After spending two decades on death row, Moises Sandoval Mendoza finally offered an apology for the brutal murder of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson, just minutes before he was executed in Texas.
Mendoza, now 41, was convicted of a crime that shocked the local community back in March 2004. Rachelle was strangled, stabbed, and left beside a stream. Dental records were needed to identify her body due to the extent of the injuries and an attempt to burn her remains, reported the Mirror.
As he faced his final moments, Mendoza addressed Rachelle’s family directly, who were watching from an adjoining room. “I am sorry for having robbed you of Rachelle’s life… I know nothing that I could ever say or do would ever make up for that,” he said, adding, “I want you to know that I am sincere. I apologise.”
He also named and acknowledged her parents, a brother, a cousin, and an uncle, before switching to Spanish to speak to his own family – his wife, sister, and two friends in a separate viewing room. In a translated message, he told them: “I love you, I am with you, I am well and at peace. You know that I’m well, and everything is love.”
Moments later, Mendoza received the lethal injection. He let out two loud gasps and a series of deep snores before being pronounced dead at 6.40 pm local time – 12.40 am Wednesday in the UK.
But for Rachelle’s mother, Pam O’Neil, the apology and peaceful end offered little comfort. Speaking after the execution, she said, “He’s been on death row for 20 years. That ended today. He was put to sleep. He felt no pain. I wish I could say the same about my daughter’s death.”
Rachelle was taken from her home in North Texas while her baby daughter, just six months old at the time, was left alone. The child was found cold and wet but unharmed the next day by Pam.
Tragically, Rachelle’s body wasn’t found until six days later, dumped in a field near a stream. Prosecutors revealed that Mendoza had choked, sexually assaulted, and stabbed her before moving the body and attempting to burn it to cover his tracks.
He was eventually caught after confessing the crime to a friend. The details he gave to investigators were chilling, including how he choked her multiple times and stabbed her in the throat before relocating her remains. Even with his last words, the weight of what he took can’t be undone.
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