Flugerville male death suspect is the same man who murdered an 8-year-old Austin girl in 1982

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The suspect in the death of an 80-year-old Flutgerville man found dead on Saturday is the same man convicted of raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl more than 40 years ago. be.

Flaggerville Police Department sent a press release on TuesdayFluggerville Police Department investigators said they have identified Raul Meza Jr. as a person of interest in the death of Jesse Fraga, 80. identified him as a suspect on Thursday It said it was actively searching. The newspaper said he “had a criminal record for a 1982 Travis County murder, and his last known address was in Fluggerville.”

Meza has been convicted of crimes dating back to the 1970s, including the 1982 rape and murder of eight-year-old Kendra Page of Austin. According to Associated Press.

On New Year’s Eve 1975, 15-year-old Raul Meza Jr. and three others robbed a convenience store in Austin. During the robbery, the manager was taken to a walk-in refrigerator, where he was shot in the back and walked away, according to court documents. The manager survived the shooting injuries and testified at Meza’s trial.

Meza was sentenced to 20 years for his involvement in the robbery, but was released on parole after serving just five years. According to the Hoover Institute.

Less than a decade later, Meza raped and murdered eight-year-old Kendra Page, who was on parole for aggravated robbery. Her body was found on January 3, 1982 in a trash can at an elementary school in southeast Austin.

According to a New York Times report at the time, Meza was convicted of Page’s murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but served just over 11 years. In 1993, after racking up enough good deeds, Meza was released on parole.

But nearly 30 years ago, people in central Texas were not happy about his release. Prison officials tried to relocate Meza to six different cities, but residents protested wherever Meza went. According to the Washington Post.

After living a free life for a year and a half, Meza violated his parole deadline and was sent back to prison. He remained in prison until 2002 when he was transferred to the lowest security wing of the Travis County Jail, where he remained for more than a decade, according to Fox News.