan, Jr. Richard and his mother were close. They lived together at Palms and Pines Mobile Home Park near Punta Gorda.

She recalled him mentioning a new friend just before his disappearance and death. The friend's name, she thought was Conahan or maybe Carnahan. He had been in the Navy and he was currently working as a nurse and living in Punta Gorda Isles. And he had told her just before she saw him last, the day before he was found dead in the woods, that he was going to make $200 by posing for some nude photos. During police interviews, two of Richard's friends told investigators that they had been approached by a man in a blue Mercury Capri. They were even able to point out Daniel Conahan's father's Capri when they were driven past it by officers. Detectives quickly began to wonder if what happened to Richard Allen Montgomery

may have been the fate that David Payton might have suffered if he hadn't stolen Daniel Conahan's car and took off.

And I get being close with your mom. I love my mom to death, but if I was posing for nude photos, which that is not something I'd be doing and not something anyone would want to see. I definitely wouldn't tell my mom that. So I think it just shows you how close these two really were. Or maybe they had a much different relationship than most of us have with our mothers.

Yeah, I think I'm in the same boat. That's something that I wouldn't share either. And yeah, TMI, too much information for me.

But the other thing that really jumps out to me, Morph, is okay, authorities are starting to wonder if maybe David Payton had been telling the truth. Well, if that's the case, that means they put away an innocent man, right? If they're wondering about that, they have to be wondering about the, the other part of it as well. Digging deeper, investigators looked at a police report from 1994. That year Stanley Burden was 26 years old. His life nearly ended that August. A man who said his name was Dan, met Stanley at Lions Park in South Fort Myers. He drove Stanley out to the woods off of Rockville Road.

Dan had offered him $150 to pose for nude photos. Stanley apparently was up for it, but it was no quick modeling job. The man drove down a dirt road and pulled over in the woods. He had a Polaroid camera with him. He asked Stanley to pose for bondage themed photos using a clothesline loosely draped around his shoulders. But before he knew it, the man was behind him tightening the ropes. Stanley was tied to a tree by his wrists, chest, legs and neck. The man tried to sexually assault him, but he continuously fought him off. Stanley was strangled with rope.

His attacker using his foot against the tree for leverage, but Stanley fought for his life. The man beat him and continued to strangle him as he struggled. Stanley told People Magazine that the attacker, losing patience and unable to finish him off, yelled out, "Why can't you just die?"

The struggle took too long for the attacker and he apparently felt that he had lost control. So he gave up and left the scene, leaving Stanley tied to the tree. Stanley was relieved, but then he started wondering if his assailant might be coming back with a weapon to complete the job. So he started trying to untie himself. And luckily he was eventually able to remove his bindings and go for help. He was treated for his injuries at Lee Memorial Hospital. Stanley told police about the attacker and how he had driven off in a gray Plymouth station wagon. Despite this being a different car and not the blue Capri, investigators believe the man was Dan Conahan, Jr. When Stanley was interviewed again, two years after the assault,

investigators noted that scars from rope burns were still visible on his neck and on his wrist. He picked a photo of Daniel Conahan, Jr. Out of a photo lineup. By this point, police felt that Daniel Conahan, Jr. Was a serial killer. And they started covertly investigating him and gathering information about him.

Man, you want to talk about a scary situation? You know, being up against a tree with somebody behind you, using that tree as leverage to try to strangle you with rope? That is a very scary thought. That's nightmarish. It's amazing that this guy was able to get away.

And to me, it just reinforces the old, you know, adage, whether it's 70s, 80s, 90s, when this happened or today, you don't get in cars with strangers and go out into the woods and pose for nude pictures and things like that. To me, I think that's a recipe for something like this happening to you.

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Investigators learned that Daniel Conahan Jr. was born in 1954. He realized he was gay when he was a teenager. Even his military history indicated trouble very reminiscent of the murders and attacks. He was discharged from the Navy in 1978 after narrowly avoiding a court martial for improper behavior with other members of the Navy. He was caught having sex with more than one of them off base. And from the records, it didn't seem like most or all of these incidents were consensual. He was threatened with charges of sodomy and physical assault. According to an article in the Tampa Bay Times.

