Victor Martinez-Hernandez gets life without parole for murder of Maryland mother Rachel Morin
Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty in April of kidnapping, raping and murdering 37-year-old Morin, who was a mother a five. Her body was found off the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air on August 6, 2023.
Court officials previously said Martinez-Hernandez will serve his sentence in Maryland and would not be deported back to his home country of El Salvador.
Morin was reported missing on August 5, 2023, by her boyfriend and children after she went for a jog and did not return. The next day, she was found dead in a drainage culvert about 150 feet from the trail.
"It shook the community. I think this crime really shook the community," Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey said.
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested in Oklahoma after a 10-month, nationwide manhunt.
His trial revealed that his DNA was found on every piece of evidence that was presented by the prosecution. Prosecutors also showed photo and video evidence to prove that the murder was premeditated, including photos of Morin and searches for the Bel Air area found in Martinez-Hernandez's phone.
"You don't accomplish a rape and a murder in four to six minutes unless you have a plan," Healy said during closing arguments.
The defense argued there was a lack of motive, emphasizing that Martinez-Hernandez did not know and had never talked to Morin.
The jury deliberated for less than one hour before it decided on the guilty verdict.
"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."
During the investigation into Morin's murder, law enforcement officials discovered that Martinez-Hernandez had entered the U.S. illegally after he was accused of murder in El Salvador.
He left El Salvador in February 2023 and was apprehended by Border Patrol officials three separate times for unlawfully entering the U.S., according to investigators. He was released after no criminal history was found.
He was later linked to an assault on a girl and her mother in California in 2023.
Martinez-Hernandez's case sparked conversations about U.S. immigration after Morin's Murder.
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler blamed immigration policies at the time, saying those policies allowed Martinez-Hernandez to enter the U.S. illegally.
"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," he said.
Last week, Rachel Morin's mother, Patty Morin, marked two years since her daughter's death.
"I'll never forget the words," Patty Morin told WJZ. "It's been two years, but he said, and I quote, 'Mrs. Morin, this is Det. Goldin. There's no easy way to tell you this, but we found your daughter's body.'"
At the time, she said she was looking forward to Martinez-Hernandez's sentencing so that her family could move on and celebrate Rachel Morin in the way that she deserves.
"These last two years have been, for lack of a better word, a journey from those moments of disbelief that something like this could happen, to questions about what happened," Morin said.
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