Suspected serial killer case: Judge wants to keep Raul Meza behind bars forever

AUSTIN, Texas - A Travis County judge is trying to keep a suspected serial killer behind bars forever. 

Raul Meza Jr. appeared in court on Tuesday, August 27. He is a convicted murderer who got out of jail and is now accused of killing two more people.

"Mr. Meza is ready for this ordeal to be over. Not just for himself, but for the whole community," Meza’s defense attorney Russell Hunt said.

Hunt said it may be over soon, but a new deal needs to be agreed upon. 

Tuesday morning, the defense presented a plea deal of life in prison for one murder and 20 years for another, meaning Meza would be eligible for parole after 40 years. He would be more than 100 years old. 

Travis County Judge Julie Kocurek pushed back and said he would not accept anything less than life without the possibility of parole.

"It's clear the message she's giving is that she doesn't ever want there to be any question about whether Mr. Meza is ever released on parole," Hunt said.

"When I heard that today, it was just a big relief off my shoulders and everything. I wish this would have been done when he did this to my sister, then all these families wouldn't be here today," murder victim Kendra Page’s sister Tracy Page said.

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Tracy Page’s sister, 8-year-old Kendra Page, was killed by Meza in 1982. He was sentenced to 30 years but was released after just 11. Meza is now charged with capital murder for the 2019 death of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton and murder for the 2023 death of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga.

"He has expressed remorse to us to the extent that he can," Hunt said.

The families of the victims said he has never had remorse and "there’s nothing behind those eyes."

When Meza was brought into the courtroom and told his plea deal had fallen apart, he was seen glaring at the prosecutor. The judge eventually asked him to stop.

"It appeared to me that his natural reaction was to stare at the prosecutors like we thought this was a done deal? Why did you screw the deal up? But he didn't realize, he didn't think about the fact there was a third involved, so he is not in an angry state or anything like that at this point, but I think his first reaction was, wait a minute, what's going on, I thought we had a deal," Hunt said.

"It's a big deal for him to stare at somebody and not say anything, and so I think that that shows the energy of how he wants to play this game because he thinks, intimidating, yeah," Gloria Lofton’s daughter Christina Fultz said.

"He thinks he’s dictating it, to me, he’s been dictating it all along," Page said.

"Since 1975," Fultz said.

Meza’s attorney said they do not plan to go to trial. He said as long as a deal can be reached among all the parties, this could be over within the next couple of weeks.