A Central Texas man named Raul Meza, 62, has been arrested and charged with murder after confessing to not only killing his roommate, former Travis County probation officer Jesse Fraga, 80, this month, but also a woman named Gloria Lofton, 66, in 2019. Austin police believe that they could have a serial killer on their hands.
This week, the Austin Police Department announced that it is looking into up to 10 cold cases that are alike in nature to Meza’s previous killings. During a press conference following Meza’s arrest, Interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills said, “Here’s a serial killer that justice was not served.
It was a travesty of justice.” Meza had been in and out of prison since a murder conviction in 1982. Mills was the primary investigator in the death of 8-year-old Kendra Page, who was found dead in a dumpster behind Langford Elementary School in Austin on January 3, 1982. Meza was convicted of the murder the same year and sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty, but was released after almost 12 years.
After being released in June 1993, he moved outside Uvalde, but was arrested on a parole violation that September. He was released again from prison in 2002. Meza was being held at the Travis County Jail as recently as 2016.
He called 311 on May 24 of this year and was transferred to the homicide line. APD detective Patrick Reed said in a press conference this week that he answered the call.
“My name is Raul Meza and you are looking for me,” Reed said the call began. Meza reportedly told Reed how he killed Fraga. His confession included details that had not yet been released to the public. He then confessed to killing Lofton.
“I got out in 2016 and ended up murdering a lady soon after, and it was on Sara Drive,” Reed said Meza told him. Police eventually corroborated Meza’s claim with a DNA match.
Upon his arrest on Monday, May 29, Meza was traveling by bicycle and in possession of a backpack with duct tape, zip ties, and a .22 caliber gun, according to U.S. Marshall Brandon Filla.
Mills said that Meza told police that he was “ready and prepared to kill again and looking forward to it.”
Police said that they have not connected Meza to the deaths near Rainey Street and Lady Bird Lake, which have caused some online communities to believe that there is a serial killer targeting young men in downtown Austin.
