A Texas man who was convicted of brutally killing a young mother and setting her body on fire just over two decades ago was executed by lethal injection late Wednesday.
Moises Sandoval Mendoza, 41, was pronounced dead at the Huntsville state penitentiary at 6:40 p.m., according to The Associated Press.
Mendoza was convicted in the March 2004 death of 20-year-old mother, Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson, and taking her body to a field behind his house, where he kept it for several days, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
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Mendoza reportedly attended a party at Tolleson’s Farmersville home, where she and her 6-month-old daughter lived, a few days prior to the murder, according to the report.
On the day of the murder, he choked and sexually assaulted the young mother before dragging her into a field and stabbing her in the throat.
After being questioned by police, he drove Tolleson’s body to a dirt pit in rural Collin County, Texas, where he set her body on fire to destroy evidence and buried her under a brush pile.
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Tolleson’s daughter was found the next day by the child’s grandmother, The AP reported.
Mendoza’s friend alerted police after they learned about the crime, and the body was found and matched to Tolleson using dental records.
He later confessed to the killing, though the motive remains unclear.
Prior to the murder, the Attorney General’s Office said Mendoza attacked female family members and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, according to The AP.
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday denied Mendoza’s request for a stay of execution and a petition for a writ of certiorari, finding a previous appeals attorney who represented him did not fail to provide effective counsel, as alleged, according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP).
Similarly, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied a request to commute his death sentence. The board previously declined to recommend clemency.
The TCADP, an advocacy organization aimed at ending the death penalty in Texas, claimed that over the last two decades behind bars, Mendoza “transformed from an impulsive, risk-taking, and self-centered late adolescent to an empathic man of faith who has a positive influence on those around him, including guards, chaplains, and wardens.”
He earned certificates in multiple self-improvement and faith-based programs and maintained meaningful relationships with his family, according to the TCADP.
Mendoza was the third person executed in Texas this year and the thirteenth person put to death nationwide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
