AUSTIN, TX – Raul Meza Jr., a suspected serial killer, turned himself in to the police last year, saying, “I think you are looking for me.” Since then, he has been held in a Texas jail, accused of the strangulation murder of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton in 2019 and the capital murder of former probation officer Jesse Fraga, 80, in 2023.
While Meza has not yet faced trial for these crimes, law enforcement continues to probe his suspected involvement in a series of killings that could tally up to 10 more victims, according to Austin police. Former Austin Police Sgt. Bruce Mills voiced his concern over the case, lamenting the delay in justice.
Meza, 63, is believed to have murdered at least two people. However, law enforcement suspects his connection to a minimum of 10 homicides in Texas. On Tuesday, a search warrant was issued for Meza’s Google account, covering the period from November 1, 2016, to May 29, 2023.
Investigators are hopeful that this search will yield information linking Meza to a 2018 cold case in Austin, as well as to at least two homicides in San Antonio. Meza’s criminal record stretches back to 1982, when he sexually assaulted and strangled an 8-year-old girl near an Austin elementary school.
After serving 11 years of a 30-year sentence, Meza was released, only to violate his parole in 1994. He returned to prison and was released again in 2002, remaining on parole until 2016.
There are suspicions that one of Meza’s victims could be college student Nicole Coleman, whose naked body was discovered in an Austin woodland in 2018, showing signs of trauma. Her unsolved murder has cast a long shadow over the city. Coleman’s family described her as a 4.0 GPA student with a promising future as a writer and poet.