The discharge came when he got into a physical fight with a man who wouldn't let him perform oral sex on him. After being rejected, he hit the man in the head with a rock. Consensual sex, though, looked at as improper at the time, since it was between two men. That's one thing, but actually trying to force someone into any sexual act was obviously another. Having someone who fought him off was the last straw because it could no longer be argued that the men were ashamed or embarrassed and lying about whether what happened between them and Conahan was by force or not. Despite this behavior, though, he was honorably discharged.

In 1993, Daniel Conahan Jr. Moved from Chicago to Punta Gorda, where he moved into his parents' home. He used his time to study at Charlotte Vocational Technical Center. In 1995, he graduated and became a licensed practical nurse. He went on to work at Charlotte Regional Medical Center, but eventually went on medical leave after hurting his back. He was still on leave when the investigation started focusing on him. At the end of May, 1996, Deputy Scott Clement started frequenting Kiwanis Park, where Conahan was often seen. The deputy was undercover, of course, and he was approached by Conahan on two different occasions. The first time, Conahan offered the deputy $7 if he could see his penis and $20 if he

would let him perform oral sex. The deputy turned down both offers, but the next day, Conahan offered him $150 to be a nude model for photos. Again, the deputy declined. He offered a different undercover detective, Ray Ware, $200 to let him take bonded shots, but that detective too turned him down.

So a couple of things here for me, Morf. You know, $7? Okay, seems like a strange number. I don't even know what I would think if I was approached by someone in a park and offered $7 for that. I mean, obviously I'm going to say no, and I'm going to say get away from me and all those things, but I might be offended. $7? That, that, that's all it's worth? But, you know, the, the thought of, okay, then coming back and upping the ante, right, to $150 to model nude. My thought is, and I have this thought in many cases where people are propositioning,

you know, maybe sex workers or, or anyone for money. If their thought is that they're going to kill these individuals, they can offer whatever they want. They can make it so hard to turn down because they don't plan on ever actually paying that money.

That's a very bizarre situation, but I mean, $7 back then is probably like $12 today, so with inflation. But seriously, this has just got ick factor written all over it. It's, you're in the park. Imagine if that undercover detective was just a guy out on a jog or stroll, getting his steps in, and he's got this creepy guy coming up to him, propositioning him. Just, you know, I don't know. It, it takes a certain kind of person, I guess, to just come out and proposition somebody like that to begin with. And he's got a little bit of a history here going now because it's, you know, multiple people, two detectives, you know, definitely, uh, he's got an MO that he likes.

Well, I, I think you said it right, right? The ick factor is high here, but also I think it also tells you that they're, they're on to this guy. You know, they have undercover detectives kind of, you know, posing here at the park where he is known to frequent. There's no doubt he's on their radar. Investigators got search warrants for Conahan's home and vehicle and subpoenaed his financial records. Paint samples from his dad's blue Capri matched to paint chip collected from Richard's pubic hair. On the evening of April 16th, 1996, the last day of Richard's life, Conahan went to a

Walmart in Punta Gorda, where he purchased film for a Polaroid camera, clothesline, pliers and a knife. He paid with his credit card. The type of clothesline matched the marks on Richard's body. Finally, investigators felt that they had enough against Daniel Conahan Jr. And he was arrested on July 3rd, 1996. He was charged with two counts of sexual battery, one count of kidnapping, and one count of attempted murder in the first degree, all for the attack on Stanley Burden. He was transported to Lee County, where he was held in custody without bond as he awaited trial.

With Conahan behind bars, investigators worked to link him to any more potential victims. He had a pretty specific pattern based on what David Payton and Stanley Burden told them, a pattern that the murder of a man named Richard Allen Montgomery seemed to fit. And they were sure they would find more victims or that they already had. Conahan started to look good for what the media dubbed the hog trail murders. These murders spanned multiple years, and they also occurred in multiple counties, making it harder for authorities to connect the dots at first.

The first of these hog trail murders was discovered on February 1st, 1994. Two hog hunters near Biscayne Boulevard in Port Charlotte, Florida, discovered the body of a white male who had clearly been murdered. His body had been mutilated. His genitals had been cut off. Rope burns were visible on his body. The victim found with no ID was known as John Doe number one. He was finally identified in 2021 as 27-year-old Gerald Jerry Lombard. His family back in Lowell, Massachusetts, last spoke to him in 1991. The next victims weren't discovered until 1996.

