Raul Meza Jr. attorneys ask for 50-year plea deals for the accused serial killer
Editor's note: this story has been updated to reflect that Meza was charged with capital murder for the killing of Gloria Lofton and that he was charged with murder for the death of Jesse Fraga.
Defense attorneys for accused serial killer Raul Meza Jr. asked the Travis County district attorney's office to consider two 50-year plea deals for the two murder charges he currently faces in the county.
The deals, if accepted by the district attorney's office, would allow Meza to serve both sentences at the same time.
Meza, 63, is charged with capital murder in the 2019 death of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton in Austin and with murder in the 2023 slaying of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga in Pflugerville.
Family members of the victims were upset by the notion that Meza could possibly get a plea deal, and they held an emotional news conference after Thursday's court hearing to express their frustration.
"I really just need him locked away until he dies," said Lofton's daughter Sonia Houston. "The death penalty is always an option as well."
Russ Hunt Jr., the attorney representing Meza, said the hope is to work out a deal to "avoid the necessity of dragging all the facts of that out into the open, talking about that and putting himself and the families through all the stress of a trial."
Ismael Martinez, public information officer for the Travis County district attorney's office, said the office received the plea offer and is evaluating it. Meza's next hearing is scheduled for June 4.
The most infamous case involving Meza was when he was convicted of murder in the 1982 sexual assault and strangulation of 8-year-old Kendra Page outside an Austin elementary school. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison before being released after 11 years. Meza was sent back to prison in 1994 for a parole violation, and he was then released in 2002. Meza was on parole until 2016.
Tracy Page, the sister of Kendra Page, said Thursday at the Travis County courthouse that the possibility of Meza getting a plea deal made her "sick to my stomach."
Police have previously accused Meza of being a serial killer who might be involved in as many as 10 other homicides. Police previously issued a warrant for Meza's Google information to link him to a possible 2018 cold case homicide, along with two others in San Antonio that Meza previously said he committed in 2018 and 2019.
Thursday's hearing comes nearly a week after the American-Statesman first reported that a homicide detective with the Austin Police Department investigating Lofton's death received forensic information that Meza was at the scene of Lofton’s death “and did not follow up.”
Austin police arrested Meza on May 29 after he called the department days earlier to confess to the murder of Fraga. Authorities also charged Meza with stealing Fraga's vehicle.
Statesman staff writers Claire Osborn and Tony Plohetski contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Raul Meza Jr. lawyers seek 50-year pleas for suspected serial killer
