As the trial for Rachel Morin’s suspected killer begins next week, officials are warning of traffic delays in downtown Bel Air.

In an advisory Monday, Bel Air Police said delays and road closures will occur near the Harford County Circuit Courthouse during court hours, beginning March 31. Police said Courtland and Office streets between Bond and Main streets will be closed to vehicles and that pedestrian traffic will likely increase along Main Street. Access to local businesses will not be impacted, police said.

The closures are to assist with security measures around the courthouse due to court proceedings for Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 25, of El Salvador, who is charged in the killing of 37-year-old Rachel Morin on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023.

Martinez-Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant,  filed to have his trial moved out of Harford County. The defense argued the local jury pool had been poisoned with “numerous inflammatory and prejudicial” media reports, making it impossible for Martinez-Hernandez to receive a fair trial in Harford County. The request was denied in January by Harford County Circuit Judge Yolanda Curtin.

Martinez-Hernandez is scheduled to have a pre-trial conference in Harford County Circuit Court on Monday at 9:30 a.m. During the pre-trial conference, Martinez-Hernandez’s defense team could request the trial be postponed, he could enter a plea or request a plea deal.

If the trial is not postponed, it will begin with jury selection at 8:30 a.m. April 1.

Martinez-Hernandez’s defense team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martinez-Hernandez is charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping in Morin’s death.

Morin, a mother of five, was reported missing Aug. 5, 2023, when she did not return home from a walk. Her body was found the following day along the side of the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air.

Less than a month after Morin’s death, authorities matched the DNA they recovered in Harford to DNA from a March 2023 crime scene in Los Angeles, where a 9-year-old girl and her mother were attacked during what law enforcement described as a home invasion. DNA evidence found at Morin’s crime scene was put through an advanced forensic technique called forensic genetic genealogy to help investigators identify Martinez-Hernandez.

Martinez-Hernandez was identified as Morin’s suspected killer on May 20, 2024 — Morin’s birthday.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said during a news conference announcing the suspect’s arrest that Martinez-Hernandez worked odd jobs and lived a “cheap life” that allowed him to drift from El Salvador to Los Angeles, to Bel Air, Prince George’s County, to Virginia, and ultimately to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he was arrested in June. Martinez-Hernandez is believed to have ties to street gangs and connections in the Washington, D.C., area, Gahler said.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.