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Labeled a s*xual sadist, Manuel Cortez, was involved in a slew of kidnappings, attempted kidnappings, and r*pes of teenage girls in California in the mid and later 70s until he fled to Oregon where he commited the double murders of 11-year-old friends Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman in late December 1979. Both Isser and Jackman were found suffocated and "s*xually molested."
Cortez was eventually linked to the killings and first tried in 1980 for Jackman's murder when the trial ended in a hung jury. However, a subsequent combined trial resulted in a conviction. He then pleaded guilty to another 1977 kidnapping and remains a suspect in multiple other unsolved cases.
According to reports, Manuel Cortez is currently serving life at the Oregon State Penitentiary where psychiatrist Dr. Al Carlisle interviewed him.
Oxygen's Violent Minds: Killers on Tape will further explore the crimes of Manuel Cortez via the tape recordings of Dr. Al Carlisle in an upcoming episode titled Manny Cortez Part 1. The episode airs on the channel this Sunday, May 14, at 7:00 pm ET.
Its synopsis reads as:
"Dr. Carlisle begins a surprising relationship with inmate Manny Cortez in the Oregon State Penitentiary and uncovers the impetus for Cortez's murder of two 11-year-old girls."
Disclaimer: This article mentions instances of s*xual assualt, reader discretion is advised.
Manuel Cortez was convicted in the killings and torture of two 11-year-old Oregon girls and remains a suspect in other cold cases
According to Oxygen, the Associated Press reported that 11-year-old friends Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman were out playing tennis at a park close to Southern Oregon State College on December 27, 1979, in Ashland, Oregon when they went missing.
That same evening, Isser's naked body was found in the press box of the college's football field while Jackman's body was found near a gravel pit at Ashland's border the following day. Respective autopsies revealed that both victims had died of suffocation, were "s*xually molested," and that their bodies were mutilated.
Local police had the "the city’s biggest detective force ever working on this," and a rigorous investigation led them to Manuel Cortez, who was originally born in Texas and brought up with his family to the San Gabriel Valley, California.
According to a 1993 Los Angeles Times article, Cortez, who was 19 at the time, was given probation for attempted kidnapping in 1975 after he tried to abduct a 17-year-old. He was then arrested twice the following year for kidnapping, r*ping, and attempting to r*pe two teenage girls. The charges were eventually dropped.
Then in 1977, Cortez abducted a 16-year-old girl who managed to escape and implicated him as a suspect, which led him to flee to Oregon where he committed the murders of Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman.
In 1980, Manuel Cortez, then 26, who prosecutors labeled a sexual sadist, was tried first in Jackman's murder, however, the trial resulted in a hung jury. In November of that year, both Isser and Jackman's were combined for a single trial which resulted in his conviction. Then, in 1982, he pleaded guilty to the 1977 kidnapping and was named as a suspect in other unsolved murders.
According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, Cortez is currently serving life at the Oregon State Penitentiary located in Salem.
Violent Minds: Killers on Tape will further delve into Manuel Cortez's crimes this Sunday at 7 pm ET on Oxygen.
