Additional Coverage:
- Arrest made nearly a year after Rachel Morin was dragged from a Maryland running trail and murdered (newsbreak.com)
Almost a year after the tragic killing of a mother of five on a hiking trail in Maryland, authorities have announced a significant breakthrough in the investigation. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office disclosed on Saturday the apprehension of 23-year-old Victor Martinez Hernandez in connection to the slaying of Rachel Morin. Hernandez, originally from El Salvador, was detained on Friday at an establishment in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as reported by the Baltimore Banner.
Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler shared in an online press briefing, “Rachel’s murderer is now in custody. We hope he is never allowed freedom again.”
Morin, age 37, was discovered deceased in August 2023, along the Ma and Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland. Reports indicate she was forcibly removed from the trail and dragged into a nearby wooded area.
Her body was later found in a culvert.
During the investigation, DNA evidence discovered at the crime scene linked Morin’s murder to an assault and home invasion incident in California. Despite this lead, the suspect evaded capture until recently.
Sheriff Gahler further explained, “The break in the case came from DNA evidence, helping investigators identify the man seen in a video from Los Angeles, shared two weeks after Rachel’s death.” It was revealed that Hernandez had been in the U.S. unlawfully since February 2023, according to WBAL-TV.
Authorities believe Hernandez is responsible for a murder in El Salvador before entering the U.S., and shortly after, he was involved in an attack on a nine-year-old girl and her mother during a home break-in in Los Angeles.
Highlighting a disturbing pattern, Sheriff Gahler noted, “This incident marks the second instance of a woman in our county being murdered by individuals in the country illegally, both with connections to criminal gangs from El Salvador.” He criticized the circumstances allowing such incidents to occur, emphasizing that Hernandez did not come to the U.S. with intentions of improving his life or his family’s but rather to flee from his criminal activities in El Salvador.