Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, left, is suspected of killing Rachel Morin, right. In the center is a composite sketch of the suspect released during the lengthy manhunt. (The image on the left is from Tulsa police; the sketch and Morin photos are from Harford County Sheriff’s Office — Maryland)
The family of a man accused of sexually assaulting and beating to death a mother of five on a Maryland hiking trail provided the evidence that authorities said linked the suspect through DNA to the gruesome crime.
The family of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, who faces murder, rape and assault charges in the August 2023 death of Rachel Morin, 37, turned over a bag of clothes and shoes to investigators on June 13. DNA from some of the clothing matched the DNA recovered from the crime scene, according to the charging document in the case. The evidence was collected after investigators learned the suspect had been staying with his family in Maryland between December 2023 and May 2024, when he left the location — and his belongings — and never returned, the document said his family told authorities.
A tip led authorities to a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Martinez-Hernandez was arrested on June 14. He was transferred to Maryland and was being held without bond at the Harford County Detention Center. He appeared via Zoom for a court hearing in Maryland this week and was denied bail.
Morin’s mother reacted to the latest revelations in the high-profile case, Fox News Digital reported.
“That’s really brazen to stay in the state where he committed the crime,” she told the network. “It amazes me. It also amazes me that his family didn’t see the fliers we posted.”
Morin’s boyfriend reported her missing on Aug. 5, 2023. He told police she had gone for a walk on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air earlier that evening and never returned home. Authorities found her car in a trail parking lot and her body the following afternoon in a wooded area near the parking lot, authorities said.
There were signs she had been beaten and sexually assaulted. She was partially naked with her sports bra pulled up over her breasts and her shorts pulled down to her ankles, the charging document said.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey said she had also been strangled and had 10 to 15 head wounds, CBS Baltimore affiliate WBJ reported.
Genetic material from an unknown male was found in DNA evidence from multiple areas of Morin’s body. Investigators said they linked the DNA to a possible relative of the suspect and tracked the family down in Maryland on June 13, when investigators said they got the tip that ultimately led to his arrest.
As Law&Crime reported last week, the suspect allegedly killed a woman in El Salvador and attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles, in a case authorities say they linked the suspect to Morin’s murder through DNA.
When police captured him casually sitting at a bar in Tulsa, he initially lied about his identity and denied any knowledge of the crimes he is wanted for, cops said.
At a news conference, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler minced no words when talking about the accused killer’s arrest.
“Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man,” he said. “Hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again. I want him to die in a Maryland prison system.”
Authorities said he is a citizen of El Salvador who illegally crossed the border into the United States in February 2023.
“We all suspected that perhaps Rachel was not his first victim, and it’s my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier in January of 2023,” Gahler said.
Once in the U.S. and “likely emboldened by his anonymity,” Gahler said he attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March 2023 in LA.
More details about the suspect were revealed through his public defender — he has a 3-year-old child and works to support his family, WBJ reported.
“Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself or for his family,” the sheriff said during the announcement of his arrest last week. “He came here to escape the crime he committed in El Salvador. He came here and murdered Rachel and, God willing, no one else. But that should have never been allowed to happen.”
He is set for a court hearing on July 18 in Harford County District Court, online booking records show.
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