'Sadistic killer' Moises Mendoza to be executed for woman's murder in Texas. What to know
'Sadistic killer' Moises Mendoza to be executed for woman's murder in Texas. What to know
Moises Sandoval Mendoza, a rapist and killer described by one prosecutor as one of the most "violent, sadistic men" he'd ever encountered, is set to be executed in Texas on Wednesday.
Mendoza, 40, is set to die by lethal injection for the murder of 20-year-old Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson on March 18, 2004, in Farmersville, Texas, just northeast of Dallas. If the execution moves forward, Mendoza will be the third inmate executed in Texas this year and the 13th in the nation.
At the time of her death, Tolleson was a new mother to her 6-month-old daughter Avery.
"I don't think we'll ever heal. I don't think a mother ever truly heals from the loss of a child,' Tolleson's mother, Pam O'Neil, told The Courier-Gazette in 2005. "I can't believe my grandbaby will grow up without a mother."
O'Neil added that she and Avery frequently watched home videos of Tolleson, including Avery's first and only Christmas with her mother, and looked through scrapbooks that Tolleson and O'Neil made together.
Over the years, Mendoza's case has gained a sort of notoriety. In 2006, it was featured in the 10th season of "Forensic Files" and in 2008, the Investigation Discovery series "Solved" highlighted Tolleson's murder.
Here's what to know about Mendoza's execution, including more about who his victim was.
'I turned into the devil': More about Texas death row inmate Moises Mendoza
When are where is Moises Mendoza's execution?
Mendoza is set to be executed after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas.
What was Moises Mendoza convicted of?
In the early hours of March 18, 2004, Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson was at home with her 6-month-old daughter Avery in Farmersville, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Dallas. Tolleson and Avery lived there alone, as Rachelle was in the middle of a divorce with her then-husband Andrew Tolleson.
Mendoza told police he let himself inside Tolleson's house through a back door that night, per court documents. The two left to get a pack of cigarettes, leaving baby Avery at home.
Mendoza drove a little while before he began to choke Tolleson in his vehicle "for no reason," he said, according to court documents. He then drove the two to a field near his house, where he raped her before choking her again, court documents say.
Mendoza then dragged Tolleson out of his truck and choked her again until he thought she was dead, Mendoza told police. To make sure, he "poked her throat" with a knife. Mendoza left her body in the field, where it remained for a few days before he was interviewed by police about Tolleson's disappearance, court records say.
Paranoid, Mendoza wrapped Tolleson's body in a tarp and moved it to his cousin's land in a more remote area, just a few miles east of Farmersville. He then dumped the body in a "dug-out pit" and set it on fire to "destroy the fingerprints," he told police, The Courier Gazette reports.
"I don't know what happened to me at that moment. I turned into the devil and after I did something that I thought was in a dream," Mendoza wrote in a letter to his parents, as published by The Courier-Gazette.
A man searching for arrowheads found Tolleson's charred body a few days after Mendoza moved it, the newspaper reported.
Mendoza was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Who was Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson?
Pam and Mark O'Neil, Tolleson's parents, described their daughter as a doting mother to Avery, according to court proceedings and archived stories.
"She wanted more than anything in life to watch her baby take her first steps, say her first word, and she'll never get to hear her daughter call her Mommy," Pam told Mendoza during his sentencing, per The Courier-Gazette. She later said in the 2006 "Forensic Files" episode that Avery was Tolleson's "oxygen."
The O'Neils did not immediately respond to requests to speak about their late daughter, but Mark has recognized Tolleson in several public Facebook posts over the years.
In 2021, Mark shared a photo of Tolleson from her wedding day on Facebook.
"Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter in heaven," he wrote. "I love you and miss you every day, baby girl."
Who is Moises Mendoza?
Neighbors described Mendoza as "hard-working" but said he changed as he got older, recounting a "violent argument" when he pinned down his mother and sister in their front yard, as previously reported by The Courier-Gazette.
Mendoza graduated high school, where he did "fairly well," court documents state. He received a few high school scholarships and completed about nine months of heating and air-conditioning training upon graduating.
In 2003, Mendoza was arrested for his involvement in two aggravated robberies on the Dallas College Richland Campus, according to The Courier-Gazette reporting. It was while he was out on bail for one of these robberies that Tolleson went missing, the 2006 "Forensic Files" episode explains.
For much of their upbringing in northern Texas, Mendoza and Tolleson were actually in the same grade school classes, Tolleson's mother explained in "Forensic Files." And the Friday before Tolleson's murder, Mendoza had been at Tolleson's house for a party of about 15 people, court documents say.
Clinical psychologist Mark Vigen described Mendoza as "immature" and "psychologically under-developed," claiming that Mendoza enjoyed getting away with "being sneaky" and got angry when others criticized him, court documents say.
During Mendoza's sentencing, former Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis described Mendoza as "one of the most violent, sadistic men" he'd ever helped convict.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Pedestrian dies after being struck by three cars in Long Beach
A man died on Saturday after he was struck by at least three cars in Long Beach, according to police. It happened at around 9:30 p.m., at which point officers were dispatched to the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Falcon Avenue, according to a press release from the Long Beach Police Department. Upon arrival, officers found the victim, only identified as an adult male, lying in the road. He was declared dead at the scene. "The preliminary investigation revealed an unknown dark colored sedan was traveling eastbound on Ocean Boulevard when it struck an adult male pedestrian in a marked crosswalk," the release said. "The driver immediately fled the collision." Moment later, a second vehicle described as a 2016 BMW X3, struck the pedestrian who was lying in the roadway after the first impact. The driver "immediately pulled over" police said. They remained to cooperate with the investigation. A third car, also described as a dark colored sedan, then struck the pedestrian before immediately fleeing the scene, police said. "At this time speed and distracted driving are being considered as contributing factors in the collision involving the vehicles which fled the scene," said LBPD's release. Anyone who knows more is asked to contact detectives at (562) 570-7355.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The recovered Bayesian superyacht completes its final journey to a Sicilian port
PORTICELLO, Italy (AP) — A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, completed its final trip to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese Sunday, a day after recovery crews finalized the complex operation to lift it out of the water. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before being transferred to Termini Imerese, where it docked in the early afternoon. On Monday, the delicate recovery operation will be concluded, as the vessel will be transported to shore and settled in a specially built steel cradle. Then it will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the U.S. on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. The vessel was slowly raised from the seabed 50 meters (165 feet) deep over three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by 'extreme wind' and couldn't recover. The report said the crew of the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms. Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) at the time of the sinking and 'violently' knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- CBS News
Shooting in Pittsburgh's Perry South neighborhood sends woman to hospital
Pittsburgh police are investigating an early-morning shooting in the city's Perry South neighborhood. At approximately 4:45 a.m. Sunday, police from Zone 1 were patrolling in the area of Perrysville Avenue and North Charles Street when officers heard shots being fired in the vicinity. Subsequent ShotSpotter alerts indicated nineteen rounds were fired, according to police. Officers then located a woman in the 2600 block of Perrysville Avenue with a grazing gunshot wound. Officers rendered aid before the woman was transported to an area hospital in stable condition. No arrests have been made at this time. An investigation is ongoing.
