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The Murder of Rachel Morin
● Convicted — Two Life Sentences
Mother of Five
Ma and Pa Heritage Trail
Forensic Genetic Genealogy
Bel Air, Maryland
The Victim
Rachel Hannah Morin
Rachel Hannah Morin
| Full Name | Rachel Hannah Morin |
| Date of Birth | May 20, 1986 |
| Date of Death | August 5, 2023 |
| Age at Death | 37 years old |
| Hometown | Bel Air, Maryland |
| Occupation | House Cleaning Business Owner |
| Mother | Patricia (Patty) Morin |
| Siblings | Michael Morin; Rebekah Morin |
| Children | Five children, including oldest daughter Faye McMahon |
Rachel Hannah Morin was born on May 20, 1986, and grew up in Bel Air, Maryland, a suburban community northeast of Baltimore. She was her mother Patty's daughter in every visible way; warm, determined, full of humor and energy. She overcame a speech impediment as a child through sheer persistence and became, as those who knew her consistently described, someone whose infectious laugh and upbeat spirit made every room feel different.
Rachel was a mother to five children and ran her own house cleaning business in Bel Air. She was a regular on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail, a popular rail-trail corridor that follows the path of the old Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad through Harford County. She walked and ran it often, usually in the evenings, and the trail was as familiar to her as any road in her neighborhood. She loved outdoor activity and fitness and was known to bring that same energy to everything she did.
The week before she was killed, Rachel's five-month-old niece died of sudden infant death syndrome. She had been carrying that grief when she laced up her shoes on the evening of August 5, 2023, and headed for the trail. She had recently announced a new relationship with Richard Tobin on social media just five days earlier. She had a lot of life ahead of her.
Rachel Morin left behind five children ranging from 8 to 19 years old at the time of her death. Each of her five children gave a written or recorded victim impact statement at the sentencing of her killer in August 2025. Her oldest daughter Faye told the court that appearing in person would be too difficult. Rachel's mother Patty has spoken publicly and relentlessly on behalf of her daughter ever since she was found on that trail. Rachel Morin is not forgotten.
01
Background
What We Know
On the evening of August 5, 2023, Rachel Morin arrived at the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail trailhead in Bel Air at approximately 6:58 p.m. and set off on what she did regularly, a walk or run along a trail she knew well in a community where she had lived her entire life. Data from her phone and smartwatch later established that she was murdered between 7:04 and 7:10 p.m. The window between her stepping onto the trail and her death was approximately six to twelve minutes.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, who had been living in the Bel Air area at the time, is believed to have hid in a drainage culvert along the trail and attacked Rachel as she passed. Prosecutors established at trial that he pulled her from the trail, dragged her through a wooded area, beat her head against rocks, raped her, and concealed her body in the culvert where he had waited. She sustained 10 to 15 head wounds and bruising across her body. The method was premeditated; prosecutors presented evidence that Martinez-Hernandez had searched for the Bel Air area online and that Rachel ran the same route almost every evening.
Rachel's boyfriend Richard Tobin reported her missing at approximately 11:20 p.m. when she failed to return home. Her car was found at the Ma and Pa trailhead. A volunteer searching the area the following day called 911 at 1:07 p.m. on August 6 after discovering a blood-covered rock off a deer path and then locating her body in a storm drain. The Harford County Sheriff's Office confirmed her identity on August 8.
Within days of the body's discovery, DNA recovered from the crime scene was entered into CODIS, the FBI's national DNA database. It matched a DNA profile collected in connection with a home invasion and assault in Los Angeles on March 26, 2023, in which a 9-year-old girl and her mother had been attacked. The same person had committed both crimes. Investigators had a DNA profile and a linked crime pattern but not a name.
The investigation that followed lasted ten months and spanned seven states and ten agencies. It culminated in the identification of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez through forensic genetic genealogy and his arrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 14, 2024. He was extradited to Maryland on June 18, 2024, and indicted by a Harford County grand jury on July 2, 2024.
Case Timeline
How It Unfolded
January 2023
Arrest Warrant Issued in El Salvador for Martinez-Hernandez
An arrest warrant is issued for Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez in El Salvador in connection with the suspected murder of a young woman. An Interpol Red Notice later lists him as armed, dangerous, likely to escape, and violent, with the designation of Aggravated Femicide. He attempts to cross the U.S. border multiple times; U.S. Border Patrol deports him under Title 42 on January 19, January 31, and February 6, 2023. On February 13, 2023, he successfully crosses into the United States illegally.
