A Maryland sheriff trashed the southern border of the United States after an illegal immigrant, already wanted for the murder of a woman in his native El Salvador, was arrested Friday and charged with the rape and murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was murdered while on a hiking trail last year.
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said illegal immigrant Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, should not have been in the country to carry out the horrific crime.
He was caught “casually sitting” at a bar Friday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and investigators said a police tip and DNA evidence allowed them to solve the case and locate him.
“He killed a woman in El Salvador and that's why he fled there, to come here across our open border,” Gahler told America's Newsroom on Monday.
MURDER OF RACHEL MORIN: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM EL SALVADOR ACCUSED OF RAPE AND MURDER OF MARYLAND MOTHER OF 5 CHILDREN
Illegal immigrant Víctor Antonio Martínez Hernández, left; Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, top right; Rachel Morin with her boyfriend Richard Tobin, bottom right. (Tulsa Police Department, Fox News, Facebook)
“He tried to enter legally and was turned away. And yeah, that didn't deter him because we have a very porous border and he got through… and this is the result.”
Morin's naked and beaten body was found in a sewer on August 6 after the 37-year-old man disappeared the day before while walking along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, a quiet and typically safe town about 28 miles north. northeast of Baltimore.
Gahler said Martínez Hernández was free to roam throughout the United States after entering the country illegally in February 2023, about a month after he was wanted in El Salvador for homicide. Police linked Martinez Hernandez's DNA to a March home invasion in Los Angeles, where a mother and her 9-year-old daughter were assaulted.
“For my citizens here in Harford County, for all citizens of this country, this is a public safety crisis and one that we can so easily fix if we actually come up with a workable immigration policy for our country. It's just crazy that “Let's allow things like Rachel's murder to happen, and when I say 'allow it,' we allow it by letting him into this country unopposed.”
“That should not happen to families in our country. It can be prevented.”
MURDER OF RACHEL MORIN: FORMER FBI AGENT REVEALS HOW THE CAPTURE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECTED IN MURDER WAS DECREASED
The Harford County Sheriff's Office in Maryland posted signs at the headwaters of the Ma & Pa Trail on June 17, 2024 announcing the arrest for the August 2023 murder of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
Gahler said there is no death penalty in Maryland, but he hopes Martínez Hernández rots in prison for his alleged crimes. The sheriff went on to say that a bipartisan effort is needed to address border issues that have been plaguing for decades.
“The border has never been more secure than when President Trump was in office, but it has been an issue dating back to my 40 years in law enforcement.”
Meanwhile, Trump weighed in on Morin's death on Monday, comparing it to the death of Georgia student Laken Riley and blaming President Biden.
“Rachel Morin was on the run in Maryland, as was Laken Riley in Georgia, when she was brutally murdered by an illegal monster who was wanted for murder in El Salvador and fled to the US because he knew Crooked Joe would let him in.” Trump wrote in Truth Social. “Now Rachel Morin's five young children will grow up without her mother because Crooked Joe refuses to close the border.”
Video: Attorney Randolph Rice Reacts to Arrest of Illegal Immigrant in Rachel Morin Case
Randolph Rice, an attorney for Morin's family, said it is surprising that someone like Martínez Hernández, who was already wanted for murder in his home country, could enter the United States.
“This is an American problem and you would think that the Border Patrol would be able to stop people and say, 'Hey, are you wanted for murder in your country? If so, you can't come here,'” Rice told Fox and Friends first on Monday.
“And that's certainly a big problem and Maryland is very far from the southern border, so it's clearly not something that's just affecting the southern states. It's reaching all the way to Maryland and Harford County, which is a very rural area. , small county. It can happen anywhere in America and it's something Washington really has to fix.”
MARYLAND SHERIFF'S 'GUT' SAYS RACHEL MORIN WAS 'STALKED' BY SUSPECT BEFORE HER MURDER
Víctor Martínez Hernández, 23, right, was arrested for the murder of Rachel Morin, left.
Rice revealed later Monday to Fox News that Martínez Hernández waived extradition and will soon be sent back to Maryland.
A DNA test conducted on May 20, when Morin would have turned 38, helped uncover the clue that ultimately led to Martínez Hernández's arrest.
“That DNA discovery in Los Angeles was a breakthrough in the investigation,” Gahler said. “So, working hand in hand on a planet of billions of people, we were able to find an individual, identify him, find him on a stool sitting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and take him into custody.”
Surveillance footage of the suspect leaving the Los Angeles home was released in February, showing a shirtless man fleeing the home. The suspect allegedly broke into the home in the middle of the night and assaulted the family he was inside before being kicked out, but left a hat at the scene.
Gahler said the intensive investigation was assisted by multiple agencies, including the FBI and law enforcement officials in Los Angeles and Tulsa.
RACHEL MORIN MURDER: MARYLAND POLICE LINK CRIME SCENE DNA TO LOS ANGELES ASSAULT, HOME INVASION
Her family posted a photo of Rachel Morin in a tree last night along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland on August 10, 2023. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Bill DelBango of the FBI's Baltimore field office said at a news conference Saturday that FBI investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify Morin's alleged killer.
“Our genetic genealogy research team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect using DNA from the crime scene and tracing that DNA to possible family members,” DelBango said.
“To find the suspect, we provided technical assistance to help determine his location. That brings us (Friday night) to where Tulsa police and FBI agents were able to successfully apprehend and arrest the suspect in Oklahoma.”
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Police on the Williams Street section of the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on August 8, 2023. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Morin's mother, Patricia, at the news conference praised the efforts of law enforcement.
“At one point, when things seemed really bleak and desperate, the lead detective told me, ‘Patience will win out in the end.’ And that's what (investigators) have been doing,” he said.
“They've been working very hard and diligently, and they've been patiently working all the leads. And that's why we have an arrest today, so I'm very grateful and very grateful to these men.”
