In 1982, Raul Meza Jr. was a 22-year-old hair stylist living in a trailer with his mother and stepfather.
On January 3, the nude body of 8-year-old Kendra Page was found strangled to death in or near a dumpster beside a local elementary school in Austin, Texas.
Forensics would later reveal that she had been sexually assaulted and tortured before her death.
Before long, Meza was hauled into custody for the killing, based in part on fingerprints found on the little girl’s bicycle. Meza pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
But this wasn’t his first brush with the law, and unfortunately it wouldn’t be his last.
In 1975, a young Meza took part in the robbery of an Austin convenience store, in the course of which the store manager was shot in the back but survived. Meza was sentenced to 20 years, but only served 5.
He was, in fact, on parole for his earlier crime when he raped and killed Kendra Page, and the judge who sentenced him to 30 years for that murder also tacked on an additional 16, arguing that Meza should have to complete the remainder of his earlier term before serving his 30 years.
As it happened, however, Meza not only didn’t spend the next 30 years behind bars, he didn’t even finish out that additional 16.
By 1993, Meza had accumulated enough credit for good behavior to qualify for “mandatory supervision,” a form of release similar to parole but without the oversight of a parole board.
This was far from a happy ending for Meza, though. Jerry White, the city editor of the Austin American-Statesman made Meza into a sort of personal mission.
Eight days before Meza’s release, an article ran on the front page of the paper in the town where Meza planned to live.
“Nothing’s Going to Stop It,” the headline howled, “Killer of 8-Year-Old About to be Freed.”
It was the beginning of Meza’s troubles, but far from the end. Film crews were waiting when Meza walked out of prison and, for the next year, angry citizens “kicked him in the butt from one end of Texas to the other,” according to Colin Amann, a lawyer who represented Meza after his release.
Of the 276 halfway houses that were asked to take Meza in, 271 reportedly refused, and Meza was shuttled between at least six towns and cities before settling at his grandparents’ farm outside San Antonio.
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Raul Meza Jr. confessed to killing 8-year-old Kendra Page in 1982.
Photo Credit: KVUE
Meza was released in June and by August he had already been bounced around cities and towns all over the state, always greeted by protests and rallies against him.
Eventually, he found his way back to Austin, where the American-Statesman ran more than 20 stories on him in just 10 months.
Within a year, he was back in state prison, this time for violating the curfew provision of his parole.
The next time Meza left prison, there was no such effort in place to hound him, and he reentered society with less fanfare. By 2012, he had settled in Austin once again, next door to Gloria Lofton.
On May 9, 2019, Lofton was found dead in her bedroom. The cause of death was initially listed as “undetermined,” though the medical examiner apparently found evidence that she may have been strangled, and a rape kit was used which eventually matched DNA with Raul Meza Jr.
None of that was followed up by authorities at the time, however. Instead, it would not be until May 20, 2023 that Meza would find himself once more sought by the police.
By then, he had moved again, this time to Pflugerville, TX. There, he lived with 80-year-old Jesse Fraga, until police found the latter strangled to death in his home during a “wellness check” prompted by a call from Fraga’s niece.
In a phone call placed to the Austin police, Meza not only confessed to killing Jesse Fraga, but also implicated himself in the assault and murder of Gloria Lofton.
When he was picked up by police, Meza was reportedly carrying zip ties, duct tape, and a .22 caliber pistol.
These, plus the similarities in the MO of the three murders with which Meza was already associated, seemed to suggest something more sinister than mere crimes of opportunity.
Could Raul Meza Jr. be a serial killer? At a news conference following his arrest, officials said that they were “re-examining as many as 10 unsolved homicides in the Austin area dating to the 1990s,” though as of April 2024, Meza had not been charged with any additional crimes beyond the killings of Fraga and Lofton.
At that time, Meza’s attorney had offered up a plea deal which would involve Meza receiving 50-year sentences for each of the two murders, to be served concurrently.
This would mean that Meza would not even be eligible for parole until he was around 93 years old.
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Raul Meza Jr. turned himself in shortly after Fraga and Lofton's deaths.
Photo Credit: Pflugerville Police Department
“Mr. Meza would like to avoid a trial and all the trouble and emotional turmoil it brings to everyone involved in the case, including the families of the victims,” his attorney said.
Family members of some of Meza’s previous victims, however, urged authorities to reject the offer.
“It just brought me back to what my parents had to go through when we were children,” said Tracy Page, sister of Kendra. “It’s like he’s dictating what he wants.”
Christina Fultz, daughter of Gloria Lofton, has been present throughout the legal proceedings for Meza.
“It’s important that he knows that I am not backing down,” she told reporters. “I am going to outlive that man.”
Determination of whether or not the plea deal goes through, however, may depend on whether or not authorities are able to link Meza with any of the other cold cases they are currently re-examining. At the time of this writing, an additional pre-trial hearing has been set for August 2024, and the families of Meza’s known victims wait impatiently to see what will happen.
“Just go straight to the death penalty,” Tracy Page said. “He deserves it.”
