Jesse Fraga, an 80-year-old retired probation officer, was a man whose life was guided by his deep Christian faith and a boundless compassion for others. To his nephew, Fred Alverez, he was more than an uncle; he was a father figure who had raised him. Alverez remembered him as someone who was always helping people, someone who believed that no one was ever truly a lost cause. It was this profound kindness that tragically led to his death in May 2023 at the hands of a man he had spent decades trying to help.
Mr. Fraga’s relationship with Raul Meza Jr. began in the 1990s. Meza, a convicted murderer, had been released from prison in 1993 after serving 11 years for the 1982 killing of 8-year-old Kendra Page. His release was met with public outcry. Guided by their religious convictions, Mr. Fraga and his wife, Otilia, reached out to Meza through their church. They invited him to Bible studies, helped him find work and housing, and treated him like a son.
Over the years, their support was unwavering, even when Meza repeatedly violated parole and returned to prison. In 2021, Meza moved into the Fraga family’s Pflugerville, Texas, home. After Mr. Fraga’s wife and son sadly passed away from COVID-19, the two men continued to live together.
In early May 2023, family members grew concerned when they couldn't reach the normally communicative Mr. Fraga. On May 20, 2023, after he had been out of contact for nine days, relatives asked the Pflugerville Police Department to conduct a welfare check at his home on Camp Fire Trail. Inside, officers discovered a gruesome scene. Mr. Fraga was found deceased in a closet with a belt around his neck. An autopsy later revealed he had been stabbed and strangled, with a puncture wound to his neck that severed his spine. His truck was missing, and his roommate, Raul Meza Jr., was nowhere to be found.
Investigators immediately identified Meza as a person of interest. The investigation took a bizarre turn on May 24, when Meza himself called the Austin Police Department. "My name is Raul Meza, and you're looking for me," he told a homicide detective. In the call, Meza confessed to killing Mr. Fraga, providing details that had not been made public. He also implicated himself in the 2019 strangulation murder of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton, a case that had gone cold. Police believe Meza, dubbed "The Austin Caller," may be responsible for up to ten other killings.
On May 29, 2023, members of the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force arrested Meza in North Austin. He was found carrying a backpack containing zip ties, duct tape, and a pistol with extra ammunition. An officer stated that Meza said he was "ready and prepared to kill again and looking forward to it." His arrest brought a known serial killer off the streets, but for Mr. Fraga's family, it was the tragic culmination of a lifetime of misplaced compassion. "His big heart may have gotten him into trouble, but I feel that that was Jesse's calling," his nephew Fred Alverez said.
The long and violent criminal history of Raul Meza Jr. finally came to an end in a Travis County courtroom. In September 2024, Meza, then 63, pleaded guilty to the murder of Jesse Fraga and the capital murder of Gloria Lofton. In exchange for his plea, he avoided a potential death sentence. He was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole and waived his right to appeal.
For Mr. Fraga’s family, the legal resolution offered a measure of closure, but it could not erase the pain of their loss or the questions left behind. His brother-in-law, Oscar Mota, lamented the systemic failures that allowed Meza to remain free to kill again after a previous murder conviction. He expressed frustration that an earlier DNA match linking Meza to the 2019 Lofton murder was not acted upon, a delay that left Meza free to take his brother-in-law's life. Jesse Fraga, a man who dedicated his life to the idea of redemption, was ultimately murdered by the very person he had tried so hard to save.
