Florida has executed 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, making him the oldest inmate put to death in state history.Sochor was convicted of the 1982 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford, who vanished after refusing his advances on New Year’s Day.Sochor was arrested in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida, where he confessed to choking Gifford and disposing of her body — which was never found.Sochor was executed through a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison in Bradford County.
On July 14, 2026, Florida executed 74-year-old Dennis Sochor by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, making him the oldest inmate put to death in the state’s modern history.
The 1982 Murder of Patricia Gifford
Sochor was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Patricia “Patty” Gifford. On New Year’s Eve 1981, Sochor and his brother met Gifford and her friend at a lounge in Broward County, Florida. After Gifford’s friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with the brothers to get breakfast.
Instead of taking her to a restaurant, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area. According to investigators and his own later confessions, Sochor attacked and choked Gifford to death after she refused his sexual advances.
When a photograph of Gifford and an unidentified man at the lounge was broadcast on local television during the missing person search, Sochor fled the state. He remained on the run until 1986, when he was arrested in Georgia on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. While in custody, Sochor gave taped confessions admitting to the murder and to disposing of Gifford’s body. Despite these confessions, Gifford’s remains have never been found. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, recommending the death penalty.
The Execution
In the years leading up to his execution, Sochor’s legal team filed multiple appeals. Recently, they argued that his age and health conditions—combined with Florida’s three-drug lethal injection protocol—constituted cruel and unusual punishment, even requesting death by firing squad as an alternative. The Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected these claims.
The execution took place at 6:00 p.m. When asked for his final words, Sochor apologized to the Gifford family, saying he was “deeply sorry,” thanked his loved ones for their support, and commended his spirit to Jesus Christ. The lethal injection began at 6:03 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m..
Following the execution, Marilyn Gifford, Patricia’s sister, read a statement acknowledging that while the execution brought some closure, it remained bitterly incomplete without the recovery of her sister’s remains. “He had 45 years to return Patty’s remains to us, but he cruelly chose not to,” she stated.
