On October 28, 1978, 32-year-old Hispanic man Jose Cortez was found stabbed to death in an alley in Los Angeles. Multiple stab wounds from a long-bladed knife tied his killing to a series of attacks on Skid Row that began days earlier, with the first known victim discovered on October 23, 1978. Victims in the pattern were largely homeless or transient men, and the attacks showed signs described as ritualistic. The murders occurred within about a fifteen-block radius, which led investigators at the time to believe a single perpetrator was responsible.

Authorities later identified and arrested Bobby Joe Maxwell, who was charged in Cortez’s killing among others. Maxwell was convicted in 1984 on two counts of murder and given life without parole. His conviction was overturned in 2010 over concerns about jailhouse informant testimony. Maxwell remained in custody until his death in 2019. Jose Cortez’s killing remains one of the grim episodes from that Skid Row murder spree.