The Austin Caller: KSAT 12 on Raul Meza Jr.'s Call to Police and the Failures That Freed Him, 2023

Name: The Austin Caller: KSAT 12 on Raul Meza Jr.'s Call to Police and the Failures That Freed Him, 2023
Uploaded: 2023-08-08T00:00:00Z
Duration: 17 min 19 s
Description: KSAT's 2023 Texas Crime Stories episode on Raul Meza Jr.: the call in which, police said, he named himself to Austin homicide detectives, his 1993 release after killing an eight-year-old, and the DNA match that went unacted on.

KSAT's 2023 Texas Crime Stories episode on Raul Meza Jr.: the call in which, police said, he named himself to Austin homicide detectives, his 1993 release after killing an eight-year-old, and the DNA match that went unacted on.

Subject: Raúl Meza Jr.
Recorded: May 29, 2023
Runtime: 17:19

Content warning: Concerns the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, the sexual assault and strangling of a woman, and the killing of an elderly man; some injury detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Raul Meza Jr., and his voice is not heard. It is a 2023 episode of "Texas Crime Stories", a video podcast by KSAT 12 in San Antonio, made weeks after his arrest. A narrated report sets out the case, using clips of Austin police press conferences, and KSAT reporters Erica Hernandez and Leigh Waldman then discuss it, with interview clips of psychologist Dr. John Delatorre and remarks by Bruce Mills, the former detective on the 1982 Kendra Page case.

Historical Context

In 1982 Raul Meza Jr., then on parole for a 1975 robbery and shooting committed at 15, killed eight-year-old Kendra Page in Austin. She had been raped and beaten, and her body was found in a dumpster at Langford Elementary School. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years. Under the good-conduct laws of the time he was released in 1993 after serving 11, and protests drove him out of town after town in Texas. He returned to prison on parole violations in the years that followed. In May 2019 Gloria Lofton, 65, was found dead in her East Austin home; DNA later matched Meza, but he was not arrested.

Circumstances of the Recording

On May 20, 2023, Pflugerville police found Jesse Fraga, 80, a former probation officer, dead in his home; Meza was his roommate. Days later, according to Austin police, Meza called the department's homicide line, gave his name, and spoke of other killings. He was arrested on Memorial Day in north Austin. KSAT made this episode in the summer of 2023, while the investigation was open and before any charge had been resolved.

What the Interview Covers

Detective Patrick Reed describes the call, quoting the caller as saying, "My name is Raul Meza, and you're looking for me," and as saying he was ready to kill again; he also reads the caller's account of killing a woman after his release. Detective Katy Connor says police were examining eight to ten cases with similar circumstances. The narration recounts Meza's record and the unacted-on DNA match in the Lofton case. The reporters discuss the 1993 protests, his time in other Texas towns, how he knew Lofton, and the delay before her death was ruled a homicide. Dr. Delatorre says Meza's choice of victims does not follow a clear pattern. Bruce Mills calls the case "a travesty of justice". The reporters report Meza's claim of a double homicide in San Antonio, and a statement from San Antonio police that they were looking into it, and an FBI search of a field in Pflugerville.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The episode records the case as it was understood in the weeks after the arrest, including the detective's own account of the call that led to it, and the reaction of the detective who had worked the Kendra Page case forty years earlier.

Archival Importance

Meza's 1993 release made him one of the most notorious parolees in Texas. This report links that history to the 2019 and 2023 killings and to the questions raised about how the DNA match was handled.

Important Caveats

Meza is not heard; his words are reported by Detective Reed. At the time of the recording Meza had been charged but not convicted in the Lofton and Fraga killings; he pleaded guilty to both in September 2024. The San Antonio double homicide and the "eight to 10" other cases were his claim and a police line of inquiry; he has not been charged with any of them. Some details given by the hosts conflict with other sources: Lofton's age (66 here and in some news reports; 65 in the District Attorney's release) and the year police could have acted on the DNA (the hosts say 2017; other sources say the match came in 2020, after her death in 2019). The reporters' opinions about the police and the justice system are theirs.

Narrator: A serial killer who eluded justice for decades, as he was in and out of prison since the '70s. With his recent arrest and chilling admission of more murders, the investigation takes a new turn, reopening cold cases that could hold the key to uncovering the full extent of his gruesome crimes. Join us as we dig deep into the past, present, and future of this haunting case, shedding light on the failures of the justice system that has left the families of the victims suffering.

