Huge update in hunt for Rachel Morin’s killer as Victor Martinez charged over murder of mom of 5 found near hiking trail

POLICE have arrested and charged a man with the horrific killing of Rachel Morin, whose body was found beside a wooded trail in Maryland last year.

Morin , 37, went for a walk on August 5 and never returned, prompting a frantic search that ended with the grisly discovery of her body the next day but no suspect.

Harford County Sheriff's Office

Harford County Sheriff's Office

Facebook/rachel.morin.334

Police arrested Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler announced in a press conference on Saturday.

Martinez-Hernandez has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.

“It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States after the murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier in January of 2023,” Sheriff Gahler said.

“Once in our country, he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother in a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles.”

Last August, Morin left for the Bel Air nature trail around 6 pm that Friday, but never returned home.

She was reported missing by her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, at 11:30 pm later that night.

The next day, volunteers searching for the mother-of-five made a horrific discovery.

Morin’s body was found in a drain runoff pit near the trail.

“At approximately 1.07pm, a female was located deceased off of the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air,” the police stated upon discovering her body.

“The identity of the victim, as well as the cause, and manner of death are still under investigation.”

It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States after the murder of a young woman in El Salvador…Once in our country, he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother in a home invasion

Jeffery Gahler Harford County Sheriff

DNA found on Morin’s body matched a man previously arrested in Los Angeles for a home invasion.

“That DNA was analyzed by the Maryland State Police and it was ran through a national coded system,” Maryland police said in a press conference last August.

“This DNA evidence can come back as a match tied to a home invasion and insult and an assault of a young girl in Los Angeles this past March.”

At the time, the police did not give a name of the suspect but only a physical description of him as a 5-foot-9 Hispanic male weighing approximately 160 pounds.

Timeline of Rachel Morin's Case

Ten months after Rachel Morin's body was discovered in a Maryland park, police have arrested 23-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez for her murder.

• August 5, 2023: Rachel left for the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore, at 6 pm and never came home. She was reported missing by her boyfriend five hours later.
• August 6, 2023: Volunteers find Morin’s body in a drain runoff pit near the trail.
• August 17, 2023: Police hold a press conference about the case and announce that DNA collected from her body matched a man previously arrested for a home invasion in Los Angeles.
• October 2023: With no new leads, $10,000 is offered to anyone with details of the suspect.
• February 13, 2024: Police release a sketch of the suspect.
• June 14, 2024: Victor Martinez-Hernandez is arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and charged with first-degree rape and murder.

“We want to make it clear that we believe the suspect acted alone,” the police said.

“And he doesn’t represent the entire Hispanic community of Harford County, who we are now partnering with to identify this suspect.”

The suspect, now identified as Martinez-Hernandez, was caught on camera during the Los Angeles crime .

Police released the security footage to the public and offered thousands of dollars for information.

The hunt for Morin’s murderer became so widespread that even the notorious bounty hunter, Dog the Bounty Hunter , began helping with the search.

“Hey Bounty Nation, I need you guys to do what you do best and help me identify this suspect!!” Dog wrote on Facebook.

Attached to the post, Dog included the security footage from the home invasion and the police’s description of the perpetrator.

Despite having video footage, it wasn’t until February 2024, over six months after Morin’s body was discovered, that police released a detailed sketch of the suspect.

Martinez-Hernandez, 23, entered the United States illegally from El Salvador in 2023, ABC affiliate WMAR reported.

Sheriff Gahler said in the conference that Martinez-Hernandez would be extradited from Oklahoma to Maryland but did not give a specific timeline.

He is currently being held without bond.

Harford County Sheriff's Office