Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Dennis Sochor, a Georgia man who has spent most of his life waiting to be executed for the Jan. 1, 1982, murder of an 18-year-old woman.
Read more Florida Supreme Court keeps new congressional districts in place
Sochor was 29 when he met Patricia Gifford at a New Year’s party at the Banana Boat lounge in the 2600 block of State Road 84 near Fort Lauderdale. According to his own brother’s testimony, Sochor raped and murdered Gifford, then hid her body, which has never been found.
Sochor had been on probation for a 1980 Oakland Park rape at the time.
It took a few years before Sochor was identified as a suspect in the Gifford disappearance and charged with kidnapping and murder. He was arrested in 1986 and convicted and sentenced in 1987.
Nearly 40 years after the sentencing (and 44 years after the crime), Sochor, 74, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on July 14. The judge who sentenced him in 1987, Broward Circuit Judge Russell Seay, died in 2011 at age 85.
Read more Drew Rasmussen fans career-high 13 as Rays complete sweep of Red Sox
Sochor, 74, will be the second Broward Death Row inmate executed this year unless an appeal is filed and succeeds.
Last month, Richard Knight was put to death for the June 2000 stabbing deaths of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings.
Read more Summer patio decor to make your backyard an oasis
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4457.