Man arrested in Rachel Morin murder case

(NewsNation) — Authorities have arrested a man in the killing of Rachel Morin, a Harford County Maryland mother whose body was found near a popular hiking trail in August 2023.

Victor Martinez Hernandez was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, late Friday night and booked into the jail early Saturday morning, according to court records. Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler announced in a press conference Saturday.

The 23-year-old had illegally crossed the border into the U.S. in February 2023, after murdering another young woman in El Salvador a month earlier in January 2023, Gahler said.

Rachel Morin Murder

Morin, 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who said she never returned after going out for a run. Her body was found on a trail the following day.

The case drew national attention after her family and officials indicated the suspect likely entered the U.S. illegally.

In February, police in Maryland released new sketches of the man they suspect killed Morin. Investigators were also able to trace the suspect to another crime in Los Angeles, California, saying DNA from the Morin crime scene was also connected to a home invasion and assault.

What do we know about Hernandez?

DNA taken from the Rachel Morin crime scene had been linked to an unidentified suspect in a Los Angeles home invasion, Colonel William Davis of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced. (Harford Co. Sheriff’s Office photos)

“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 nine-year-old girl and her mother in a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles.”

Hernandez also has connections in the Washington, D.C. area, in both Virginia and Prince George’s County, and ties to known gangs, Gahler said.