A murder suspect in Texas called police and told them, “You’re looking for me.” He admitted to killing multiple people and said, “You’re looking for me.” This started a manhunt that ended this week with his arrest.
Marshals and police in Austin caught Raul Meza Jr., 62, on Monday, five days after he called homicide detectives and gave them a scary message.
Meza had been called a “person of interest” in the stabbing death of Jesse Fraga, an 80-year-old man whose body was found on May 20 in nearby Pflugerville.
Austin police Detective Patrick Reed told reporters on Tuesday that Meza called the police on May 24 and told them he knew he was being looked for.
“My name is Raul Meza, and you’re looking for me,” the caller said, Reed said.
Reed said that Meza admitted to killing Fraga and told details about the murder that had not been made public before he admitted to killing someone else.
“‘I got out of prison in 2016, and soon after that I killed a woman. Reed says that Meza told police that it happened on Sara Drive.
Meza’s jail records did not say if he had hired a lawyer or if he had a public defender.
Gloria Lofton, 66, was found strangled on Sara Drive in Austin in 2019, and no one knew who did it until police found Meza’s DNA at the scene.
Meza was known to stay in hotels near I-35 in and around Austin. On Monday evening, a fugitive task force caught him at one of these hotels.
Brandon Filla, a deputy U.S. marshal, said that Raul Meza was thought to be dangerous and armed. “He thought about killing himself and had violent tendencies.”
Filla said that when Meza was caught, the police found zip ties, duct tape, a flashlight, a.22-caliber pistol, and rounds on him.
Reed said that Meza told him on Monday night that he had planned to kill more people.
Reed said that Meza was “ready and eager to kill again” and that he was “ready and eager to kill again.”
The police said they are looking into whether Meza has anything to do with several unsolved murders from the 1990s.
Detective Katy Conner of the Austin Police Department said, “It’s likely that we’ll find more cases.”
“Right now, we’re looking at about eight to ten similar cases,” she said, “but that number could grow.”
Police say that Meza went to prison for 11 years because he killed and raped an 8-year-old girl on January 3, 1982.
In 1982, Bruce Mills was a city police sergeant and was in charge of the investigation. He is now the interim assistant city manager of Austin.
He told reporters Tuesday that police were developing a strong case against Meza before prosecutors made a plea bargain with him for a 30-year sentence, which turned out to be 11 years of actual time behind bars.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Mills said about the investigation into the murder. “We were shocked, disappointed with no real explanation as to why this case didn’t go to trial. We never got answers that made sense.”
“Here’s a serial killer who didn’t get what was coming to him,” Mills said. “There was no justice in it.”
A representative for Travis County District Attorney José Garza could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.
In 1982, Ronnie Earle was the top prosecutor for the county. He passed away in 2020. No one from his family could be reached to say anything.
In 2018, Earle’s name was given to the building where the Travis County DA now works.