March 26, 2023
Home Invasion in Los Angeles — 9-Year-Old Girl Assaulted
Martinez-Hernandez attacks a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in Los Angeles, California. DNA evidence is recovered from the scene and submitted to CODIS. It does not match any known offender in the database at that time. The crime goes unsolved pending identification of the suspect.
August 5, 2023 — 6:58 to 7:10 p.m.
Rachel Morin Murdered on the Ma and Pa Trail
Rachel Morin arrives at the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail trailhead at approximately 6:58 p.m. Data from her phone and smartwatch establishes she was murdered between 7:04 and 7:10 p.m. Martinez-Hernandez pulls her from the trail, drags her into a wooded area, beats her head against rocks, rapes her, and conceals her body in a drainage culvert. She sustains 10 to 15 head wounds and widespread bruising. Richard Tobin reports her missing at approximately 11:20 p.m.
August 6–8, 2023
Body Discovered; DNA Matches Los Angeles Crime Scene
A volunteer discovers Rachel's body in a storm drain off the Ma and Pa Trail at 1:07 p.m. on August 6, after finding a blood-covered rock and following a deer path. The Harford County Sheriff's Office confirms her identity on August 8. DNA recovered from the crime scene is entered into CODIS, where it immediately matches the DNA profile from the March 26 Los Angeles home invasion. The same unknown individual committed both crimes. Ten investigators are assigned and a nationwide search begins.
September 2023 — February 2024
DNA Sent to Othram; Composite Sketch Released
After CODIS testing fails to identify the suspect, the Harford County Sheriff's Office submits forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas, for Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing. The FBI Baltimore field office's investigative genetic genealogy team works the DNA to trace it to potential family members. In February 2024, a composite sketch of the suspect is released publicly. By this point more than 100 interviews have been conducted, 1,000 tips followed, and investigators have traveled to seven states. A $35,000 reward is offered.
May 20, 2024
Genetic Genealogy Lead Identifies Martinez-Hernandez — On Rachel's Birthday
On what would have been Rachel's 38th birthday, investigators uncover the lead that identifies Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez as the suspect. The FBI's genetic genealogy team has traced the crime scene DNA through family members, traveled to El Salvador to confirm identity, and established that Martinez-Hernandez had been living with an aunt in Temple Hills, Prince George's County, Maryland since December 2023. He had recently left the home, leaving behind clothing and shoes. DNA from those items is processed at the Maryland State Police lab and matches the crime scene DNA.
June 14, 2024
Martinez-Hernandez Arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa Police officers locate Martinez-Hernandez at a bar and arrest him. He lies about his identity and denies knowledge of any crimes. When his information is run, the warrant for Maryland charges appears. He is arrested initially on a trespassing charge. He is extradited to Maryland on June 18, 2024, and transferred to the Harford County Detention Center. A Harford County grand jury returns an indictment on July 2, 2024, charging him with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
April 1–14, 2025
Trial — Jury Convicts on All Counts in Under 50 Minutes
Trial begins in Harford County Circuit Court before Judge Yolanda Curtin. Prosecutors present DNA evidence, phone searches for the Bel Air area, and photos of Rachel found on Martinez-Hernandez's phone at the time of his arrest. The defense rests in under ten minutes after calling only one witness. On April 14, 2025, the jury returns a verdict of guilty on all four counts, first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping, after less than fifty minutes of deliberation.
August 11, 2025
Maximum Sentence — Two Consecutive Life Terms Plus 40 Years
Judge Yolanda Curtin sentences Martinez-Hernandez to the maximum penalty on every count: life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder; a consecutive life sentence for first-degree rape; plus 40 additional years for the third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping charges. Each of Rachel's five children submits a written or recorded victim impact statement. State's Attorney Alison Healey states that Harford County has never seen a defendant more deserving of every single day of the sentence imposed. Martinez-Hernandez will remain incarcerated in Maryland for the rest of his life.
03
Law Enforcement
The Investigation
The investigation into Rachel Morin's murder was led by the Harford County Sheriff's Office under Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, with significant support from the FBI Baltimore Field Office and ten local, state, and federal agencies. Within days of the discovery of her body, DNA recovered from the scene was matched through CODIS to a home invasion assault in Los Angeles that had occurred five months earlier. Investigators had the DNA of their killer from the start of the case. What they did not have was a name.
More than 100 interviews were conducted. Over 1,000 tips were followed up. Investigators traveled to seven different states. Thousands of bilingual flyers were distributed across Maryland and California. A $35,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest. A composite sketch of the suspect was released to the public in February 2024, six months into the investigation. None of these efforts produced the identification that the case required.
