AUSTIN, Texas — The KVUE Defenders have uncovered new details on how Austin police mishandled evidence in a murder investigation that's linked to accused serial killer Raul Meza Jr.
Austin police recently closed an internal investigation into the handling of a DNA lab report they say links Meza to Gloria Lofton's 2019 murder. The investigation also explains why detectives didn't act sooner on that DNA lab report.
This comes 10 months after the KVUE Defenders first revealed the investigative gap that police acknowledge may have allowed Meza to kill again.
In the months since this news, both a new law and procedures inside the Austin Police Department (APD) were put in place to make sure this kind of lapse never happens again. But the disbelief still remains for families of two of Meza's suspected victims.
For months, Austin police have been investigating a misstep in the Homicide Unit and now have an answer about how it happened.
According to an arrest affidavit for Meza, detectives were notified in May 2020 about a DNA match linking him to 65-year-old Lofton, who was found dead in her East Austin home in 2019. But the affidavit said police did not act on that information until 2023, after charging Meza in the death of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga.
"I thought, or I have always thought, that the higher powers that be would be on top of things, that there was a proper procedure," Lofton's daughter, Sonia Houston, said.
APD now tells the KVUE Defenders they have closed their inquiry into the matter, explaining, "The detective received the information and did not follow up. At the time the information was received, the detective was working a special assignment related to the protests of 2020."
The department said the detective will not be disciplined because APD learned about what happened outside a window to take action, adding, "State law prohibits the chief from formally disciplining officers for acts that occur more than 180 days prior to the time that discipline could be issued."
"That is kind of like a slap in the face after you have been told tragic news," Oscar Mota, Fraga's brother-in-law, said.
Mota believes Fraga would and should still be alive today.
"It is a tragedy on top of a tragedy," Mota said.
The city of Austin said it cannot release the name of the investigator because he was not disciplined.
A state law that took effect in January requires labs to notify detectives multiple ways if they get a DNA match that will provide a lead in the case. Investigators must also confirm that they received it.
Meanwhile, the cases against Meza are pending.