And Morf, you know, we talked about this case unfolding in your backyard. This Biscayne Boulevard, where Gerald Lombard's body was found, is a place you're familiar with, right?

Yeah, that's, it's scary because it's right where I was at for a soccer game the other day. My kids had summer camp right there, right next to it. So to know that something like this happened right there is pretty scary.

And we hear that quite a bit, right? People write into us, they communicate with us about how, you know, when we put out a case that happens near them with locations that they're familiar with, it just hits differently. And I've actually noticed that in researching cases that happen around where I live, it just seems to hit differently.

Another area I'm familiar with, because my son plays football there, is Northport, Florida. On January 1st, 1996, a family living in that town on Ferrendina Street got a gruesome surprise from one of their dogs. It brought them a human skull. This was not the first bone that the dog had brought home, but it was the first undeniably human body part. Previously, they figured the bones were animal bones, likely from something larger like a deer. Investigators scoured the area and found more human bones about half a mile from the residence. The bones were determined to belong to an adult male. The man's cause of death couldn't be determined, but like with Jerry Lombard, the man's genitals had been removed and his pelvic area had been mutilated.

This was not caused by wildlife or decomposition. It was clearly intentional, part of the murderer's signature and done by something sharp. This victim, to this day, is known as Sarasota County John Doe.

Two months later, in March of 1996, a man pulled over off Interstate 75 in Northport, Florida because he had to pee. He stepped into the woods off of Laramie Circle to do his business, but before he could, he noticed human remains. A dead man was lying in the weeds in front of him. The man was naked, lying on his back with his arms out in the shape of a cross. Investigators determined that the man had been dead for about 10 days. He'd been stabbed four times. And like the other victims, his genitals had been severely mutilated and there were rope burns on his body.

There were also visible marks on a tree that had been made from a rope, leading authorities to believe that the man had been tied to a tree at some point before his death. It appeared that this man had tried to run from his killer because the bottoms of his feet were cut up from the debris on the ground. And there were multiple smaller cuts on his upper body that could have happened during the struggle. This victim remained unidentified until June of 1999, when investigators confirmed that he was 35-year-old William John Bill Melo Ragnow. He had moved to Northport just months before he was killed.

The next victims discovered were Kenneth Smith and Richard Montgomery in April 1996. As if police weren't already suspecting a serial killer operating in the area, these two bodies found together cemented the idea for them. This is when the murders were first grouped together and called the hog trail murders. The name is due to the remote locations, often near trails created by wild boars as they run through the woods. According to TampaBay.com, all of the bodies that were found in one piece were left posed in the same way, naked, lying on their backs, arms out to the sides, and with legs slightly apart.

So I think the one thing, Morf, that I would say is it's really hard not to think that these victims that we've talked about were killed by the same person or persons. I mean, whether it's one or more, the similarities.

Just can't be a coincidence, right? You know, the posing of the bodies, left nude, the rope burns, the marks on trees close to the bodies, you know, the genital mutilation. It just all seems like this is the work of the same person or person.

Yeah, it's very unique activity. And I think for investigators, finding these, those markings, those clues left on bodies, probably left a little doubt in their mind. They were dealing with one single person that was committing these crimes.

The information from David Payton, Stanley Burden's police report and Richard Montgomery's two friends, made investigators look at Daniel Conahan Jr. for these murders, but the victims didn't stop piling up, even with Conahan behind bars awaiting trial. By then, agencies from multiple counties were working together, looking through cases to see if any fit a common pattern. In May of 1997, a Charlotte County worker clearing brush in Port Charlotte along Casada Avenue, discovered the skeletal remains of a human. It took a year, but investigators were able to confirm

that this was 24-year-old William Billy Charles Patton. He had disappeared four years before his remains were found.

A few months after his arrest, prosecutors charged Daniel Conahan Jr. with the murder of Richard Montgomery and dropped the attempted murder charge regarding Stanley Burden's kidnapping and assault. In August 1999, Conahan waived his right to trial by jury and opted for a bench trial where only a judge would hear the evidence and determine whether or not he was guilty. For the record, Conahan has always denied any involvement in any murder and continues to this day to maintain his innocence.

