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Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was found guilty of first-degree
murder and first-degree rape, among other offenses, following a
jury trial earlier this year. Prosecutors alleged he was
carrying out a planned attack when he grabbed Rachel Morin off
the trail, bashed her head against nearby rocks, raped her and
concealed her body in a drainage culvert. .
During a hearing Monday in Maryland state court, Harford County
Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin sentenced Martinez-Hernandez
to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according
to Randolph Rice, an attorney representing Morin’s relatives.
The judge also imposed an additional life sentence, plus 40
years.
“While no sentence can bring Rachel back, the Morin family takes
comfort in knowing justice has been done,” Rice said in a
statement.
Martinez-Hernandez was accused of entering the United States
illegally after allegedly killing another woman in his home
country. Authorities said he was also linked to a 2023 home
invasion in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors used DNA evidence to connect him to the deadly
attack on Morin in August 2023. Detectives collected DNA from
several places on Morin’s body and matched it to
Martinez-Hernandez. He was arrested last summer in Oklahoma but
had been living in Bel Air, Maryland, around the time of Morin’s
death, prosecutors said.
The attack sent shock waves through Bel Air, a suburban
community northeast of Baltimore. It also became a flashpoint in
the 2024 presidential election campaign as Donald Trump called
for increased border security and mass deportations of
immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Morin, 37, left behind five children. A fitness enthusiast, she
would often exercise on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail, which
follows parts of an old railroad line that ran between Maryland
and Pennsylvania.
Several of her family members spoke during Monday’s hearing
about how their lives have been impacted by her death.
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