The murder list of Manny Cortez is lengthy, and he earned the moniker “s*xual sadist” because of his involvement in multiple kidnapping attempts, attempted kidnappings, and assaults on adolescent females in California in the 1970s.
He moved to Oregon after the 1970s and there, in December 1979, he committed the terrible double murder of two 11-year-old friends named Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman.
Isser and Jackman’s bodies were found suffocated and having experienced sex abuse.
After being detained for the killings, Cortez was put on trial in 1980 for taking Jackman’s life.
Sadly, the judge was unable to make a ruling.
Thankfully, he was convicted in both cases at the subsequent trial.
He also admitted to another kidnapping event that occurred in 1977, and he is currently being investigated as a suspect in a number of other unresolved crimes.
He is reportedly serving a life term at the Oregon State Penitentiary jail, according to some official accounts.
His crimes will be examined in the Oxygen programme “Violent Minds: Killers on Tape” using taped discussions between him and psychiatrist Dr. Al Carlisle.
On Sunday, May 14, 2023, a future episode named “Manny Cortez Part 1” was shown on the network.
The following is an outline of it:
“Dr. Carlisle develops an unexpected friendship with prisoner Manny Cortez at the Oregon State Penitentiary and learns why Cortez killed two girls, age 11”
Authorities charged and found Cortez guilty of torturing and killing two 11-year-old Oregon children. He continues to be a suspect in other unsolved crimes.
According to Oxygen, two 11-year-old girls named Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman went missing, according to the Associated Press.
On December 27, 1979, in Ashland, Oregon, they were last seen playing tennis in a park close to Southern Oregon State College.
Isser’s naked body was discovered by the police in the press box of a college football pitch after a few hours on the same day, while Jackman’s body was discovered close to a gravel pit at the edge of Ashland after one day.
Both girls’ causes of death were listed as suffocation and s*xual abuse in the autopsy findings. He had horribly injured their bodies.
The largest detective squad ever sent by the neighbourhood police was assigned to this case.
But following a thorough examination, they designated him as a potential suspect.
Cortez was raised in the San Gabriel Valley of California by his family after being born in Texas.
Cortez received probation for attempting to kidnap a 17-year-old when, according to a 1993 report, he was 19 years old.
He was detained twice by authorities in the same year for additional kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted rape of two adolescent girls.
He was fortunate that the accusations against him were dropped.
He kidnapped a 16-year-old girl in 1977, but she was able to get away and named him as a suspect.
He had nowhere to run after this tragedy, so he relocated to Oregon and killed Deanna Jackman and Rachel Isser there.
When he was 26 years old, the prosecution described him as a sexual sadist.
He was put on trial for Jackman’s murder in 1980, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Later that year, he was found guilty of killing Isser and Jackman in a single trial.
He admitted guilt to the kidnapping from 1977 in 1982, and he was also the main suspect in several other unsolved homicides.