Donald Moeller became a rare death row inmate in South Dakota when he was found guilty of the brutal rape and stabbing of a 3rd grader in 1990. Given his upbringing, it's more surprising that she was his only victim. Moeller was born in Sioux Falls on August 5, 1952 to a 30 year old father and a teenage mother. His father abandoned his mother as soon as he found out that she was pregnant. Melvina Nelson began dating a man named Glen Becker who worked as a traveling carnie and she usually accompanied him, leaving Donald to be babysat by a neighbor. When he was a little older, they took him with them on their carnival trips, leaving him tied to a bus with a rope while they were off partying.

Melvina had no particular use for her son and often made it clear that he was unwanted and accidental. She beat him frequently, at least once knocking him unconscious with a cast iron frying pan, and called him demeaning names. It appeared that Melvina had preferred to have a girl and she often dressed Donald in girls' clothing. She would walk around the house naked in front of Donald and his siblings and bring other men over for sex when Glen was not home, admonishing them not to tell anyone, and she also had sex with these gentleman callers in front of the children. Moeller claimed at least three women performed sexual acts on him when he was a child.