AUSTIN (KXAN) — A grand jury indicted Raul Meza, Jr., 62, in the 2019 death of his neighbor, Gloria Lofton, and in the 2023 death of Jesse Fraga, according to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.

Online court records show he’s being held on $1,000,000 bond. In May, he was arrested by the Austin Police Department for the murders.

Meza faces capital murder and murder charges in Lofton’s case. According to indictment documents for Lofton’s case, the grand jury ruled that Meza strangled Lofton “in the course of committing and attempting to commit the offense of aggravated sexual assault.”

The grand jury also indicted Meza on charges of murder and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in the death of Fraga. Arrest records from May state Meza had been living in Fraga’s Pflugerville home.

According to indictment documents filed this week in the case, the grand jury ruled Meza knowingly caused Fraga’s death by cutting, stabbing and strangling him.

On May 24, Meza called the APD 311 line and was transferred to the homicide line, police said. Meza told an officer that he killed Fraga, and implicated himself in the murder of Lofton in 2019, said Nathan Sexton, a sergeant with the Austin Police Department Homicide Unit. Police said it is uncommon for a person accused of such crimes to contact the police.

Meza’s arrest affidavit stated that in 2020, a DNA profile obtained from a sexual assault kit for Lofton’s matched Meza’s DNA, but police did not arrest Meza at that time. In June of this year, APD told KXAN it launched an internal investigation into the matter.

When police arrested Meza in the Lofton and Fraga cases, they said Meza may be connected to eight to 10 more murders, and at least one city leader referred to him as a “serial killer.”

Meza’s criminal history dates back decades.

In 1982, Meza was convicted of murdering 8-year-old Kendra Page. Her body was found in a dumpster at a southeast Austin elementary school. Meza was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but served just over 11 before being released on parole.

KXAN investigators discovered a decade-old lawsuit revealing more details about how Meza came to live with Fraga after his release.

According to archived reporting from the Statesman, Meza began using drugs at 8 years old and was arrested in 1973 on shoplifting and burglary charges.

In 1975, he was arrested for aggravated robbery.

Meza’s next court proceeding is August 22. KXAN has reached out to Meza’s attorney and will update this article when we receive a response.