Stanley Burden was the state's key witness. He knew better than anyone else what Richard Montgomery had likely gone through. His experience was the reason that Conahan was eligible for the death penalty. What Stanley went through showed that Conahan had a plan and that Richard's murder was premeditated. It was also committed during the course of a kidnapping. Even if Richard went with him to the woods willingly to take those pictures, thinking he would be paid, and even if he agreed to use ropes as props for the photos, as soon as those ropes tightened around his body against his will, that was a kidnapping. As one court opinion would later point out,

the pre-mortem wounds to his body reflect a struggle for his life. And it's obvious that during his ordeal, he was confined or imprisoned against his will.

Focusing on Richard Montgomery's murder and dropping the charges in Stanley's attack was probably a good move because the defense leaned heavily on attacking Stanley's character. He was, at the time of the trial, a convicted pedophile, still currently doing his time. He had sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy in Ohio and was serving a 10 to 25-year sentence when he testified against Conahan. It took Judge William Blackwell just 25 minutes to decide Conahan's verdict. He was found guilty of all the charges against him, except for sexual battery. This charge resulted in an acquittal, but only on a technicality due to an error at trial.

And you know, Morph, to me, it's, it's an interesting decision. Bench trial versus jury trial. And you know, we didn't talk about a lot of evidence, at least physical evidence, because frankly, there, there wasn't a lot, right? We said it very early on upfront. This was a, a, a man who was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence. I would think that might be a, a great venue or a great reason to select a bench trial. You know, take the, the jury equation out of it, the emotion, all of that, and just have the judge, you know, judge you on the facts.

Obviously, it didn't work in this case.

Yeah, I guess for whatever reason, his defense team decided this was the best route to go and take his chances with the judge. But I think as you touched on, when you're talking to a jury, you know, there's a, there's 12 people and you never know if one of them's going to be affected by something you say or don't say and make a decision that you're guilty. So, you know, taking that chance with the judge and hoping that they would be more lenient was, you know, seemed like the smart decision at the time for the, him.

Daniel Conahan Jr. was able to split his trial phases up, getting a change of venue for only the penalty phase of his trial, since the evidence phase had gotten so much attention in the news. A jury in Collier County heard the evidence and recommended the death penalty. Judge Blackwell, the same judge who decided his guilt, went with the jury's opinion. Daniel Conahan was sentenced to death, plus 15 additional years for kidnapping. Of course, this triggered an appeals process. It's automatic when someone receives the death penalty as a way to make sure someone received a fair trial before they are actually executed.

Conahan was convicted and behind bars. His appeals were well underway, while potential victims of the Hog Trail Killer were still being discovered. In October of 2000, human bones were found near Toledo Blade Boulevard in Northport. In January of 2001, more human remains were discovered off of Gruber Hole Drive in Boca Grande. In November of 2001, construction workers found the remains of a male off Highway 41 in Charlotte Harbor. In January of 2002, county workers stumbled upon human remains off of Zimmel Road in Punta Gorda.

And that Zimmel Road has come up before, right? David Allen Payton, who took off in Conahan's car, because he said he was so creeped out by him, mentioned that road. Just two years ago in 2024, the remains found near Zimmel Road were determined to belong to 44-year-old Alejandro Narciso Lago. However, Alejandro was last seen in 2001 and Conahan was behind bars by the middle of 1996. So we know that Conahan couldn't have killed him. And that doesn't mean he's not responsible for any of the Hog Trail murders,

but it proves he's not responsible for all of them. And it might be why he wasn't charged in any murder other than Richard Montgomery, where multiple witnesses had heard Conahan's name or had been approached by him and could therefore help identify him. Special Agent Jim Myers summed up the situation, telling Oxygen.com, "It just means we went with the best case. I have no doubt that there's other victims." And this wouldn't be the first time, right? Where the authorities believe that a person has killed X number of people, but they don't get charged with every murder

that they think that the person committed. They have to put forward the strongest case. And that may mean focusing on one or two or three murders instead of six or eight.

It also makes me wonder if all of these bodies that were found considered to be part of the Hog Trail murders, you know, is there any possibility that someone else killed them in some unrelated matter, dumped their body there and perhaps hoped police would think it was part of this series? Seems like a good way to shift the police focus away from them.

