Who Was the Skid Row Stabber?
10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories
Joe Kuner
4.8 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1978, someone started targeting the most vulnerable people in Los Angeles—men living on the streets of Skid Row. Over the course of a year, eleven of them were stabbed to death. The press called the killer the “Skid Row Stabber,” but despite witness accounts, a creepy bathroom confession, and a guy named Luther who may or may not have existed, the murders stayed unsolved.
Then police arrested Bobby Joe Maxwell—a guy with a rough past, a questionable knife, and a diary full of Satanic ramblings. It was enough to land him in prison for life. But here’s the thing: the evidence against Bobby never really added up. No real forensics. Witnesses who later recanted. A jailhouse snitch who turned out to be full of it.
This episode walks through how the case fell apart, who got away with what, and what happens when the system just needs someone to take the fall. It’s about broken trust, vulnerable lives, and a killer who may still be a ghost in the city’s memory.
#SkidRowStabber #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMurders #WrongfulConviction #BobbyJoeMaxwell #SerialKillers #JusticeSystemFail #SkidRowMurders
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In the late 70s, someone was stabbing homeless men to death in downtown L.A. |
| 0:05.9 | And doing it with the kind of confidence usually reserved for people who know no one's watching. |
| 0:11.8 | The press called him the Skid Row Stabber. |
| 0:15.0 | Police called in a guy named Bobby Joe Maxwell, who had the wrong vibes, a weird diary, and the bad luck of knowing someone |
| 0:23.4 | who'd snitch for a sandwich. Today's story isn't just about a killer. It's about what happens |
| 0:29.3 | when you need a name more than you need the truth. Before we dive in, if you like your true crime |
| 0:34.5 | brief and bingeable, you're in the right place. |
| 0:40.7 | Hit Follow Now for at least two new episodes every week. |
| 0:42.7 | This is 10-minute murder. |
| 0:44.0 | Let's get into it. Thank you. The The 1978, downtown Los Angeles. |
| 1:18.5 | The city's heartbeat was loud, but in the background, barely audible to the people not paying attention, something much darker had started to stir. |
| 1:28.2 | In the alleys, beneath overpasses and in forgotten corners of Skit Row, someone was praying |
| 1:34.2 | on the people who had already been failed in every possible way. |
| 1:39.3 | Most of them didn't have homes. |
| 1:41.4 | If they were lucky, they had a blanket or a tarp. Maybe a shopping cart of |
| 1:45.8 | things they called theirs. Many battled addiction. Many lived with untreated mental illness. |
| 1:52.5 | And some were just people who'd been chewed up and spit out by life. Skid Row wasn't where |
| 1:58.1 | you started. It was where you landed when every other door slammed shut. |
| 2:03.0 | And then, people started dying. In October of 78, police found 50-year-old Jesse Martinez stabbed |
| 2:10.6 | to death. No witnesses, no known enemies, no reason. Just dead. About a week later, 32-year-old Jose Cortez turned up dead. Same brutal ending. |
| 2:23.4 | And not long after that, it was 46-year-old Bruce Drake. Something was happening, and the people |
| 2:29.3 | it was happening too. Society barely noticed. Weeks passed, and the bodies kept showing up. Most were left where |
... |
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