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A previously convicted child rapist and murderer may be connected to multiple cold cases. Police are calling Raul Meza Jr. the "worst of the worst." 

Authorities arrested Meza for a murder committed on Saturday, May 20, in Pflugerville, Texas. He is also charged with the 2019 murder of his then-next-door neighbor 66-year-old Gloria Lofton.

According to an affidavit, Meza and 80-year-old Jesse Fraga were living together. Previous court documents show the two became friends in the '90s after Meza's first prison release.

The affidavit also mentioned Fraga was an adult probation officer while Meza was on parole. Fraga was trying to help rehabilitate him, according to the court documents. 

During a welfare check on May 20, Pflugerville police discovered Fraga’s body inside a closet. He was found with a belt around his neck along with knives. There was blood around the home.

“A belt had been found around the neck of Mr. Fraga," Austin Police Sgt. Nathan Sexton said. "The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office noted that Mr. Fraga had suffered a puncture wound to his neck and severed cervical spine."

Meza was identified as a person of interest in Fraga's murder. He was seen driving the victim’s gray Toyota Tundra. And the car was later recovered by Pflugerville police.

Meza confession

After police obtained an arrest warrant, Meza, 62, called the Homicide Division of the Austin Police Department with a chilling message.

“My name is Raul Meza, and you’re looking for me,” Austin Police Detective Patrick Reed recalled during a press conference.

Meza then allegedly confessed to the killings of Fraga and a female in 2019 after providing information never released to the public.

“I got out (of prison) in 2016, I end up murdering a lady soon afterward,” Reed recalled Meza saying.

In 2019, Lofton’s cause of death was ruled as “undetermined” by the Austin M.E.  Meza was not a suspect before his phone confession. Although in 2020 the DNA profile left at the scene was matched to Meza.

Police said that when Meza was arrested and he had bags of zip ties, duct tape, a 22-caliber pistol, and lots of ammunition with him.

“(US Marshals) approached, surrounded him, and then took them into custody within a blink of an eye. And I think that was a key advantage based on what was in that bag,” Deputy US Marshal Brandon Filla said at the press conference.

Worst of the worst 

Over the last 50 years, Meza has racked up a long rap sheet. He was in and out of jail often. And was often arrested for violent crimes.

He was first arrested and charged with the aggravated robbery of an Austin convenience store clerk in 1975.

Meza was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail. But he only served five years.

In January 1982, while on parole for the robbery he was charged with raping and murdering eight-year-old Kendra Page. And accused of dumping her body into an elementary school’s dumpster.

Meza was found guilty of the murder and was sentenced to 46 years in prison. He was released for “good behavior after only 11 years. He was returned to prison in 1994  for violating his parole.

“Here’s a serial killer that justice was not served. It was a travesty of justice,” said Interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills, the lead detective in the 1982 Kendra Page murder investigation.

Detectives have identified multiple cold cases with a similar modus operandi. Up to 10 other cases that could be linked to Meza are currently under investigation. The cases date back to 1996. 

Detectives say that with Meza’s DNA profile in-play they expect that the Texas serial killer will be charged with other murders. 

U.S. Marshals describe Meza as a loner who traveled the Interstate 35 corridor. And stayed at motels. He was described as armed and dangerous, suicidal and violent.