True crime

Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was executed by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke, becoming the state's 15th person put to death this year. He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. after a three-drug injection, roughly 12 minutes after the process began. Conahan declined to make a final statement.

Conahan was convicted in 1999 of the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, whose mutilated body was found in a wooded area of Charlotte County, part of a string of killings dubbed the "Hog Trail Murders" after at least six bodies, mostly homeless men, were discovered in the area over several years. Investigators identified Conahan as a person of interest in the other deaths but never charged him. Eleven victim family members witnessed the execution.

Florida, under outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis, has carried out more than half of the 25 U.S. executions this year and leads the nation's death chamber activity. Another Florida execution, of Curtis Wilkie Beasley, is scheduled for September 29.

Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was executed by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke, becoming the state's 15th person put to death this year. He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., minutes after the three-drug injection began. Asked for a final statement, Conahan said only, "No sir."

Conahan was convicted in 1999 of the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, one of at least six people whose remains were found in a wooded Charlotte County area, cases that became known as the "Hog Trail Murders." Investigators named Conahan a person of interest in the other deaths but never charged him; he maintained his innocence, calling the evidence circumstantial. The Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals this week.

A sister of one victim said her family would celebrate his death. Florida, under Gov. Ron DeSantis, has carried out 19 of the nation's 47 executions in 2025, a state record. Another Florida execution, of Curtis Wilkie Beasley, is scheduled for Sept. 29.

Tyrone Noling, 54, has spent 30 years on Ohio's death row for the 1990 killings of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, an elderly Portage County couple, a crime he maintains he did not commit. He received a rare clemency hearing before the Ohio Parole Board, the first for an Ohio death row inmate since 2020, made possible even though he has no scheduled execution date. With backing from the Ohio Innocence Project, Noling presented recanted witness testimony, reversed positions from the trial sheriff and a juror, and evidence pointing to Dan Wilson, an already-executed killer, as a possible alternate suspect. No physical evidence or murder weapon ever tied Noling to the crime.

The case has drawn attention from true-crime media and celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Hilarie Burton, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Noling seeks outright release and has said he would reject a commutation to life without parole. The parole board will send its recommendation within six business days to Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has called for abolishing the death penalty, and who holds final authority over the decision.