The man suspected of raping and killing Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023 was found guilty after a nine-day jury trial ended Monday.
The jury deliberated for a little less than an hour before finding that Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez was guilty of charges including pre-meditated murder and rape.
When the verdict came, family members in the gallery exhaled in relief. Martinez-Hernandez showed no emotion.
He was then cuffed and walked out of the courtroom.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey and Morin’s mother hugged for a long time.
Martinez-Hernandez, a Salvadoran native who illegally entered the United States in 2023, was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2024, after investigators used DNA found on Morin’s body to identify his family members, who provided police with information about him.
He was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree murder and other charges relating to the death of the 37-year-old Bel Air mother of five who was reported missing by her boyfriend on Aug. 5, 2023, hours after she went for a walk on the Bel Air trail.
Healey delivered the state’s closing arguments, walking jurors, step by step, through the time leading up to the attack and Morin’s death to the moment her body was found and the hunt for Martinez-Hernandez.
Linking Martinez-Hernandez to the scene through DNA evidence found on Morin’s body, her Apple Watch and blood spatter on the tunnel she was found in, Healey told jurors that the “overwhelming” amount of evidence showed that Martinez-Hernandez “had a plan” to drag a woman off of the trail and rape and kill her.
“That woman was Rachel Morin,” Healey said. “Rachel never got to wake up from her nightmare, but her body told us what happened.”
Healey outlined the charges against Martinez-Hernandez and their definitions, ending each definition with a “check” to tell jurors she believed Martinez-Hernandez was guilty of that count.
Defense attorney Marcus Jenkins tried to raise doubt that Martinez-Hernandez killed Morin based on the witness testimony from Kevin Stacy, who said he saw a man in the woods the night Morin was killed that looked “nothing like” Martinez-Hernandez.
Jenkins alluded to the idea that the man described in the woods — 6 feet tall, muscular with a blonde beard — describes Morin’s boyfriend, Richard Tobin. Jenkins noted Morin’s internet search history about hiding a relationship status on Facebook and other queries about relationships.
Tobin’s demeanor when he testified after the opening statements, Jenkins said, is “evidence too.”
Jenkins questioned how the DNA evidence was collected, speculating that it had been contaminated. Jenkins also said that, of the months Martinez-Hernandez could have been “on the run,” he remained in Bel Air for four months and only searched the Morin case on his phone one to two times, according this phone’s search dictionary.
“Wouldn’t you be looking for information on a daily basis? Not just once or twice,” Jenkins said.
Investigators rebuilt Morin’s destroyed iPhone XR found at the scene and determined through messages to her daughters and Apple Watch health data recorded on her phone that the attack occurred when her heart rate jumped to 115 beats per minute at 7:07 p.m. It dropped to 69 beats per minute at 7:09 p.m.
A 150-foot blood trail led to Morin’s body, naked in a drainage tunnel off of the trail with 15-20 cuts on her head and injuries all over her body from what investigators called a “massive attack.”
Morin’s death and Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest attracted national attention as the case grew to become a political talking point on the campaign trail for then-candidate Donald Trump about the dangers of illegal immigration. Morin’s family was invited to the Republican National Convention in July, and Morin’s mother, Patricia Morin, has testified before Congress about illegal immigration numerous times.
Even so, prosecutors and defense attorneys focused only on facts and evidence associated with Morin’s death and objected to any questioning that has been irrelevant to the case. Martinez-Hernandez’s immigration status and prior allegations that he killed a woman in El Salvador before entering the United States and assaulted a mother and daughter in Los Angeles were not mentioned in the courtroom.
Friends, family and coworkers of Martinez-Hernandez testified through Spanish interpreters, confirming that he was in Bel Air at the time of the attack and that he worked at Barrett’s On The Pike and the Bel Air Popeyes restaurants.
In December 2023, Martinez-Hernandez went to live with his cousin and aunt in Prince George’s County. FBI agents came to the apartment and questioned Martinez-Hernandez’s cousin, Jose Hernandez, while Martinez-Hernandez stayed outside, avoiding them.
Investigators used DNA swabs from the clothes left by Martinez-Hernandez at the home in Prince George’s County after he left unexpectedly in May 2024. They connected Martinez-Hernandez’s DNA to an unknown DNA profile on the front of Morin’s neck, her breast, her left wrist and the Apple Watch that was found smashed on the opposite side of the trail.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Martinez-Hernandez on June 14, 2024, and then pinged the cell phone number his family gave to police to locate him at Los Dos Amigos Sports Bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Within hours, Tulsa police placed Martinez-Hernandez under arrest.
He told police his name was Juan Carlos but was identified as Martinez-Hernandez because of the gaps in his teeth. While in custody, Martinez-Hernandez also told investigators he had not been to Maryland and never hurt anyone before because he “served God” — despite his cell phone, home security footage, social media posts and witness testimony placing him in Bel Air.
Sentencing in the case is still pending.
This article will be updated.
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, (443) 651-0101 and @mthubb on X.
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