Bruce Mills: Here's a serial killer that justice was not served. There's a travesty of justice totally in this case.

Narrator: We unravel the disturbing details of a murderer who repeatedly slipped through the cracks of the justice system. This is Texas Crime Stories: "The Austin Caller: Unveiling of a Serial Killer."

Narrator: On May 20th, a welfare check call came in to Pflugerville Police, which is just north of Austin. The family of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga had not heard from him in over a week, and they were concerned. When police went to the former probation officer's home, inside they found a horrific discovery. Fraga was found with a belt around his neck, a severed spine, and a puncture wound to his neck. A murder investigation began, and the hunt was now on for whoever killed Fraga, and police first wanted to find his roommate at the time, Raul Meza Jr. Photos of Meza were released to the media as a person of interest, and police didn't have to wait long to get a break. Days later, the tip hotline gets an unexpected call from Meza himself. Austin Police Detective Patrick Reed was the person who spoke with Meza.

Det. Patrick Reed , Press Conference: On May 24th, I answered the homicide main line, and the caller stated, "My name is Raul Meza, and you're looking for me." Mr. Meza said he was ready and prepared to kill again, and he was looking forward to it.

Narrator: In that phone call, Meza would also not only confess to Fraga's murder but to other murders he alleged to have committed. But before police could get his location, Meza hung up. A fugitive task force was put together, and on Memorial Day in North Austin, Meza was found riding a bike, carrying a bag with zip ties, a flashlight, a gun and multiple rounds inside. Now behind bars, investigators are now tasked in finding out just how many people Meza may have killed. Austin Police Detective Katy Connor says it's a number that could grow.

Det. Katy Connor , Press Conference: We have between eight and 10 cases that kind of fit the similar circumstances that we're looking at.

Ksat Podcast Promotion: News, weather, mental health, true crime and all things San Antonio: KSAT has a podcast for everyone, with a local twist. Tune in daily for the day's top stories on KSAT News Now. Or learn more about South Texas weather phenomena with Whatever the Weather. Deep dive into mystery with true Texas crime stories that happen right here in our own backyard. And count on the KSAT Explains team to answer some big questions about San Antonio. Plus our newest addition, Living Out Loud, making mental health easier to tackle in San Antonio. Find us anywhere that you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Or watch the video versions on our KSAT YouTube page. Remember to subscribe there, too.

Narrator: Raul Meza Jr. for years led a life of crime. In 1975, at 15 years old, he was arrested for robbing and shooting a convenience store clerk. He served five years and was released on parole. When he got out of prison for that crime, he soon struck again. In 1982, an eight-year-old, Kendra Page, was raped and murdered, her body found in a dumpster at Langford Elementary School in southeast Austin. Meza at the time was still on parole for the convenience store shooting. Meza was arrested right after the murder, but to the surprise of many, pled guilty and took a plea deal and was sentenced to only 30 years in prison. But it just gets worse. In 1993, after serving only 11 years, Meza was released on parole. After Meza was paroled, he was in and out of prison several other times. According to KTBC in Austin, in 1994 Meza was arrested on a parole violation and would spend the next 20 years on and off of parole. During that time, he claims to have committed other murders. Here's Detective Reed with more about what Meza told him.

Det. Patrick Reed , Press Conference, Quoting Meza'S Call: Quote, "I got out in 2016. I end up murdering a lady soon afterwards. It was on Sara Drive."

Narrator: That lady was 66-year-old Gloria Lofton, who was found dead in her East Austin home in 2019. It appeared she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Male DNA was found on Lofton and tested. Almost a year later, a DNA match was obtained, and according to police documents, that match was Raul Meza. But nothing was ever done to arrest Meza after that match was made, and he remained out of jail. Austin now had a serial killer to deal with, a man that should have never been released from prison, but the Texas justice system failed.

Erica Hernandez: So Lee, this whole kind of story just kind of came out of the blue this spring, and it's just kind of evolved from there. There's just so much to unpack with this one.

Leigh Waldman: Oh, absolutely. And just trying to detail the different failures that happened. That's part of what allowed this guy to keep committing these kinds of crimes. It wasn't just a failure of the justice system, but it's also a failure on the part of police: when they identify that DNA, why would you not arrest this person right away? And there's actually an investigation going on into that right now.

Erica Hernandez: But when Meza was paroled in 1993, something I found really interesting: at the time, nobody wanted him in their town. "We don't want him in our neighborhood." I think it was the city of Mineral Wells that had this whole, like, to-do and made sure that he wasn't allowed there when he got out, and he was run out of several towns because residents rightfully feared for their safety.

