Investigators knew they were in search of a twisted serial slayer by 1997, when the sixth body of a young male was discovered in the dense woods of southwest Florida. The corpses had been found in varying stages of decomposition, some still bearing evidence of ligature and strangulation. All were found nude and had been stripped of identification. The remote locations of the bodies led pursuers to dub the series the "Hog Trail Murders".

Authroities finally located their man, Daniel Conahan from Punta Gorda, after two potential victims went to police to tell their stories. One in fact, related how he had been offerred money to pose nude by Conahan in 1994. The two had driven to a wooded area where the unkowing man agreed to be tied to a tree for the snapshots. Conahan then attempted to rape and strangle him, giving up after a time when his victim put up too great a fight.

Arrested for attempted murder (though the charge was eventually dropped) police moved to prove a case against Conahan in the 1996 slaying of Richard Montgomery, who was discovered sans testicles along with a skeletonized victim only a day after he went missing. Because his body had been out in the elements for a short time, more physical evidence remained than in the other five obviously related cases and Conahan was arrested for the Montgomery slaying.

Conahan openly admitted his homosexuality and fascination with bondage, though he has never admitted guilt in the string of murders. Based on the two surviving victims' testimony and evidence linking paint and fibers from Conahan's car and home to the Montgomery crime, the gay serial killer was convicted in a bench trial, for all intents and purposes solving all six murders. Electing to have a jury decide his sentence, Conahan had no better luck and he was officially put out of business on December 10, 1999, when he recieved the death penalty for his crimes.