Convicted Killer Confessed to Murdering His Roommate. Cops Have Now Charged Him With 2 Murders — and He May Be Linked to Nearly a Dozen More.
June 7 2023, Published 4:15 p.m. ET
Texas authorities have arrested a convicted child rapist and murderer who has been linked to several cold cases after the man confessed to the crimes, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Pflugerville police conducted an investigation into the stabbing death of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga on May 20 and identified his roommate Raul Meza Jr. as a person of interest, as Front Page Detectives reported.
Meza, 62, was reportedly seen driving Fraga’s gray Toyota Tundra. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Meza, who then called the Homicide Division of the Austin Police Department with a shocking message.
“My name is Raul Meza, and you’re looking for me,” Austin Police Detective Patrick Reed said during a press conference, KVUE reported.
Reed said Meza then allegedly confessed to killing his roommate, Fraga, and also killing a female in 2019 after giving police information never released to the public.
“I got out (of prison) in 2016, I end up murdering a lady soon afterward,” Reed recalled him saying.
On May 20, police from Pflugerville performed a welfare check and found Fraga inside a closet with a belt around his neck. They also found knives and blood around the home.
According to KVUE, the Travis County Medical Examiner determined Fraga died from a “puncture wound and a severed cervical spine.”
Fraga and Meza met in the 1990s when the latter was out on parole. Fraga was an adult probation officer trying to help rehabilitate Meza, KVUE reported.
Police arrested Meza and charged him with one capital murder charge, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and two undisclosed first-degree felonies, officials said. During the arrest, police said Meza had bags of zip ties, duct tape, and rounds of ammo.
US Marshals "approached, surrounded him, and then took them into custody within a blink of an eye," Deputy US Marshal Brandon Filla said. "And I think that was a key advantage based on what was in that bag."
Meza has an extensive rap sheet, starting with his first arrest and charge of aggravated robbery in 1975, KXAN reported. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, but only served five years.
In 1982, Meza, who was still on parole for his robbery arrest, was charged with raping and murdering eight-year-old Kendra Page, who he tossed into a dumpster at an elementary school. He was sentenced to 46 years in prison, but was released after 11 years for “good behavior.”
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In 2019, Meza was living next to Gloria Lofton, a 66-year-old woman. Lofton was killed, but Austin police ruled her death to be “undetermined.”
In 2020, a DNA profile from the scene matched Meza, but authorities never charged him in the case. In his recent call to police, he confessed to murdering Lofton in 2019.
In all, CNN reported, police said Meza admitted to murdering two people — but detectives are investigating the possibility he may be responsible for as many as a dozen killings in total.