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, I wouldn't want this guy as my neighbor, especially if he's showing he has no regard for other people. He's going to continue to do these crimes.

Erica Hernandez: Yeah, and it was obviously what we saw. Of course, nobody knew that then. The Associated Press actually reported that Meza also lived in El Paso, Wichita Falls, we mentioned Mineral Wells, Sweetwater and Uvalde County, and he was, like I said, run out due to community protests. And it's really interesting to think that these cities were actually right. These residents were rightfully afraid. And look what happened. He end up in other places, committing murders, which was in the Austin area.

Leigh Waldman: Absolutely. And the AP also reported that after he moved to Uvalde County to live with his grandparents, he was jailed again because his family says that he was verbally abusive to them. So he doesn't care about his own family; why would he care about a stranger?

Erica Hernandez: Like we said, there's a lot to unpack with this, with this guy, because it's just such a long history. He committed his first crime at 15 in the '70s, and then we saw it just evolved from there. And a review is being conducted about the investigation into Lofton's murder, as nothing was done when there was a DNA match. You kind of mentioned that just a little bit earlier. How did Meza know Lofton?

Leigh Waldman: There was really no kind of clear sense. Some people, I think, claimed that he lived down the street from her, um, was an acquaintance. Apparently Gloria Lofton was a very friendly person, always trying to help out others, especially those who needed a place to stay, or, you know, just needed some help with something. And he obviously took advantage of that, because I think some money was actually stolen from her home as well. It's very justified that an investigation is happening into her murder, and then also into the handling of how that murder was solved. Because if you waited all this time to catch this person, when you know their DNA is on this dead woman's body, why would you not jump into that?

Erica Hernandez: I think also, that was really interesting to me, and I didn't really put it here in our notes, was that her death wasn't ruled a homicide until he confessed to it this year. So it was always kind of unknown on how she died. And when he called police and confessed to her murder and others, they went back to the ME and were like, "Hey, we got these details," [and] they were like, "Oh yeah, we can rule that strangulation, homicide, now." Like, it was just, there's so many, like, missteps that were constantly done in this case. And what if they would have caught him in 2017?

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, it took a year to get that DNA match, but you knew since 2017. And still, it was still not even ruled a homicide at that point.

Erica Hernandez: Right, and we, as much as he wants to be open and honest now and confess to certain things, we also don't know really what he did during that time period. This is a dangerous person who is out on the streets, potentially terrorizing people.

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, and I thought it was really interesting, and that's why I kind of wanted to bring in Dr. John Delatorre, who's, shout out, John, our forensic pathologist. We kind of reach out to [him] about these cases, and he's done some cases with serial killers involved, and I thought it was really interesting to get his insight, because I felt like Meza wasn't a typical serial killer with a pattern that we see. And here is what Dr. Delatorre said about Meza.

Dr. John Delatorre , Interview Clip: My first impression was that it was complicated. He's a very curious individual in his victim selection, that's for sure. So when we think about when someone is going to commit acts like this, they typically have a typology. Now, it doesn't mean that someone has that, every victim has to have, like, the same hair color or the same skin, doesn't necessarily mean that, but it, it's usually confined to a specific set of characteristics that, that each victim shares. And I'm not entirely sure what each of these victims share, other than being in his, like, sphere, right? That they were just kind of around him. Some knew him, some didn't. Uh, it's very difficult to kind of pinpoint why he's engaging in his behaviors, because the victimology doesn't suggest anything in particular.

Erica Hernandez: Yeah, it's definitely not something that we've seen in a while. Exactly what you said. I mean, he doesn't even see, like he said, that typology, he doesn't see a method to the madness with this. He's just speculating and trying to figure out, how do you jump in this guy's mind, when it seems like it was so random and how he killed people.

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, if you look back to even the '80s, I mean, he killed an eight-year-old little girl, brutally killing her and leaving her body. Um, I thought it was really interesting, his input, because I think this is something police haven't seen before. And he also made a really good point to say that because of the failures, this is why it escalated. And here's a little more of what he kind of had to say about that, and what he feels like: if this was nowadays, he wouldn't have been able to do what he's been doing.

Dr. John Delatorre, Interview Clip: It's definitely something that, technology, had these things started nowadays, right? Had, you know, the killing of the child and stuff, had it started now, I think this guy probably would have been in prison for a lot longer than he had been. And I don't know that he would have had the opportunity to engage in the future crimes that he did. But really, this is about how difficult it can be to engage in an investigative process and really bring to justice someone when all the evidence could easily be washed away over time.

