Illegal immigrant charged with rape, murder of Maryland mother of 5 after crossing border

Police have arrested and charged Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, in connection to the killing and rape of Rachel Morin, a mother of five from Maryland who was found dead on a hiking trail last August.  

In a press conference, law enforcement announced the arrest of Martinez-Hernandez, 23, for the suspected murder and rape of Morin. Martinez-Hernandez was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  

"Five hours after meeting with [Morin's] family and just before midnight our time, police in Tulsa Oklahoma assisted by our federal partners located and arrested Rachel's murderer: Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez," Sheriff Jeffery Gahler told reporters, according to Fox Baltimore.  

Gahler told the press that Martinez-Hernandez is a "23-year-old citizen of El Salvador" and crossed the border to the United States in February 2023. It was his belief that Morin was not the immigrant's first victim. 

"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," he 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," the sheriff added. "After we had the video, we knew what he looked like, but we didn't know who he was." 

The Los Angeles case was able to be connected to the case with Morin as the victim as Martinez-Hernandez was caught on video in California during the previous crime. FBI agent William DelBagno explained that authorities were able to trace his DNA to potential family members in El Salvador to identify the suspect. He was then tracked down to Oklahoma where he was apprehended.  

"It is my hope and the hope of all involved, working this case that the arrest of this suspect brings her [Mornin's] family and our Harford County community some peace," Gahler added.