PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — We now have more information on why law enforcement officers – from the Austin Police Department (APD) to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – have been searching a Pflugerville field in connection with confessed killer Raul Meza Jr.
According to a search warrant obtained by the KVUE Defenders, the search stems from the possible death of a woman in March of 2022 – previously unreported by law enforcement.
Law enforcement officers have been searching for evidence of human remains and trace forensic evidence at a field off of FM 1825. The FBI and other law enforcement were seen searching the field on July 12, and the APD was again seen searching the field on July 17. During that first search, law enforcement was seen placing boxes in the back of vehicles.
The documents state that on May 25, 2023, APD obtained body camera footage from the Pflugerville Police Department of an incident several Pflugerville officers responded to on March 11, 2022, in the 400 block of Old Austin Pflugerville Road. The officers were responding to a 911 call about a man who appeared to have been in a fight walking along the sidewalk outside of a nearby apartment complex. One of the responding officers identified the man as Meza.
The officers observed that Meza was bleeding from his hands and mouth. When questioned about why he was in the area and what had happened to him, the documents state that Meza was abrasive with his answers and offered no logical explanation for his injuries. One officer noted that he had seen Meza walking through a large field just north of the apartment complex several minutes before the 911 call.
Meza initially told the officer he didn't know how he got to where he was, then attempted to convince the officers his vehicle had been stolen and then said it might be parked in the parking lot of a nearby complex on Social Drive. One of the officers located Meza's vehicle, a 2001 red Ford F-150, parked on Old Austin Pflugerville Road, which connects FM 1825 to Social Drive.
Meza confirmed the truck was his but continued to say he didn't know how it came to be in the area. One officer continued to question Meza about why his truck was parked along the side of the road, to which Meza finally said, "We got here about 9:35 p.m. or so [March 10, 2022]," according to the documents. When asked to clarify, Meza said, "I gave her a lift, and she's going towards Hutto." The documents state that Hutto is more than eight miles from where Meza's truck was parked.
One of the responding Pflugerville officers then began to search the open fields on both sides of the road. He found brass knuckles, a bag about 20 yards into the field, a "smashed-up phone" about 10 to 20 yards from the road and two cellphone cases on the side of the road, according to the documents.
The documents state that based on Meza's criminal history and the active charges against him, the APD officer reviewing the Pflugerville body camera video "became suspicious that the woman Meza claimed to have arrived in the area of Old Austin Pflugerville Road with was murdered and discarded" in one of the fields near where Meza's truck was parked.
On July 6, 2023, officials with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) met with the APD on Social Drive to conduct drone flyovers of the area. During the drone flyovers, an APD officer observed several locations that "displayed the properties of a possible burial site," including disturbed dirt and obviously artificial piles of rocks, brush and other materials.
On July 12, 2023, APD, Pflugerville police and the FBI's Evidence Response Team searched the area. During the search, officials discovered a gravesite that contained partially buried clothing and a tarp. The site was exhumed, but no human remains were located.
Officers, via the document, close with a request to search the area again with a K-9 trained in the detection of human remains to determine if the excavated grave site did once contain human remains. The request was granted by a Travis County judge on July 13.
It's unclear whether the second search on July 17 was the K-9 search granted in the warrant.
No additional information is available at this time.
Meza was arrested in May in connection with the murder of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga in Pflugerville and in connection with Gloria Lofton's death in 2019. Meza was previously convicted of the murder of 8-year-old Kendra Page in 1982. Authorities have said there are up to 10 cold cases that could be linked to him.
Meza remains booked in the Travis County Jail, charged with capital murder, unauthorized use of a vehicle and two other first-degree felonies.