Erica Hernandez: So going back to that Kendra Page case from the '80s, Austin PD held this press conference. The current interim assistant city manager in Austin, Bruce Mills, he was actually the detective on the Page case back in the '80s, and he was really upset. Like, you could see he was really upset about how this case has just, it's still an issue. And he spoke during that press conference, and here was his thoughts.

Bruce Mills , Press Conference: I talked to the media at the time about the travesty of justice, even then, when he had only done 11 years from a 30-year sentence. And then here we are, 20 years after that, 30 years after that, '93 to now. And, as we just said, suspect in other cases, cold cases. So, you know, here's a guy that should have spent the rest of his life, probably, from the time he nearly killed a gentleman when he was 15 years old, certified as an adult, later commits capital murder, pleads to murder, is released 11 years later, and has killed how many people, we don't know. So here's a serial killer that justice was not served. So there's a travesty of justice totally in this case.

Erica Hernandez: So here's even a detective, Lee, that obviously was upset then, when he got a plea deal. Thirty years for the brutal murder of a child. Thirty years is nothing, because obviously he got out early, in 11 years.

Leigh Waldman: Murder and rape of a child.

Erica Hernandez: Exactly. And got out, continued and continued and continued to mess up, and was still able to get out. And he said it right: it is a travesty of justice. We said earlier that police are investigating somewhere between eight and 10 other cold cases that Meza may have been linked to. And some of those could be right here in San Antonio.

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, this was a real twist for us here. I remember when we were watching that press conference that was taking place in Austin, we were like, "Excuse me, what? He's been here?"

Erica Hernandez: Yeah. So apparently, in the phone call with Detective Reed, Meza told him he had committed a double homicide here in San Antonio. Now, San Antonio police say they are investigating the claims. Here is the statement they sent to us. It says, "Our SAPD homicide detectives are in communication with Austin PD and currently looking into the statements made by the suspect." SAPD said APD is the lead agency in this case, and no interviews will be provided. There is no additional detail. So we don't know when, who, where; we have no idea. Obviously, it's something we're still looking into, and will continue to look into, because I have a feeling we could find out soon.

Leigh Waldman: I mean, I hope we do. And I hope that whenever we do find out, again, this could bring closure to families who haven't known for who knows how long.

Erica Hernandez: Yeah. So I, I don't know. I wasn't able to get much other details on that San Antonio connection. But the fact alone that there was a San Antonio connection, he was specific with Detective Reed in telling him about that double homicide. I feel like, what else is there that we're not being told, or he is not saying?

Leigh Waldman: Absolutely. And there was actually a recent search that happened in Pflugerville, in a field there. It's still obviously a very open investigation. Criminal defense attorney Ty Cardenas said the FBI search of the Pflugerville field could be actually related to the Fraga murder, because this field that they were searching was right next to that home. Cardenas was talking to CBS Austin. He told them, quote, "It could be something that is connected to him that would also prove his guilt, in addition to other evidence. Something else that it could be: it could actually be a completely new crime that they're investigating. They could have gotten a tip, especially now that it's national news that he's a serial killer," unquote. So I feel like when it comes to serial killers, I mean, you can take their word with a grain of salt.

Erica Hernandez: Exactly. But you don't actually know the full extent, because they're not gonna obviously be honest with you. And we've seen so many times where they over, say they over, kind of overkill, I hate to use the word like that, but they say they've committed all these murders when in fact they're not related to them at all. It's just this kind of smug thing that they do just to stay relevant, you know?

Leigh Waldman: Yeah, they just want to up their body count, essentially, to have some kind of clout, which is disgusting.

Erica Hernandez: So yes, this is obviously still an open case, one that is not close to being done, one that we're gonna continue to follow. And hopefully we do get more answers from police soon, especially, like you said, to give closure to families of those cold cases that they may be looking into.

Leigh Waldman: Absolutely.

Erica Hernandez: Well, thanks so much for being with us for Texas Crime Stories. We'll be back soon with another episode.

Stephania Jimenez: Hello, everybody, Stephania Jimenez here. Thank you so much for watching KSAT's YouTube channel. Keep up to date with all of San Antonio's top news, weather and so much more by clicking the like and subscribe buttons below. And once again, thanks for watching [unclear: "cubesat" (captions)]. ---