A Texas man convicted of strangling and stabbing a young mother more than 20 years ago was executed Wednesday evening as relatives of the victim looked on. Moises Sandoval Mendoza received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:40pm, authorities said, the AP reports. He was condemned for the March 2004 killing of 20-year-old Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson. After a spiritual adviser prayed over him for about two minutes, Mendoza apologized repeatedly to the victim's parents and relatives present, calling to each by name.
"I am sorry for having robbed you of Rachelle's life," he said, addressing the woman's parents, two brothers, a cousin, and an uncle who were watching through a window from an adjoining room. He also apologized for robbing Tolleson's daughter of her mother. The daughter wasn't present for the execution. He addressed his wife, his sister, and two friends watching through a window from another witness room, telling them that he loved them and that he was at peace.
Mendoza had attended a party at Tolleson's home in Farmersville, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, in the days before he killed her, per the AP. Prosecutors said Mendoza, 41, took Tolleson from her north Texas home, leaving her 6-month-old daughter alone. The infant was found cold and wet but safe the next day by Tolleson's mother. Tolleson's body was discovered six days later in a field near a creek. Evidence showed Mendoza had burned Tolleson's body to hide his fingerprints. Earlier Wednesday, the US Supreme Court denied a request by Mendoza's attorneys to stop his execution. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had denied Mendoza's request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty. (More Texas capital punishment stories.)
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