The breakthrough came through forensic genetic genealogy. In September 2023, the Harford County Sheriff's Office partnered with the FBI to submit forensic evidence to Othram, a forensic genomics laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to construct a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown suspect. The FBI Baltimore field office's investigative genetic genealogy team then used that profile to trace the DNA to potential family members, eventually leading investigators to El Salvador, where they confirmed the suspect's identity as Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez.
The lead identifying Martinez-Hernandez was uncovered on May 20, 2024, which would have been Rachel's 38th birthday. Harford County Sheriff Gahler described it as a poetic coincidence or perhaps Rachel's own divine assistance. Investigators subsequently confirmed that Martinez-Hernandez had been living with relatives in Temple Hills, Prince George's County, Maryland from December 2023 until May 2024, during the nationwide manhunt. He left behind bags of clothing and shoes when he departed. DNA processed from those items at the Maryland State Police lab matched the crime scene DNA, providing a second confirmation of identity.
When arrested in Tulsa on June 14, 2024, Martinez-Hernandez lied about his identity and denied ever having been to Maryland. His phone at the time of arrest contained searches for the Bel Air area and photographs of Rachel Morin. At trial, DNA expert Tiffany Keener of the Maryland State Police Crime Lab testified that the DNA recovered from Rachel's body was a match to Martinez-Hernandez. The defense argued investigators had the wrong man and rested their case in under ten minutes. The jury returned a guilty verdict on all four counts in under fifty minutes.
04
Convicted — Maximum Sentence
The Accused
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez
Born September 19, 2000 — Age 22 at Time of Crime — El Salvador
Charges: First-Degree Premeditated Murder; First-Degree Rape; Third-Degree Sexual Offense; Kidnapping
Verdict: Guilty on all counts — April 14, 2025; jury deliberated less than 50 minutes
Sentence: Life without parole (murder) + consecutive life sentence (rape) + 40 years (sexual offense and kidnapping); maximum penalty on all counts
Sentenced: August 11, 2025 — Judge Yolanda L. Curtin, Harford County Circuit Court
Prosecuted By: State's Attorney Alison Healey, Harford County
Prior Crimes: Suspected Aggravated Femicide in El Salvador (January 2023 arrest warrant; Interpol Red Notice); sexual assault of 9-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles home invasion (March 26, 2023)
Immigration: Deported three times under Title 42; successfully crossed U.S. border illegally February 13, 2023
Current: Incarcerated in Maryland; will not be deported or returned to El Salvador
Case Closure Notes
A psychological evaluation conducted prior to sentencing described Martinez-Hernandez as marked by coldness, dismissiveness, and a callous attitude when discussing the offense, along with an absence of remorse, insight, acceptance of responsibility, or empathy, significantly heightening concerns about his risk of reoffending. State's Attorney Healey stated that Harford County had never seen a case or a defendant more deserving of every single day of the maximum sentence imposed. An appeal is anticipated. As of April 2026, Martinez-Hernandez is serving his sentence in a Maryland correctional facility with no possibility of parole.
Forensic Breakdown
Evidence and Method
Method of Attack
Prosecutors established that Martinez-Hernandez pulled Rachel from the Ma and Pa Trail, dragged her through a wooded area, and beat her head against rocks. Rachel sustained 10 to 15 head wounds and bruising across her entire body. She was raped and killed before her body was concealed in a drainage culvert alongside the trail.
Smartwatch and phone data established the total window of the attack as approximately six minutes, beginning from the time Rachel stepped onto the trail. The violence was rapid and targeted.
DNA Evidence and CODIS Match
DNA was collected from multiple locations on Rachel's body and submitted to CODIS within days of the discovery of her remains. It immediately matched a DNA profile collected from the March 26, 2023 Los Angeles home invasion, establishing that the same unknown individual committed both crimes.
Maryland State Police Crime Lab DNA expert Tiffany Keener testified at trial that the DNA found on Rachel's body was a confirmed match to Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez. A second DNA match was established from clothing items left at his Maryland residence.
Forensic Genetic Genealogy
After standard CODIS testing failed to identify the suspect, the Harford County Sheriff's Office submitted the DNA profile to Othram for Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing. This produced a comprehensive genetic profile that the FBI Baltimore field office's genealogy team used to trace the DNA through family members.
Investigators traveled to El Salvador to assist in the identification. The technique, which uses partial genealogical matches to work backward to a suspect, ultimately identified Martinez-Hernandez and was confirmed by a second DNA match from items he left at his Maryland aunt's home.
