A suspected serial killer who may have taken more than a dozen victims going back to 1982, Raul Meza Jr. confessed to two recent murders after simply dialing the city of Austin’s 311 line.
Austin Police DepartmentSuspected sequential killer Raul Meza Jr. is now in police custody for two recent murders .
Police in Austin , Texas have arrested 62 - class - former Raul Meza Jr. after he yell them and confess to two slaying . He ’d already been convicted of one execution in 1982 , though police now say that this suspected consecutive killer may have demand more than a dozen victim in totality .
Raul Meza Jr.’s Long History Of Chilling Crimes
From murder to theft and beyond , Raul Meza Jr. has an across-the-board criminal record dating back to when he was just 15 year old .
allot toKVUE , Meza ’s first run - in with the law came on December 31 , 1975 . Meza , alongside three confederate , plume a public convenience depot in Austin and shot the storage director in the back .
Luckily , the coach pull through the attack and prove against Meza . Though he was hand a hefty prison sentence of 20 year , Meza at last only served five .
Austin Police DepartmentSuspected serial killer Raul Meza Jr. is now in police custody for two recent murders.
Only a twelvemonth after his release , Meza kick the bucket on to perpetrate his most heinous crime .
Tracy PageThe Page family , let in Kendra Page ( bottom row , center ) , believed to be Raul Meza Jr. ’s first slaying dupe .
On January 3 , 1982 , eight - twelvemonth - previous Kendra Page was riding her cycle at an elementary school day playground in south Austin when Meza suddenly grabbed her .
Tracy PageThe Page family, including Kendra Page (bottom row, center), believed to be Raul Meza Jr.’s first murder victim.
police force soon found Page ’s naked body in a schooltime dumpster . She had been sexually set on and strangle .
The criminal offense appall the city of Austin and put parent on high alert until Meza confessed to the murder a few days later .
Meza in the end took a supplication raft and received a 30 - year condemnation . However , as was the case with his previous crime , Meza was released after serving only a small parcel of his sentence . In this case , good behaviour and time served meant that he was only behind bar for 11 age .
KVUERaul Meza Jr. in police custody for the 1982 murder of Kendra Page.
“ At the time of his sentence in 1982 , if he was a model prisoner and received good conduct clip , he was given credit for that , and that deferred payment was mandatory . And that therefore effectively reduced his time , ” sack out Travis County judge Charlie Baird toldKXAN .
KVUERaul Meza Jr. in law hold for the 1982 execution of Kendra Page .
By 1993 , Meza was a gratuitous man again , and he wasted no time jumping back into a life history of crime .
Public DomainRaul Meza Jr. has been convicted of one murder and now confessed to two others, though police suspect him in as many as 10 more slayings.
In 1994 , Meza rape his password by ignoring his curfew and extend back to prison . Then , in 2002 , Meza was back on the streets once more .
The Recent Murders That Now Have Meza In Custody
In 2019 , constabulary found the body of 66 - class - sometime Gloria Lofton inside her home in Austin . At the time , they did not suspect that her decease was a homicide .
Four years later , on May 20 , 2023 , police did a welfare check at a sign in Pflugerville , a suburb of Austin . Inside the home base , constabulary found stemma , knife , and the organic structure of 80 - year - older Jesse Fraga with a belt wrapped around his neck .
Four mean solar day later , Austin constabulary received an eerie call :
“ My name is Raul Meza , and you ’re look for me , ” the company said to Det . Patrick Reed of the Austin Police Department , as report byFOX7 .
Public DomainRaul Meza Jr. has been convicted of one murder and now confess to two others , though constabulary surmise him in as many as 10 more murder .
On the phone , Meza then confessed to kill Fraga , who had once been a probation officer and had even subsist with Meza for some time .
“ Meza then went on to detail his relationship with Jesse Fraga and detailed the personal manner in which he murdered Mr. Fraga , ” Reed tell FOX7 .
Afterward , Meza also let in to killing Gloria Lofton before abruptly hanging up the earphone .
The Capture Of Raul Meza Jr. Before He Could Kill Again
After the earphone call , Austin police bound into action . They knew that Meza often frequented hotels along the I-35 state highway , so law began their search — “ pass away door to door , go hotel to hotel , ” state Deputy U.S. Marshal Brendan Filla to Fox7 .
Eventually , on May 29 , police force apprehended Meza at a hotel in North Austin and read him into custody .
“ They border on , beleaguer him and took him into hold within a blinking of an eye , ” Filla order .
At the time of his arrest , Meza had a purse make full with naught ties , duct tape , a flashlight , a gun , and ammo . Because of these items , police are confident that Meza was plan to wipe out again imminently .
With Meza in custody , police are hopeful that they will find answers to other unresolved lawsuit in which he is a potential suspect .
“ It was a put-on of justice , ” Austin Assistant Police Chief Bruce Mills told Fox7 , regarding Meza ’s wakeful terminus in the Page lawsuit . “ We do n’t know how many more citizenry he killed or would have killed . ”
“ We have between eight and ten cases that kind of fit these similar circumstances that we ’re looking at . But that could obviously grow , ” Detective Katy Conner of the Austin Police Department recite Fox7 .
Many people in the Austin community of interests are angry that the Margaret Court organisation gave Meza so many chances .
“ I do n’t think our discriminative system did its line . I really do n’t , ” Kendra Page ’s chum Kevin separate KXAN . “ So now these other class have to deal with the same pain we went through . ”
After reading about the crimes of Raul Meza Jr. , expose the story ofTodd Kohlhepp , a serial Orcinus orca who was caught after posting perturbing reviews on Amazon . Then , dive into the chilling story ofÁngel Maturino Reséndiz , the train - hopping in series killer who mangle up to 23 people in the 1980s and 1990s .
