Florida on Tuesday executed one of the oldest prisoners in its history, putting to death 74-year-old convicted murderer Dennis Sochor. He was among three older inmates scheduled to be executed within a month in Florida, the nation’s most active death penalty state.
Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
He had been convicted in the killing of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford on Jan. 1, 1982, only hours after the two met at a New Year’s Eve party.
When the curtain to the death chamber opened at the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time, Sochor was already secured to a gurney with an IV line in his arm. Asked by the warden whether he wanted to make a final statement, he said he did.
Sochor repeatedly apologized to Gifford’s family, saying he was “deeply sorry.” He also expressed gratitude to his own relatives and supporters for standing by him over the years.
Moments before the drugs began flowing at 6:03 p.m., he commended his spirit to Jesus Christ.
Witnesses reported that Sochor breathed heavily for about a minute, followed by several seconds of sputtering. After he appeared motionless for roughly two minutes, the warden checked his eyes, shook his shoulders and called out his name, receiving no response.
A medic was called in at 6:14 p.m., and Sochor was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Another 74-year-old inmate just a week younger than Sochor at the time of execution was put to death last month.
And later this month, the state is preparing to execute an 80-year-old, the state’s first octogenarian facing a lethal injection.
The execution plans highlight the aging death row population in the US and the busy death chamber in Florida, which has now carried out 10 of the 16 executions conducted in the nation this year — more than every other state combined.
Marilyn Gifford, Patricia’s sister, said after witnessing the execution that Sochor’s death brings some closure to the family, but it’s bittersweet since her body has never been found.
She encouraged anyone with information that could lead to the remains to contact authorities.
“He had 45 years to return Patty’s remains to us, but he cruelly chose not to,” Gifford said, reading from a statement. “We never got a chance to lay her to rest in God’s arms. Without closure, every happy memory of Patty is immediately crushed by the tragedy of her murder.”
Gifford also pointed out that Sochor got to live more than twice as long on death row as her sister lived her entire life. “Tonight’s execution was appropriate because Dennis Sochor was a lifelong brutal and sadistic man,” she said.
It’s unclear why Florida scheduled the executions of the three prisoners consecutively.
Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to scheduling executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office did not respond to emailed requests for comment about the recent pace of the executions.
A New Year’s Day killing
According to court records, Gifford was celebrating the upcoming New Year with a friend at a Fort Lauderdale area bar when they met Sochor and his brother.
The four spent hours talking, but after the friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast.
But instead of going for food, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked Gifford, according to investigators.
Sochor was later arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. Sochor’s brother told police Sochor was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance, and Sochor himself confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body.
A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, and he was sentenced to death.
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court rejected Sochor’s final appeal without comment.
Oldest inmates executed in Florida
On June 25, Florida executed 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer for the killing of his wife Karen. Until Tuesday, Spencer was the oldest inmate executed in Florida.
According to Florida Department of Corrections records, the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72: Samuel Lee Smithers on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 killings of two women and R. Charlie Gifford on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 shooting of a state representative, Charles Schuh Jr.
Meanwhile, Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, is scheduled to be executed July 28 for the killings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents.
If executed as planned, he would become the second oldest prisoner known to be put to death in modern US history after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. Moody was executed in Alabama in 2018 for killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney during a wave of Southern mail bombs.
