India, July 15 -- 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, 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 ward...