Members of the U.S. Marshals-led Lone Star Fugitive Task Force have arrested Raul Meza Jr in connection to the murder of Jesse Fraga, an 80-year-old Pflugerville man who was found dead on May 20.
The Pflugerville Police Department conducted a homicide investigation and identified Meza as a suspect, and an arrest warrant was obtained. Pflugerville Police requested assistance from the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in the Austin Division.
On May 24, the Austin Police Department Homicide Division received a phone call from a person who claimed to be Raul Meza and said, “I think you are looking for me.”
“Meza then went on to detail his relationship with Jesse Fraga, and detailed the manner in which he murdered Mr. Fraga, including details that had not been released to the public,” said Austin Police Detective Patrick Reed.
Meza also reportedly implicated himself in the murder of Gloria Lofton, a 66-year-old Austin woman found dead in 2019. DNA evidence has since linked him to that case, police said.
“I will let you know that Mr. Meza said he was ready and prepared to kill again, and he was looking forward to it,” Reed said.
Meza was convicted of murdering 8-year-old Kendra Page in Austin in 1982. Current interim City Manager Bruce Mills was among the investigators in the Page murder case.
“Here’s a serial killer that justice was not served,” Mills said. “It’s a travesty of justice.”
Despite a 30 year sentence for killing Page, Meza served only 11 before being released. Former Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was a prosecutor at the time of Meza’s murder conviction Lehmberg said there was not enough evidence linking Meza to Page’s death to seek a life or death sentence.
Police believe Meza could be linked to as many as ten other murders dating back to the 1990s.
