More than four decades after 18-year-old Patricia “Patty” Gifford was raped and murdered, her killer took his final breath without revealing where he had hidden her body.
Dennis Sochor declines last meal before lethal injection
Dennis Sochor, 74, was executed by lethal injection at 6:16pm at Florida State Prison in Raiford, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Sochor declined a last meal and met with a spiritual adviser and a visitor before his execution, reports say.
At 6pm local time, with the death chamber curtain raised, Sochor was strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm. The drugs began flowing at 6:03pm. He underwent about a minute of heavy breathing, followed by some seconds of sputtering. After about two minutes in which he appeared still, the warden looked into his eyes, shook his shoulders, and called his name without getting a response.
A medic was summoned at 6:14pm local time and Sochor was pronounced dead shortly after, as per Independent.
Sochor is one of the oldest death row inmates executed in Florida’s recent history.
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Sochor’s Final Apology
In his final words, Sochor addressed Gifford’s family, saying he was “deeply sorry,” and commended his spirit to Jesus Christ, according to The Associated Press.
He also thanked his own loved ones for their support over the years, as per Independent.
“This day did not bring Patty back, and it does not erase the 44 years our family has lived without her,” Gifford’s family said in a statement. “Patty was 18 years old, full of life, and deeply loved by her family and friends.”
Marilyn Gifford, Patricia’s sister, said after witnessing the execution that Sochor’s death brings some closure to the family, though it remains bittersweet since her sister’s body was never found. “He had 45 years to return Patty’s remains to us, but he cruelly chose not to,” she 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.”
She also noted that Sochor spent 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.
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The 1982 murder of Patty Gifford
More than four decades after 18-year-old Patricia “Patty” Gifford was raped and murdered, her killer died without ever revealing where he had hidden her body, as per Miami Herald.
In 1987, jurors convicted Dennis Sochor of kidnapping, raping, and murdering Gifford, who had moved to Fort Lauderdale from Massachusetts just months before her death.
On New Year’s Day 1982, Sochor, a swimming-pool cleaner, met Gifford at a lounge near Hollywood, Florida. She ended up getting into his car along with his brother and the group spent hours talking. When a friend of Gifford’s fell ill and went to sleep in her own car, Gifford left with the Sochor brothers, supposedly to get breakfast. Instead, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked her, according to Independent.
Gifford’s family said she did not willingly go off with the two men that night, adding that Sochor had made unwanted advances toward her and her friend earlier in the evening. “Patty was loyal, protective, and responsible,” the family said. “The idea that she casually left her unconscious friend alone in a car to go off with the men who had been harassing them that night is unthinkable to us.”
In a taped confession played for the jury, Sochor admitted to luring Gifford into his truck, driving her to a remote construction site, sexually assaulting her, beating her, and strangling her, as per Miami Herald. His brother, Gary Sochor, testified that he was present but said he didn’t intervene because he was drunk and scared. He was never charged.
