STARKE, Fla., July 15 (Our Florida Times) — Florida is set to execute Dennis Sochor, a 74-year-old death-row prisoner convicted in the kidnapping and killing of Patricia Gifford, and would make him the oldest inmate Florida has executed if the sentence is carried out.
The Florida Department of Corrections scheduled the three-drug injection for 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Court records show Sochor has been on death row since a 1987 jury convicted him of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Records cited in news reports say Gifford was 18 when she was killed on Jan. 1, 1982, after meeting Sochor at a New Year’s Eve gathering in the Fort Lauderdale area. Her body was never found.
ABC News reported that Sochor was arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and later extradited to Florida. Police said Sochor’s brother told them he was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance.
The reports also said Sochor confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal before the scheduled execution date.
