AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Detective Patrick Reed was the lead homicide detective on the Raul Meza case.
Last week, Meza pleaded guilty to killing Gloria Lofton in 2019 and Jesse Fraga in 2023. He accepted the maximum sentence and will spend life in prison without the opportunity for parole. He also cannot appeal his case.
"I think [the sentence] speaks volumes to the quality of work that the investigators did to be able to make that plea deal viable," Reed said.
While family members of Meza's victims are relieved he will spend the rest of his life behind bars, they had hoped to see him face the death penalty and remained skeptical throughout the investigation into Lofton's death.
Reed addressed this with KXAN reporter Brianna Hollis on Thursday.
"I can't say how I would go through the process of losing a loved one, especially in their specific situation," Reed said. "Then, now and moving forward, I will continue to work to bring justice to Gloria."
Meza's killing spree did not begin with Lofton in 2019. In 1982, he was convicted of murdering 8-year-old Kendra Page. A plea deal put him behind bars for decades, but due to lax state laws at the time, he got off on good behavior about 10 years into that sentence.
When he killed Page, he was on parole for shooting and seriously injuring a store clerk a few years prior. You can view an interactive timeline of Meza's criminal history here.
Reed said 311 commonly gets calls from people looking to speak with the homicide unit for various reasons. Sometimes they're witnesses offering tips, other times it's members of the public looking for information on a case or people connected to victims asking for details.
Almost never, he says, is it someone calling to turn themselves in.
"He said my name is Raul Meza, and I think you're looking for me," Reed said. "And he talks about an incident that occurred on Sara Drive in 2019. By going through our cases with the analyst, we found the 2019 case with Gloria."
The investigation into Lofton's death drew criticism from her daughters, who expressed frustrations regarding things including the miscommunication over DNA hit on Meza and Lofton's original autopsy report listing her cause of death as "undetermined."
Reed discusses the 311 call and the family's concerns in the clip below.
Reed said investigators are still looking into certain aspects of Lofton's case, including whether anyone else was also involved in her death.
Meza is still a person of interest in a case in Pflugerville, where investigators found evidence of burial sites in a field.
Originally, APD thought Meza could be linked to a series of other cold cases in town, but the department recently told KXAN DNA evidence has since ruled Meza out as a suspect in those instances.
