The undocumented immigrant responsible for the rape and murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five, remained emotionless as he received two life sentences, in addition to 40 extra years behind bars.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a 24-year-old from El Salvador, received his sentencing more than two years following the discovery of 37-year-old Morin’s body on the Ma and Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland, in August 2023.
Mom Rachel Morin was raped and strangled to death on a popular hiking trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on August 5, 2023[/caption]
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an El Salvador native, was arrested in Oklahoma nearly a year after Morin was found dead[/caption]
Sheriff’s officials surround Martinez-Hernandez after he was charged with Morin’s murder[/caption]
Rachel Morin was a mother-of-five who owned a cleaning business in Bel Air, Maryland[/caption]
As reported by ABC affiliate WMAR, each of Morin’s five children either presented a written statement or an audio message in court while Martinez-Hernandez awaited his sentencing.
The victim’s elder brother, Michael, mentioned he was relying on his faith, trying to extend forgiveness to the perpetrator, drawing on the belief that God offers forgiveness even to the gravest offenders.
Morin‘s younger brother, John, said that he suffered through a “tidal wave of grief” after losing his sister.
Despite the heartfelt testimonies, Martinez-Hernandez appeared indifferent, as prosecutors criticized him for not recognizing the gravity of his horrifying act.
Earlier this week, a doctor conducted an evaluation and found the sick criminal was at a high risk of reoffending, prosecutors said.
In a moving interview, Morin’s mother, Patty, expressed her difficulty in finding the right words to convey the significance of her daughter’s life in her statement to the court.
“I think about my grandchildren and her siblings, and the pain that they’ve suffered,” she told Fox News ahead of the sentencing.
“It’s just gonna be a really hard day. No way around it.”
Alison Healey, the state attorney of Harford County, said that despite Martinez-Hernandez’s undocumented status in the United States, the killer will have to serve his sentencing in Maryland.
“He wouldn’t be deported until after he’s served his sentence,” Healey said, explaining, “that’s because our judges don’t have authority to incarcerate anyone in any jails except the Maryland department of correction.
“So, he’ll have to serve his sentence and he’ll spend the rest of his life there.
“I don’t believe there will be any deportation because it seems to me that he’s going to die in our prison system.”
‘A LIGHT’
Morin’s mom remembered her daughter as being very “alive” and always having a positive impact on people.
“When she walked into a room, it’s like the whole room lit up because she brought this energy and life with her,” Patty told Fox News.
“She always seemed happy. Even when she was stressing out, she was always joking.”
Now that Morin is gone, her heartbroken mom said they are left with a “void.”
SENSELESS MURDER
Martinez-Hernandez’s sentencing came after Morin disappeared on August 5, 2023, when she went on a run on the trail near her home in Bel Air, about 45 minutes outside Baltimore.
Morin, who owned her own house cleaning business, frequented the trail and tried to exercise there every day.
Later that evening, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, called 911 and reported her missing.
Morin’s daughters tried to get in touch with her but their text messages went unanswered.
The following day, two of Morin’s friends found her body abandoned in a drainage tunnel underneath a road.
The medical examiner determined that Morin had been strangled and ruled her death a homicide.
The Hartford County Sheriff’s Office launched an urgent search for the killer and fielded over 1,000 tips.
They uncovered DNA at the scene that matched another profile from a home invasion in Los Angeles that was four months before the murder.
Timeline of Rachel Morin’s Case
Ten months after Rachel Morin’s body was discovered in a Maryland park, police arrested 23-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez for her murder.
- August 5, 2023: Rachel left for the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore, at 6 pm and never came home. She was reported missing by her boyfriend five hours later.
- August 6, 2023: Volunteers find Morin’s body in a drain runoff pit near the trail.
- August 17, 2023: Police hold a press conference about the case and announce that DNA collected from her body matched a man previously arrested for a home invasion in Los Angeles.
- October 2023: With no new leads, $10,000 is offered to anyone with details of the suspect.
- February 13, 2024: Police release a sketch of the suspect.
- June 14, 2024: Victor Martinez-Hernandez is arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and charged with first-degree rape and murder.
- April 15, 2025: Martinez-Hernandez is found guilty of murder, rape, and kidnapping charges
- August 11, 2025: Martinez-Hernandez is sentenced
KILLER UNMASKED
However, detectives didn’t have an identity at the time.
Investigators were led to several residences around Maryland and collected more genetic material before naming Martinez-Hernandez as their primary suspect.
They learned that he was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but lived and worked at a Popeyes near Morin at the time of her death.
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested on June 14, 2024, and denied ever hearing Morin’s name.
However, when investigators looked through his internet search history, they found he had watched YouTube videos about her case.
