An illegal migrant from El Salvador is responsible for the murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five in Maryland, police announced.
At a news conference Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler said Victor Martinez-Hernandez was arrested Friday night and booked Saturday morning.
“Five hours after meeting with [Morin’s] family and just before midnight our time, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the help of our federal partners, located and arrested Rachel's killer: Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernández,” Gahler said.
He was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
MARYLAND SHERIFF'S 'GUT' SAYS RACHEL MORIN WAS 'STALKED' BY SUSPECT BEFORE HER MURDER
Víctor Martínez Hernández, 23, was arrested for the murder of Raquel Morín (Harford County Sheriff's Office)
Maryland authorities on February 12 released a sketch of the suspect in the August 2023 murder of Rachel Morin in Bel Air, Maryland. (Facebook/Harford County Sheriff)
The 23-year-old migrant crossed into the United States illegally in February 2023, police announced.
“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Gahler said. “I understand that this suspect, this monster, illegally fled to the United States after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier, in January 2023.”
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Gahler said his first DNA match to Martínez-Hernández was from an attack in Los Angeles in March 2023.
“Once in our country, and likely emboldened by his amity, he brutally attacked a nine-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March 2023 in Los Angeles,” Gahler said. “And as I think you all know, that was our first DNA match linking Rachel's case to the one in Los Angeles.”
Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was found dead Sunday on a hiking trail. Her new boyfriend, far right Richard Tobin, reported her missing. (Facebook)
The sheriff focused his attention on the crisis at the southern border, directing his comments to the White House and “both members of Congress.”
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border,” Gahler said. “And American citizens are not safe because of their failed immigration policies.”
“This is the second time in two years that an innocent Hartord County woman has lost her life at the hands of a criminal in our country illegally,” he said, repeating his statement. “In both cases these are suspects from El Salvador with links to criminal gangs. This should not be happening.”
“Víctor Hernández did not come to this country to make a better life for himself or his family, he came here to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came here to murder Raquel and, God willing, no one else,” he stated. . saying.
“But that should never have been allowed to happen,” Gahler said.
A police officer holds fliers requesting information about the murder of Rachel Morin on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. The trail is where Rachel Morin, 37, was found dead on Sunday. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Murder of Rachel Morin
Morin, 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who said she never returned after going for a run on the Ma & Pa Trail, a walking trail in Bel Air, a quiet and typically safe town about 28 miles away. northeast of baltimoreAugust 5, 2023.
His body was found on a trail the next day.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office in Maryland released two new sketches of a suspect in connection with the murder of Rachel Morin, 37, whose body was found in a wooded area near a trail on August 6, 2023. (Harford County Sheriff's Office)
In February, police released new sketches of the now-identified Martínez-Hernández.
The sketches came after DNA testing linked Martínez-Hernández to the scene of a home invasion in Los Angeles, California.
Police used the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which led them to a single DNA match for an unidentified Hispanic man.
MURDER OF RACHEL MORIN: MARYLAND SHERIFF'S OFFICE RELEASES NEW SKETCHES OF THE SUSPECT
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) picked up an abandoned hat at the scene of the March 2023 home invasion that turned violent and left several people, including minor children, injured.
The suspect allegedly broke into the home in the middle of the night and assaulted the family inside before being kicked out. Surveillance video footage captured the man leaving, shirtless, through the front door.
Rachel Morin has been missing since Saturday night after she said she was out for a walk on a trail in Maryland. (Harford County Sheriff's Office/FB)
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“I'm going to make this short because I'm very emotional,” said Rachel's mother, Patricia Morin. “I just want to take this moment to thank all law enforcement for their hard work.”
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“They really cared about our family and our daughter,” she said. “They were going to work diligently and find the person who murdered her.”
