Will Sage Astor-Police arrest man in murder of Maryland mom Rachel Morin

Police arrest man in murder of Maryland mom Rachel Morin

BALTIMORE -- There has finally been an arrest in the high-profile murder of Rachel Morin, the mother of five who was killed along a popular hiking trail in Harford County Maryland last year.

Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from El Salvador was arrested on Friday, said Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler on Saturday during a news conference. He is being charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape, and Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healy will be the prosecutor on the case, Gahler said.  

Rachel Morin was found murdered along the Ma & Pa Trail last August. She went missing after going for a walk along a popular trail in Harford County. Law enforcement believe the suspect hid in a drainage culvert and attacked Morin while she was walking. Authorities were able to link her murder to an assault and home invasion in Los Angeles, California, that took place on March 26.  

Her family released a commercial plea in April for justice in the investigation. Finally, there is some closure for them.

"At one point when things seemed really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective said to me -- he said, 'Patience will win in the end.'" Rachel's mother, Patty Morin said.

Martinez Hernandez is a citizen of El Salvador.

Hernandez had illegally crossed the border into the U.S. in February 2023, after murdering another young woman in El Salvador a month earlier in January 2023, Gahler said. Interpol, the international law enforcement agency, had issued a warrant for his arrest for the homicide of the woman that occurred there. Then in March of 2023, investigators say he assaulted a 9-year-old girl and her mother at a home in Los Angeles.

Investigators are checking to see if he's connected to any other crimes.  

The suspect has connections in the Washington, D.C. area, in both Virginia and Prince George's County, and ties to known gangs, Gahler said.

"Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself or his family," Sheriff Gahler said. "He came here to escape the crime he committed in El Salvador. He came here and murdered Rachel and, God willing, no one else."  

The sheriff says a lead involving genetic genealogy led them to their suspect.

"On May 20, on what should've been Rachel's 38 birthday, and in a poetic coincidence or perhaps Rachel's own divine assistance, our investigators uncovered a lead that led us to this day," Sheriff Jeff Gahler said.

Detectives tracked Martinez Hernandez down in Tulsa, Oklahoma and arrested him at a bar there Friday night. Officers say when they approached him, he tried to lie about who he was and the crimes he's accused of.

"Hopefully he'll never have the opportunity to walk free again," Sheriff Gahler said.

Meanwhile, Harford County community members, especially those who use the Ma and Pa trail, tell WJZ they feel safer with him in custody.

"It's just a relief and God bless that family," Pat Balducci of Bel Air said. "So, I'm glad for them."

Harford County deputies are working to extradite Martinez Hernandez back here to Maryland, which could take 30 to 60 days.

Emily Hung contributed to this report.

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