Harford County Sheriff’s Office announces arrest in Rachel Morin case
Updated: 10:41 PM EDT Jun 15, 2024
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced they have made an arrest related to the Rachel Morin murder case.Video above: Raw press conference – Harford County Sheriff Gahler announces arrest in Rachel Morin CaseIn a press conference Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced that they have made an arrest in the high-profile murder case. Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, of El Salvador has been arrested and taken into custody in connection to the killing of Morin back in August 2023 on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air. “At one point, when things seemed like really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective said to me, he said, ‘Patience will win in the end.’ And that’s what (investigators have) been doing,” said Rachel Morin’s mother, Patricia Morin. “They’ve been diligent, working very hard, and they’ve been patiently working through all the leads. It’s because of that that we have an arrest today. So I’m very thankful and just very grateful to these men.”Morin’s body was found on Aug. 6 along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, and her car was found in a parking lot. Investigators said Rachel Morin was snatched off the path and dragged into the woods. Her body was found in a culvert.Police said Martinez Hernandez has been living in the U.S. illegally, since February 2023.Investigators said in January 2023, Hernandez killed a young woman in El Salvador before crossing into the U.S. in February. One month later, police said Hernandez brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in Los Angeles, California. LAPD is handling that particular investigation. Gahler said three weeks ago, on the day that would’ve been Morin’s 38th birthday, investigators uncovered a lead that allowed for the arrest Friday night.”I’m here to tell you Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man. Hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again,” said Gahler. “The lead we received was related to DNA evidence and allowed investigators to finally put a name to the image of the suspect in the video from Los Angeles, which we released two weeks after Rachel’s death.” Gahler said at that point, they knew what Hernandez looked like and through genetic genealogy, by the FBI, they found his name. However, they didn’t know where he was located. “As I have stated many times, this killer could have been laying his head in any community in the country or even in the world and indeed, that was completely accurate,” said Gahler. “Over the past two weeks, investigators continued their diligent investigation and tracked our suspect all the way from Prince George’s County to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our investigators also obtained an arrest warrant (Friday) afternoon.””Our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members. Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer,” said Bill DelBango with the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “To find the suspect, we’ve provided technical assistance helping to pinpoint his location. That brings us to (Friday night), where Tulsa police and FBI agents were able to successfully apprehend and arrest the suspect in Oklahoma.” Tulsa Police announced on social media they located Hernandez “casually sitting” at a bar Friday night before taking him into custody. Gahler addressed that Morin’s death is the second murder of an “innocent woman” in Harford County in roughly two years by men who are living in the U.S. illegally. “We are 1,800 miles from the Southern border here in Harford County. This is the second woman in our county to be killed by illegal suspects. In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs,” said Gahler. “(This) should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador.”Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healy said she is personally handling the prosecution and says the coordination for extradition has already started. If Hernandez fights the extradition, it could take up to 30 days, if he does not, it could take up to ten days. Gahler said there is an ICE detainer filed on Hernandez since he is living in the U.S. illegally. In February, a suspect sketch was released to the public and the reward for information in this case was raised to $35,000. The months-long investigation continued as detectives worked with multiple federal and state agencies and Morin’s family on outreach and canvassing, as well as paper and social media campaigns in English and Spanish. This became a national story in 2023, as according to the sheriff’s office, an analysis of data on social media shows 18 million people around the world have caught some portion of the story involving Rachel Morin’s killing.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced they have made an arrest related to the Rachel Morin murder case.
Video above: Raw press conference – Harford County Sheriff Gahler announces arrest in Rachel Morin Case
In a press conference Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced that they have made an arrest in the high-profile murder case. Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, of El Salvador has been arrested and taken into custody in connection to the killing of Morin back in August 2023 on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air.
“At one point, when things seemed like really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective said to me, he said, ‘Patience will win in the end.’ And that’s what (investigators have) been doing,” said Rachel Morin’s mother, Patricia Morin. “They’ve been diligent, working very hard, and they’ve been patiently working through all the leads. It’s because of that that we have an arrest today. So I’m very thankful and just very grateful to these men.”
Morin’s body was found on Aug. 6 along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, and her car was found in a parking lot. Investigators said Rachel Morin was snatched off the path and dragged into the woods. Her body was found in a culvert.
Police said Martinez Hernandez has been living in the U.S. illegally, since February 2023.
Investigators said in January 2023, Hernandez killed a young woman in El Salvador before crossing into the U.S. in February. One month later, police said Hernandez brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in Los Angeles, California. LAPD is handling that particular investigation.
Gahler said three weeks ago, on the day that would’ve been Morin’s 38th birthday, investigators uncovered a lead that allowed for the arrest Friday night.
“I’m here to tell you Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man. Hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again,” said Gahler. “The lead we received was related to DNA evidence and allowed investigators to finally put a name to the image of the suspect in the video from Los Angeles, which we released two weeks after Rachel’s death.”
Gahler said at that point, they knew what Hernandez looked like and through genetic genealogy, by the FBI, they found his name. However, they didn’t know where he was located.
“As I have stated many times, this killer could have been laying his head in any community in the country or even in the world and indeed, that was completely accurate,” said Gahler. “Over the past two weeks, investigators continued their diligent investigation and tracked our suspect all the way from Prince George’s County to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our investigators also obtained an arrest warrant (Friday) afternoon.”
“Our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members. Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer,” said Bill DelBango with the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “To find the suspect, we’ve provided technical assistance helping to pinpoint his location. That brings us to (Friday night), where Tulsa police and FBI agents were able to successfully apprehend and arrest the suspect in Oklahoma.”
Tulsa Police announced on social media they located Hernandez “casually sitting” at a bar Friday night before taking him into custody.
Gahler addressed that Morin’s death is the second murder of an “innocent woman” in Harford County in roughly two years by men who are living in the U.S. illegally.
“We are 1,800 miles from the Southern border here in Harford County. This is the second woman in our county to be killed by illegal suspects. In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs,” said Gahler. “(This) should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador.”
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healy said she is personally handling the prosecution and says the coordination for extradition has already started. If Hernandez fights the extradition, it could take up to 30 days, if he does not, it could take up to ten days.
Gahler said there is an ICE detainer filed on Hernandez since he is living in the U.S. illegally.
In February, a suspect sketch was released to the public and the reward for information in this case was raised to $35,000. The months-long investigation continued as detectives worked with multiple federal and state agencies and Morin’s family on outreach and canvassing, as well as paper and social media campaigns in English and Spanish.
This became a national story in 2023, as according to the sheriff’s office, an analysis of data on social media shows 18 million people around the world have caught some portion of the story involving Rachel Morin’s killing.
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