Rachel Morin’s mother provided a deeper look into her daughter’s life, the family’s grief, and the arrest of a 23-year-old El Salvadoran man, 10 months after Rachel’s murder.
“Rachel, from birth on, has been this little spark, like a little fireball. I remember her being like 14 -15 months old, and she’s very petite, fair skin, bright orange hair, and she just loved life,” Rachel’s mother, Patricia Morin, told Nancy Grace during Thursday’s Crime Stories episode.
“She loved learning new things. Everything excited her. The excitement wasn’t learning, but also she was very sensitive.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, police said Morin was found dead on August 6, 2023, off the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Harford County, Maryland. She was found a little over 12 hours after her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing when she didn’t return from a run.
Afterward, Maryland State Police examined the DNA left at the crime scene and processed it in the CODIS database. The DNA came back as a match for a man under suspicion for breaking into a Los Angeles home and assaulting a young girl in March 2023.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said the breakthrough in the case came when DNA evidence uncovered the suspect’s identity as Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez. Investigators subsequently tracked Martinez-Hernandez to Oklahoma and obtained an arrest warrant Friday afternoon.
Gahler said the suspect crossed into the US illegally in February 2023, a month after he allegedly killed a woman in his home country. While US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on him, Gahler said he will face charges in Maryland and California before being deported.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey said her office has initiated the extradition process to bring Martinez-Hernandez back to Maryland, adding that she would “personally be leading the prosecution of this case.”
Meanwhile, Patricia says she remembers her daughter as a loving and devoted mother, noting her caring nature and deep affection for her five children.
“She cared about people. She cared about people’s feelings She was very compassionate,” Patricia continued.
“She grew up to be just a wonderful woman, balanced. We…I loved her because she had a strong sense of herself. And she didn’t have a problem disagreeing with mom because mom’s a little older and more traditional than she was.
“But that’s what made her who she was. She knew who she was. She loved her children. She devoted herself to her children. She was a hard worker.”
Meanwhile, when he’s brought back to Maryland, Martinez-Hernandez will face charges of first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
Additional reporting by Jacquelyn Gray
