Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty Monday of the murder of Maryland mother Rachel Morin in 2023.
The jury convicted Martinez-Hernandez on charges of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping.
Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was found dead near the Ma & Pa Trail in Harford County on August 6, 2023, a day after she left for a jog.
Officials discuss guilty verdict of man who murdered Rachel Morin 21:19
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested almost 10 months later in Oklahoma. According to law enforcement, Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally from El Salvador in 2023 and has known ties to gangs.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey said after the verdict that the state will be seeking the maximum penalty possible by law, which is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“At the end of the day, that’s the judge’s decision,” Healey said. “I will say, [Judge Yolanda Curtin] sat and watched this trial, she saw what a violent and brutal and vicious attack this was. I hope that she considers that, ultimately.”
Closing arguments ended Monday afternoon before the judge read the jury instructions for deliberations. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning a guilty verdict.
Investigators said Morin was found brutally attacked and murdered in a drainage culvert about 150 feet off the trail. The case made headlines across the country with DNA evidence from Morin’s death connected to the assault of a child and her mother in Los Angeles in 2023.
“This case shook our Harford County community and robbed a family of their daughter, sister, mother, and friend,” Healey said.
Martinez-Hernandez’s murder trial began in Maryland on April 4.
“While no verdict or sentence can ever bring Rachel back,” Healey said. “I am proud of the work that has been done to ensure that justice was served and that Victor Martinez-Hernandez will never again be a threat to another woman in his lifetime.”
Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler blamed immigration policies that allowed Martinez-Hernandez to illegally cross into the United States in 2023, when Joe Biden was president.
Investigators said Martinez-Hernandez left his native country, El Salvador, in February 2023, after several attempts following an arrest warrant that was issued for a woman’s murder.
According to law enforcement, Martinez-Hernandez was apprehended by Border Patrol agents for unlawfully entering the U.S. on three separate occasions in 2023, including on Jan. 19, 2023, near Santa Teresa, New Mexico; Jan. 31, 2023, in El Paso, Texas; and Feb. 6, 2023, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
He was then linked to an assault in March 2023 in Los Angeles before coming to Maryland, where he murdered Morin, according to investigators.
“It shouldn’t be political, but the failure here is the immigration system that allowed this person to enter our country illegally, and remain in our country and commit crimes in Los Angeles and here in Harford County,” Gahler said.
Gahler added that the collaboration from all levels of law enforcement led to the apprehension of Martinez-Hernandez at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Without the cooperation at the state, local, and federal level, working hand-in-hand with one another, with no restrictions set by silly legislatures who want to be pro-criminal, but actually working for public safety, this is what you are able to accomplish,” Gahler said. “You’re able to find a needle in a haystack, and that needle was this monster, the haystack was the world, and working hand-in-hand with the evidence, with technology and science, we were able to find that individual and bring him to court to face this justice system.”
Gahler also targeted lawmakers for abolishing the death penalty in 2013.
“I would say just sentencing ahead, but we know Maryland did away with the death penalty, which I can’t think of any case more appropriately fitting, and sadly, our legislature has decided otherwise,” Gahler said.
President Trump blames Biden
On the social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump condemned former President Joe Biden over Rachel Morin’s murder by an undocumented immigrant.
“Moments ago, the illegal criminal, who was allowed into our country by crooked Joe Biden, was convicted of the heinous murder of Rachel Morin,” Mr. Trump said. “Rachel was a beautiful mother of five from Maryland, and her life was taken at the hands of a monster who should have never been here in the first place.”
Mr. Trump also brought into coverage of Morin’s trial, compared to the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
The White House says he is an MS-13 gang member, but his attorneys and wife say that he is not affiliated with a gang.
“The Fake News should be focusing on the beautiful life and tragic death of this Maryland mother, rather than the so-called ‘Maryland father,’ who is actually an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador,” Mr. Trump said. “We will never forget Rachel Morin, and are committed to protecting women like her across our country. We will deport illegal murderers, rapists, and criminals.”
Attorneys make closing arguments
The prosecution and defense had a final chance to make their case to the jury on Monday.
The defense rested its case in the morning after calling only one defendant for less than 10 minutes.
