Daniel Conahan

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Daniel Conahan

Daniel Owen Conahan, Jr. (born May 11, 1954 in Charlotte , North Carolina ) is an American serial killer who tied, tortured and then killed at least five homeless men to trees in the mid-1990s and became known as the Hog Trail Murderer . He was convicted after 31 months. He was named "Hog Trail Murderer" because all victims were found near Hog Trails (wild boar trails) in Charlotte and Sarasota Counties , Florida.

Life

Shortly after he was born, his parents moved him to Punta Gorda , Florida . He graduated from Miami Norland High School in 1973 and joined the US Navy in 1977 , where he was stationed at the United States Naval Base in Great Lake, Illinois . In 1978 he was discharged from the military for sexual harassment, whereupon he lived in Chicago for the next 13 years and took various jobs. In 1993 he moved back to his parents and took a nursing course in Port Charlotte to be able to care for them.

Series of murders

On February 1, 1994, two hunters found a decomposed male body in Charlotte County. Although a phantom picture of the deceased appeared in the newspapers, the victim's identity remained unknown and the case was initially filed. On January 1, 1996, a dog found a skull in North Port, and the dog's owner alerted the police . After the surrounding area was searched, the police also found the body of an unknown person. On March 7, 1996, a driver in North Port discovered an unidentified man's body. On March 16, 1998 and June 30, 1999, two of the bodies were identified as William Charles Patten (24) and William John Melaragno (36).

Since all three corpses had their genitals removed, the corpses discovered not far from each other and notches from ropes were found on the trees to which the victims were tied at the sites, the investigators assumed that it was a sexually perverse motivated Could be a serial killer. On April 16, 1996, a fourth body was found by a surveyor. When the police searched the surrounding area, they found another body. Investigators found that this man had been murdered 12 hours earlier.

On April 17, 1996, a task force was established with officials from the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, the North Port Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and state attorneys from Charlotte and Sarasota Counties. The fifth dead man could be identified as Richard Allen Montgomery (21) from fingerprints. The 21-year-old lived in Punta Gorda and had a criminal record. His mother testified that he wanted to meet a man who wanted to take pictures of him for money. In the meantime, a tattoo on the torso of the fourth victim has been found and published. The dead was identified as the 25-year-old homeless, drug and alcohol addict Kenneth Lee Smith. The investigators suspected that the perpetrator chose a group of people whose disappearance is not very noticeable.

On May 8, 1996, David Allen Payton reported to the police and testified that on March 5, 1995 he was invited to a bar by Daniel Conahan on his way home and that Daniel Conahan wanted to take nude photos of him, but Payton refused. When Payton accidentally discovered a bag with adhesive tape, ropes, a tarpaulin and a knife in the back seat after a car broke down, he fled with the strange car when it was free again. This earned him a prison term. On June 7, 1996, inmate Stanley Burden, 26, claimed to have met a man named Dan on August 15, 1994 to take nude photos for money. He tied him to a tree, sexually assaulted him and is said to have tried to strangle him. Because a car drove by, Dan fled, whereupon Burden was able to free himself. In a photo he identified Dan as Daniel Conahan.

Procedure

According to the reports, Conahan was targeted by investigators who, based on his credit card statements, determined that he had bought several knives, tape, ropes, pliers and cameras. He has been provisionally arrested for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Stanley Burden. In the meantime, the police took paint samples from his car and searched his home but found no incriminating material, and he was released.

After another search of the bodies, police found splinters of paint from Conahan's vehicle on Richard Montgomery's body. Also, fibers from a tree matched gloves from his house. On July 3, 1996, Conahan was arrested again. On August 17, 1999, he was sentenced to death by Judge William Blackwell for kidnapping and multiple murders. Conahan appealed and was sentenced to death again on November 3, 1999. In September 2001, he again appealed his death sentence, which was rejected on January 16, 2003. His execution is pending.

On May 22, 1997, October 19, 2000, January 2001, and January 6, 2002, six other bodies were discovered in the vicinity that were murdered in a similar manner. However, a connection with the earlier murders could not be proven.

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personal data
SURNAME Conahan, Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Conahan, Daniel Owen junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Charlotte, North Carolina