Moises Mendoza, a death row inmate, is set to be executed on Wednesday in Texas. Mendoza, now 40, was convicted of r—ping and killing Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson, 20 on March 18, 2004 in Farmersville, Texas.
According to the bereaved family and the court documents, the two were acquainted, indicating that the victim seemingly trusted the perpetrator enough to go out with her alone. At the time of her death, Rachelle was a new mother with a 6-month-old daughter Avery.
On Wednesday, Mendoza will be put to death by lethal injection. His execution will take place after 6 p.m. local time at the Allan B. Plounsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas. He will be the third death row inmate to be executed in Texas this year and the 13th in the whole of the United States.
Former Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis described Moises as one of the most “violent, sadistic men” he’d ever encountered, and the details of his crimes are extremely haunting, to say the least. As revealed by court documents, on March 18, 2004, Tolleson was at home with her daughter in Farmersville, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Dallas. She was living there alone with Avery as she was going through a divorce with her then-husband, Andrew Tolleson.
According to Mendoza’s statement to the police, in the early hours of that day, he went inside the young mother’s house through the backdoor. Then Tolleson left with Moises to get a pack of cigarettes, leaving her six-month-old at home. Court documents say that after driving a little, Mendoza began choking her “for no reason.” He then drove her to a field near his house, where he r—ped her. According to court documents, the man repeatedly choked her, even after dragging her out of his truck until he was sure she was dead.
Texas is scheduled to execute Moises Sandoval Mendoza next week on April 23, 2025, for a crime he committed when he was 20 years old. In 2005, a Collin County jury sentenced him to death for killing Rachelle Tolleson. Yesterday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief. pic.twitter.com/RQ6RLTVlbO
— TCADP (@TCADPdotORG) April 16, 2025
Mendoza stated to police that he “poked her throat” with a knife to further confirm it, and then he left her body in the field. According to court records, when police began investigating Tolleson’s disappearance, he was also interviewed and became paranoid about his crimes.
According to The Courier-Gazette, Mendoza attempted to further hide the murder by wrapping Rachelle’s body in a tarp and then moving it to his cousin’s land just a few miles east of Farmersville, which was a more remote area. “To destroy the fingerprints,” the sadistic man then dumped her body in a “dug-out pit” and set it on fire.
Tolleson’s charred body was discovered a few days later by a man searching for arrowheads, reported The Courier-Gazette. Later, he was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder.
In a letter to his parents, Moises wrote, “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,” according to the newspaper.
I love this! I don’t get off on death, but I do love #Justice
Another dirt bag will be #Executed in TX tomorrow! He’s a convicted #Rapist & #Murderer.@Moises Sandoval Mendoza, I think #lethal injection is too good for you- you should be choked just like your victim!
— PatriotPups (@Patriot_Pups) April 22, 2025
However, it wasn’t Mendoza’s first clash with the law as neighbors recounted his one “violent argument” with his family. According to The Courier-Gazette, he pinned down his mother and sister in their front yard. Just a year before he murdered Rachelle, he was also arrested for his involvement in two aggravated robberies on the Dallas College Richland Campus. It was when he was out on bail for one of these cases that Tolleson went missing.
In a Forensic Files episode, Pam O’Neil explained that Mendoza was in the same grade school classes as her daughter. He had even been to her house for a small party just the Friday before killing Tolleson, according to court documents.
Mark Vigen, a clinical psychologist, described him as “psychologically under-developed” and “immature.” Court records also say he has a habit of getting angry when someone criticizes him.