Yeah, I, I think about that quite a bit, right? You, you think about something that's highly publicized, both in, you know, the type of victim, maybe even some of the specifics of how things occurred. If you were a person who wanted to kill someone, maybe you tried to replicate some of those murders so that the authorities might blame it or lump your victim in with some of the others.

Not only that, but those are just really good areas to hide bodies in. So if you do kill someone and want to hide their body, that's just a natural area where you might dump it.

I feel like a lot of Florida, unfortunately, is a good place to hide a body.

In January 2003, Conahan's appeal was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court. They did not find fault with anything that happened during the trial. The verdict was upheld. He was still facing the death penalty. Even after Conahan's conviction and after his appeals were denied, his potential victims kept piling up. Along with the Hog Trail murders, investigators believe that Conahan is responsible for what are called the Fort Myers Eight.

In March of 2007, a property surveyor found two human skulls on a work site between Rockville Road and Arcadia Street in Fort Myers, Florida. And Rockville has come up before. Stanley Burden said he was driven out to the woods and Rockville Road and attacked there. The Fort Myers Police Department launched a large search of the area, attempting to recover all evidence at the scene. They ended up discovering six more skulls. Altogether, they were dubbed the Fort Myers Eight. More skeletal remains were discovered belonging to the eight victims, but no clothes were found in the area.

It was clear that the bodies had been there for quite some time. There were no signs that anyone other than the property surveyor and the search teams had been out there recently. And because there were so many bodies in one relatively small area, investigators initially wondered if they were dealing with a funeral home that had improperly disposed of remains.

And this isn't out of the realm of possibility. Things like that do happen, though it's much more common that the funeral homes can't get rid of the bodies and they end up literally stacking. And we've seen documentaries on that. Morf, I don't know if you've seen it, but it was wild. The one that I watched, I can't think of the name of it right now, but they were taking in so many bodies and not performing services that they literally were stacking up. But there were zero clues that the bodies had ever been contained by anything like coffins or body bags. All that was found were the bones.

And it became clear to authorities that these weren't just random bodies. They were murder victims. Investigators believe the bodies had been there for at least a decade.

Only five of the eight bodies found in Fort Myers have been identified. Three of them were last seen in 1995 and one was last seen in 1996. Thirty eight year old John Blevins was identified in late 2007. He was last seen leaving his home sometime in 1995, but was never reported missing. Twenty one year old Eric David Kohler was last seen in Port Charlotte in October, 1995. Twenty four year old Jonathan James Tyhei was last seen in Fort Myers in October of 1995. The final victim to be publicly identified, thirty year old Robert Ronald Bobby Sodden, was also last seen in Fort Myers. He disappeared in 1996.

Victim F, the sixth victim found, was identified in 2023, but his name has not been released to the public. Conahan was not charged in any of these murders.

But it is interesting, right? That a large number of these victims were last seen in 95, 96, a timeframe where he would have been out on the streets. I could see why, you know, they would look at him as potentially being involved.

Yeah, the timing has definitely jumped out at me, too.

In late 2006, Daniel Conahan Jr. was part of a petition asking the court to declare that the state of Florida's current lethal injection procedures violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The petition looks to have the names of dozens of inmates who were on death row at the time that Angel Nieves Diaz was executed via lethal injection. It was widely reported in the media that his death was extremely and obviously painful and that the process took more than half an hour. Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., who maintains his innocence, is still on death row at Union

Correctional Institution in Rayford, Florida, awaiting his execution. It's scheduled to happen between September 10th and September 17th, 2026 via lethal injection. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant just days ago. Conahan is not alone. In this sense, DeSantis signed 14 other death warrants in 2026 before he got to this one. According to Fox 13 Tampa, the governor admitted that executions can't take away what happened, but said that at least knowing justice was served is something that was very important to a lot of people.

It looks like Stanley Burden, the key witness against Conahan at trial, never really turned his life around. According to KDKA Radio News, in 2025, a 54 year old man named Stanley Burden, living in Alquippa, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child numerous times at a campground and was awaiting trial for similar charges in another county. It's been reported by some people online that this is indeed the same Stanley Burden who played a role in bringing down Daniel Conahan Jr.

