Raul Meza Jr.

Raul Meza Jr. (born October 14, 1960) is an American serial killer who was found guilty of the murder of Kendra Page, an 8-year-old in Austin, Texas, in January 1982. Meza had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1973 and, prior to his final incarceration, had spent a total of 20 years in prison for various crimes.

In September 2024, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 65-year-old Gloria Lofton in May 2019 and 80-year-old Jesse Fraga in May 2023. He is suspected of committing around ten other homicides.

Early life Raul Meza Jr. was born on October 14, 1960, in Travis County, Texas, to Raul Meza Sr. (d. unknown) and Elvia Ortiz (d. 2020). Records show that he had multiple stepfathers and multiple half-siblings by the time he was 15 years old. Meza started to use drugs when he was eight, and his first arrest was in 1973 for shoplifting and burglary; the following year, he was accused of arson.

His first major arrest came on December 31, 1975, when he robbed a convenience store on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. During the robbery, he shot store attendant Derly Ramirez, who survived. Meza was sentenced to 20 years for the crime, but was released early on parole in February 1981.

A 1982 examination by psychologist David Poole read: "He doesn't appear to expect much of himself or his life, and seems a strong candidate at this point for a life of recidivism or ... suicidal inclinations." Meza sexually assaulted and strangled 8-year-old Kendra Page. She was last seen riding her bicycle around Langford Elementary School in Austin and was later found dead in a dumpster at the school, naked and covered in bruises.

Three days later, Meza walked into the Austin Police Department (APD) headquarters and confessed to her murder. To avoid trial and a possible death sentence, a deal was struck between Meza's attorneys and the Travis County District Attorney's Office, and he received a prison sentence of 30 years. In the following year, 1994, he was returned to prison for disobeying a midnight curfew and remained incarcerated until 2002. Blood was present in the hallway and on her pillow, and a used condom was found in her kitchen. The initial autopsy was inconclusive, and although there was evidence that she could have died due to strangulation, it was determined that she had died from an alcohol-related accident, as there was no solid evidence of murder. She was known to have an alcohol addiction.

After Meza confessed to her murder in 2023, the cause of death was updated to "homicide by strangulation". A rape kit during Lofton's autopsy provided a match to Meza's DNA in 2020. Still, nothing was done with this information, and the police provided no explanation. In 2021, Meza moved in with the Fragas, then after, Jesse's wife and son both died of COVID-19. Meza agreed to move out on May 12, 2023. In the home, a bloody knife and large amounts of dried blood was discovered by police. Ring doorbell video from May 13 showed Meza getting into Fraga's truck, which was found abandoned off I-35 nine days later. Inside the truck were boots covered in what was suspected by police to be blood. Meza's own car was found parked in the driveway of the Fraga residence with a hammer, hatchet, duct tape, and gloves inside. After his arrest, Meza told police that he was "ready and prepared to kill again".

In addition to the three murders he was convicted of, police suspect Meza of being responsible for as many as ten other homicides, two of which occurred in 2018 and one in the beginning of 2019. According to a search warrant, he was also responsible for several sexual assaults after his supervised release ended in 2016.