Before entering into emotional closing arguments on both sides in the afternoon, Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey outlined every event relating to this case, starting with the day Morin disappeared on August 5, 2023, until when Martinez Hernandez was arrested in June of 2024.
Healey illustrated her arguments with evidence, photos, and videos presented over the last two weeks of the trial, reminding the jury that Martinez-Hernandez’s DNA was found on every piece of evidence presented in the trial.
When considering the charge of first-degree premeditated murder, Healey told the jury, “You don’t accomplish a rape and a murder in four to six minutes unless you have a plan.”
But defense attorney Marcus Jenkins asked the jury to consider several main points while deliberating.
Jenkins said the first was the lack of motive, adding that Martinez-Hernandez didn’t know Morin and never communicated with her in the past.
Jenkins also pointed out that one witness, the last who allegedly saw Morin alive, testified he saw a man in the woods moments before seeing Morin on the trail.
The man in the woods was described as a tall, broad, muscular man with a blonde beard, which does not match the description of Martinez-Hernandez.
Opening Statements in Martinez-Hernandez’s trial
During opening statements, the prosecution said Morin visited the Ma & Pa Trail almost every day during the summer.
According to Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey, Morin stopped responding to text messages and phone calls on August 5, 2023, around 7 p.m.
The prosecution revealed that Morin’s boyfriend, Richard Tobin, went out to look for Morin and later called 911 when he wasn’t able to find her.
During opening statements, the defense said they disagreed with the prosecution about who killed Morin.
Martinez-Hernandez’s lawyer Sawyer Hicks said Morin attracted a lot of male attention and said her relationship with Tobin could have upset other interested men.
Hicks said whoever killed Morin must have wanted to humiliatte her and he questioned why Martinez-Hernandez would have that motive.
Family, investigators and witnesses testify
Morin’s children and boyfriend testified during Martinez-Hernandez’s trial.
Morin’s 14-year-old daughter, Violet Custer, recalled the last text message she received from her mother around 7 p.m. Morin’s oldest daughter, Faye McMahon, also recalled the lack of response from her mother after 7 p.m.
Tobin said his first few calls went to voicemail before he started getting a beeping tone when trying to reach Morin. He recalled going out to the Ma & Pa Trail and seeing Morin’s car in a nearby parking lot.
During his testimony, Tobin revealed that he thought Morin was cheating on him, so he checked neighborhood bars before going to Morin’s house and finding her daughter, Custer, panicking.
A witness named Kyle Stacy also testified during the trial and is one of the last people believed to have seen Morin alive.
He told the courtroom that he was walking on the Ma & Pa Trail when he saw Morin. He also recalled hearing a branch snap in the woods near the trail and locking eyes with a man holding a stick with an orange cap.
According to Stacy, the man was “acting sneaky,” like he had been caught.
“I wish I said something,” Stacy said to the jury.
Several investigators and DNA experts also testified during the trial. One detective recalled the moment that Morin’s body was found, saying it was obvious “this was not a slip and fall injury” and “this was a serious attack.”
Tiffany Keener with the Maryland State Police Crime Lab revealed during her testimony that the DNA found on Morin’s body was a match for Martinez-Hernandez.
Martinez-Hernandez denies DNA match
During the trial, a video of Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest was played for the courtroom.
In the video, he denies any involvement in the murder and even denies having ever been to Maryland.
However, an aunt of Martinez-Hernandez previously told investigators that he lived in her Temple Hills home in 2023. She also said Martinez-Hernandez had left the home about a month after Morin’s death.
When Martinez-Hernandez was taken into custody in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his phone revealed searches for the Bel Air area and pictures of Morin.
When asked why his DNA was found at the crime scene, Martinez-Hernandez told investigators that he didn’t know.
“In reality, I don’t know. Today, there is so much technology, anyone could do damage to anyone,” Martinez-Hernandez said.
Ashley Paul joined the WJZ team in December 2024 as a reporter, and could not be happier to call Charm City home! Ashley has told stories all across the country, including in Maine, Central Pennsylvania and Tampa, where she won a Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists award in the “Multi-Media Journalist In a Large Market” category.
