The Skid Row Stabber is an American serial killer, responsible for the murders of 11 people in the Los Angeles neighborhood known as Skid Row, which is notorious for housing a huge number of homeless people, who are regularly subjected to victimization. The criminal's signature weapon was a knife. While a suspect named Bobby Joe Maxwell was arrested, charged, and sentenced for the murders, his conviction was overturned in 2010.

The debate over Bobby Joe Maxwell's guilt continued for several decades, and he pled not guilty and regularly lodged appeals over the next 30 years. In 2010, Maxwell's lawyers were able to prove that the witnesses to Jones' murder couldn't identify him as the killer and had given false testimonies in court because of pressure from the investigators. It was proven that Sidney Storch, a former police officer and an informant for many years, had begun abusing his position in 1980 and had given false testimony in a number of trials due to selfish interests. As a result, in at least six cases, his testimony was considered invalid or unreliable. Considering these facts, the appellate court overturned Maxwell's sentence in 2010 and appointed him a new trial.

At the end of 2017, Maxwell suffered from a severe heart attack, which caused him to fall into a coma. In a new trial, the Los Angeles County Prosecutor's Office dropped all charges against Maxwell, after which, in August 2018, he was found not guilty, and his conviction and prison sentence were ruled as miscarriages of justice. Maxwell himself died in April 2019, never regaining consciousness and unable to learn of his release. The identity of the Skid Row Stabber remains unknown.