A 74-year-old death row inmate, Dennis Sochor, has been executed in Florida for the 1982 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford, becoming the oldest prisoner put to death in the state’s modern history.
Key Highlights:
- Florida executed Dennis Sochor, 74.
- He was convicted of a 1982 murder.
- The Supreme Court denied his final appeal.
- Sochor apologized to the victim’s family.
- He became Florida’s oldest executed inmate.
- It was the state’s 10th execution of 2026.
Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving a lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
His execution proceeded after the United States Supreme Court rejected his final request for a stay of execution and declined to review his appeal, clearing the way for the sentence to be carried out.
Before the execution, Sochor reportedly apologized repeatedly to Gifford’s family, expressing deep remorse for the crime. He also thanked relatives and supporters who had stood by him over the years and committed his soul to Jesus Christ. He declined a final meal but met with a spiritual adviser and one visitor.
The case dates back to New Year’s Day in 1982 when Sochor met Gifford at a bar in the Fort Lauderdale area. After spending several hours together, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother under the pretext of going for breakfast.
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Investigators said Sochor later drove to a secluded location and asked the teenager to have sex. When she refused, he attacked and killed her before disposing of her body, which has never been recovered.
Authorities arrested Sochor in 1986 on unrelated charges. Following his extradition to Florida, he confessed to strangling Gifford. His brother also implicated him in the young woman’s disappearance.
A jury convicted Sochor of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, sentencing him to death.
His execution marks Florida’s 10th execution of 2026. The state executed a record 19 inmates in 2025, the highest annual total since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and more than any other U.S. state that year.
Florida is also scheduled to execute an 80-year-old inmate later this month, a move that could set another record as the oldest person executed in the state’s modern era. Across the United States, 47 executions were carried out in 2025.