Digital Evidence — Phone and Smartwatch
Rachel's phone and smartwatch provided investigators with precise timing data. They established she arrived at the trailhead at 6:58 p.m. and was murdered between 7:04 and 7:10 p.m. This six-minute window was central to the prosecution's timeline and disproved any argument that the attack was coincidental.
Martinez-Hernandez's phone at the time of his Oklahoma arrest contained searches related to the Bel Air area and photographs of Rachel Morin, which prosecutors presented as evidence of premeditation and familiarity with his target and location.
Pattern of Violence
Martinez-Hernandez is believed to have killed a young woman in El Salvador in January 2023, fled the country following the issuance of an arrest warrant, committed a home invasion assault on a 9-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles in March 2023, and murdered Rachel Morin in Maryland in August 2023.
The Interpol Red Notice issued for the El Salvador killing classified him as armed, dangerous, and likely to escape. Prosecutors at sentencing outlined this full pattern of violence to the court as evidence that Martinez-Hernandez posed a continuing and extraordinary threat to public safety.
Premeditation Evidence
Prosecutors argued the attack was planned rather than opportunistic. Evidence supporting premeditation included phone searches for the Bel Air area and photographs of Rachel found on Martinez-Hernandez's device at the time of his arrest. Witnesses established that Rachel ran the same route on the Ma and Pa Trail almost every evening.
The jury returned a verdict of first-degree premeditated murder, accepting the prosecution's theory that Martinez-Hernandez had selected his location, waited in the drainage culvert, and targeted Rachel specifically. The defense's claim that police had the wrong man was rejected entirely.
In Memoriam
She Is Not Forgotten
Rachel Morin laced up her shoes and walked onto the Ma and Pa Trail on an August evening in 2023. She had done it dozens of times before. It was her trail, in her town, near her home. She was carrying grief from the week before, when her five-month-old niece had died. She had just announced a relationship she was looking forward to. She had five children and a business and an infectious laugh and an entire life still ahead of her.
She did not come home that night. Her family waited and searched and hoped and then buried her, and then spent two more years watching her case move through the legal system, the investigation, the arrest, the trial, the verdict, the sentencing. Each of Rachel's five children gave a statement at that sentencing in August 2025. Her oldest could not bring herself to be in the room. All of them did it anyway, because she raised them and they loved her and they wanted the world to know it.
Her mother Patty Morin has spoken for Rachel since the day she was found. She testified before Congress. She stood at press conferences and gave interviews and refused to let her daughter become a statistic or a headline. She carried Rachel's name into every room she entered. She said once that she had suffered as a teenager herself at the hands of a violent man, and that what Rachel suffered was worse, and she needed the world to know that too.
Rachel Hannah Morin was 37 years old. She was born on May 20, 1986, in Bel Air, Maryland, and she died on that same trail she had loved. She is buried and remembered and missed every single day by five children who are growing up without her. She is not forgotten.
Rachel Hannah Morin — May 20, 1986 – August 5, 2023
Sources
CBS Baltimore — Victor Martinez-Hernandez Found Guilty, April 15, 2025 | CBS Baltimore — El Salvador Native Arrested for 2023 Murder of Maryland Mom, June 17, 2024 | CBS Baltimore — Martinez-Hernandez Was With Family in Maryland During Manhunt, June 2024 | CBS Baltimore — 1 Year After Rachel Morin's Murder, August 2024 | CNN — Salvadoran Fugitive Convicted in Deadly Attack of Maryland Hiker, April 15, 2025 | CNN — Rachel Morin Murder Suspect Arrest, June 18, 2024 | ABC News — Suspect Arrested in 2023 Murder of Mother of 5, June 16, 2024 | Fox News — Maryland Jury Finds Illegal Immigrant Guilty of Rachel Morin's Murder, April 15, 2025 | Fox 45 — Victor Martinez-Hernandez Sentenced to Life, August 11, 2025 | Court TV — Rachel Morin's Killer Given Two Life Sentences Without Parole, August 11, 2025 | Harford County State's Attorney — Maximum Penalty Imposed, August 11, 2025 | DNASolves.com — Rachel Morin: Harford County Sheriff's Office and FBI Team with Othram | Maryland Matters — Rachel Morin's Mother Reveals Her Own Tale of Assault, September 2024 | The Baltimore Banner — Settlement Reached in Civil Case Among Rachel Morin's Family Members, September 2025 | Wikipedia — Victor Martinez Hernandez | State of Maryland v. Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez — Charging Document
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