Augustine Luna, a 49-year-old Hispanic man, was one of several victims in a series of brutal stabbings on Los Angeles’ Skid Row in late 1978. He was found stabbed to death behind a building on South Main Street on November 12, 1978 — the same day another victim, 36-year-old Frank Floyd Reed, was killed. Victims in the series were typically male, often homeless or transient, and were discovered in alleys, parking lots, or sidewalks in a concentrated area of downtown Los Angeles; the attacker used a knife and the wounds were often multiple and fatal.

Investigators linked the killings to a pattern that began in October 1978 and continued into early 1979, with at least 11 deaths. Messages referencing Satan or a figure named Luther were left near some scenes. In April 1979 police arrested 29-year-old Bobby Joe Maxwell and later charged him with multiple murders and robberies; prosecutors relied largely on circumstantial evidence, including a palm print found near one scene and a logbook entry attributed to Maxwell. Maxwell was convicted in 1984 of two murders but that conviction was overturned in 2010; he died in 2019 while still incarcerated.

Anyone who knew Augustine Luna, his movements in November 1978, or who has information about the Skid Row stabbings is asked to come forward.