A Florida man who murdered an 18-year-old woman shortly after meeting her at a New Years Eve celebration over four decades ago was executed this week.
Dennis Sochor, 74, died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke at 6:16 p.m. on Tuesday, July 14, according to the Associated Press, the Palm Beach Post, and FOX 13.
In his final moments, Sochor said he was “deeply sorry” to the family of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford, the AP reported.
According to court records viewed by PEOPLE, Sochor kidnapped and murdered Gifford on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after they met at a lounge in Broward County where they were celebrating New Year’s Eve.
Early that morning, Sochor asked Gifford to join him for breakfast. Instead, he drove her to a remote area, where authorities say he attacked her after she refused his sexual advances, per the court documents.
Sochor choked Gifford to death and disposed of her body, the documents state. Her remains have never been found.
It would be another five years before Sochor was arrested by police in Georgia on separate charges. Per the court documents, he later gave three separate recorded confessions, admitting that he killed Gifford after she rejected his sexual advances.
Following his 1987 trial, the jury found Sochor guilty of kidnapping and first-degree murder. They subsequently voted to sentence him to death.
Gifford’s sister, Marilyn Gifford, witnessed the execution on Tuesday, describing the moment as bittersweet.
“We never got a chance to lay her to rest in God’s arms,” Marilyn said, per the AP. “Without closure, every happy memory of Patty is immediately overshadowed by the tragedy of her murder.”
On Tuesday, Sochor became the oldest person to be executed in the state, surpassing Dusty Ray Spencer, who was executed just weeks earlier. Spencer killed his wife in 1992.
However, that distinction is expected to change again on July 24, when 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone is scheduled to be executed for the murders of his ex-girlfriend’s parents, the AP reported.
