Dennis Sochor, 74 years old, was executed this Tuesday at Florida State Prison, becoming the oldest inmate to be executed in the modern history of the state, after spending nearly four decades on death row for the murder of an 18-year-old girl whose body was never found.
Sochor was declared dead at 6:16 PM after receiving a lethal injection of three drugs, reported The Associated Press.
Before starting the procedure, the warden asked him if he wished to say a few last words. The condemned man responded affirmatively: he repeatedly asked for forgiveness from the family of his victim, thanked his loved ones for the support he had received during his years of imprisonment, and commended his soul to Jesus Christ.
Sochor was convicted for the murder of Patricia Gifford, an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year's Eve party and strangled on January 1, 1982, in the Fort Lauderdale area.
During the investigation, he confessed in a recording that he had concealed the victim's body, whose remains were never found.
After being arrested in Georgia in 1986 for an unrelated case and extradited to Florida, a jury found him guilty in 1987 of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal without making any comments.
The execution was marked by the pain of Patricia Gifford's family.
Her sister, Marilyn Gifford, attended the procedure and, upon its conclusion, lamented that Sochor never disclosed where he had left the body.
"He had 45 years to return Patty's remains to us, but cruelly chose not to. We never had the chance to give her a proper burial in the arms of God," he expressed.
He added that the lack of answers has hindered their ability to find closure in their grief.
"Without a resolution, every happy memory of Patty is immediately shattered by the tragedy of her murder," he stated.
Marilyn also described the execution as an act of justice.
"The execution tonight was appropriate because Dennis Sochor was a brutal and sadistic man throughout his life," he declared, while urging anyone with information about the whereabouts of his sister's remains to contact the authorities.
Florida accelerates executions
Sochor's execution was the tenth carried out in Florida so far in 2026, a pace that makes the state the leading executor of death sentences in the country.
So far, Florida accounts for 10 of the 16 executions carried out in the United States this year, more than all the other states combined.
Additionally, Sochor's execution is part of a series of three executions of elderly inmates scheduled to take place within a few weeks. On June 25, Florida executed Dusty Ray Spencer, also 74 years old, who until then was the oldest inmate executed in the modern history of the state.
On July 28, authorities are set to execute Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80 years old, convicted of murdering his ex-partner's parents in 1986.
If the sentence is carried out, Occhicone will become the first octogenarian executed in Florida's history and the second oldest inmate executed in modern U.S. history, behind only Walter Moody Jr., who was executed in Alabama at the age of 83 in 2018.
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