Most of the victims that have been definitively linked to Conahan, Stanley Burden, David Payton, and Richard Montgomery, had similar circumstances. Most of the men were homosexual, young, and white. They had criminal records, no stable jobs or fixed addresses, frequented bars, and were in need of quick and easy money. Charlotte County Sheriff's Detective Mike Vogel told Dateline, he targeted these men who he knew needed money. Working as a nurse but living with his parents, Conahan likely didn't have many expenses. He would have had plenty of money to use to lure his victims.

At the time of this recording, four of the Fort Myers eight are still unidentified. It's unclear how long the victims were dead before their discovery, since the elements in Florida meant that most of them were completely decomposed, just skeletons when they were found, and that may make IDing them harder. We're also left to wonder if they were truly victims of Daniel Conahan Jr. as police believe, and if Conahan is indeed responsible for all of the murders we discussed, that makes him a prolific serial killer and perhaps he has more victims that haven't been connected to him.

So Morf, as we wrap this one up, I mean, this Daniel Conahan Jr. guy, I mean, he is very interesting to me from the criminal aspect standpoint. I mean, he was convicted by a judge, not a jury, a judge, right? Heard all the evidence and convicted him, ultimately sentenced him to death. His appeals have been denied. His conviction has been upheld. It sounds like, you know, he is going to be executed later this year, but there's still a lot of questions, right? Surrounding this guy.

The evidence was, I think for the most part, mostly circumstantial. I think that's true in many cases. But then we talked about all of these other remains that were found. You have bodies recovered that kind of police dubbed the hog trail victims. You have the Fort Myers eight. I mean, there's a chance that this guy was a very prolific serial killer.

Yeah, that's a lot of carnage in a relatively small area around the same time. And it makes me go back to what we talked about in some episodes. If he's not responsible for all of these, that means there was more than one person doing this kind of stuff, moving around the same area at the same time. And that's just as frightening, if not more frightening, because that would mean that they're, they may not have been caught for any crimes and could have gotten away with it. So they could still be out there, you know, down the street from me, which is pretty frightening.

Yeah, it is scary, right? I mean, the Fort Myers eight could have been killed by another person. And that's the thing about a case like this. I don't know if you'll ever get all the answers. I just don't think there's any way for all the questions to be answered. I guess to me, when I boil it down, I don't think there's any doubt that Daniel Conahan Jr. was a bad guy, is a bad guy, right?

I get it. The trial hinged on circumstantial evidence, but I also think a lot of trials hinge mostly on that. If they had real physical evidence, I think he would have been charged with more murders, but they just didn't have it.

Again, I'm worried that at this point, what are the chances that some kind of physical evidence is going to suddenly appear that can solve these crimes once and for all and definitively link them to him? I'm thinking that's probably not going to happen. So we'll have to see if anything develops, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

No, I'm not either because so much time has passed, right? If it hasn't been discovered or wasn't discovered with the bodies, I don't think it's going to materialize, especially given the fact that, you know, some of these bodies had been out there for quite some time. So there wasn't much of a chance to get, you know, physical evidence from them. But it's a fascinating case because, you know, you have a lot of victims here and either Conahan killed some of them and then you had other serial killers or at least one other working around the same area at the same time. And like you always say, which one's scarier?

Or he killed all of these people, which would make him a very prolific scary serial killer.

Well, if he has more secrets, it seems like he's going to take them to his grave, you know, in a few weeks here when he's executed.

Yeah, he doesn't have a lot of time, right? If he's going to spill and reveal his secrets, it would have to be pretty soon. But I don't know what he would have to gain by doing that. Maybe he just thinks he has nothing to lose because he's getting ready to die, but we'll have to, we'll have to wait and see. But that's it for our episode on the hog trail murders. As always, if you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a rating, leave a review, but also keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really helps us out.

If you want to find us on social media, we're on every major platform. Just search for Criminology Podcast on your favorites. And for news about the show, old episodes and more, head over to our website, criminologypodcast.com. And if you want to join a discussion about the cases we discuss in the podcast, head over to Facebook and search for Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans.

So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morf and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, from Mike.

And Morf.

We'll talk to you next week.

Take care, everyone.