An undisclosed settlement was reached in a lawsuit filed in Harford County Circuit Court alleging that the mother and sister of Bel Air murder victim Rachel Morin fraudulently mishandled money raised for Morin’s children after her August 2023 death.

The lawsuit accused Rachel Morin’s mother, Patricia Morin, and older sister, Rebekah Morin, of fraud and unjust enrichment. It was dismissed Thursday in Harford County Circuit Court due to the settlement.

The lawsuit was filed in May by Rachel Morin’s oldest daughter, Faye McMahon, 20, and Joseph Custer and Jonathan Alderson, the fathers of Morin’s four younger children. It focused on $54,100 collected via fundraisers during a 10-month span after Morin was killed.

The lawsuit alleged that money raised for the children was transferred to an account controlled by the law firm of Rice, Murtha and Psoras LLC, which on March 1, 2024 transferred the funds to an online bank account called the “Honor of Rachel Morin Trust,” established by Rebekah Morin and Patricia Morin, the sister and mother of Rachel Morin, respectively.

Alderson, Custer and McMahon said none of the money was given to Rachel Morin’s children, despite the GoFundMe stating “if there are any remaining funds, they will go toward things her five children may need.”

Randolph Rice, attorney for Patricia and Rebekah Morin, filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed in August, stating that the claims of fraud and unjust enrichment were unsubstantiated.

Harford County Circuit Court Judge Alex Allman dismissed the lawsuit, but deemed the terms of the dismissal confidential.

Rice said that Rebekah Morin and Patricia Morin did “everything right” and that the lawsuit dismissal confirms it.

“The dismissal confirms what has always been true: the Morins acted properly and with complete integrity in their handling of the Rachel Morin Memorial Trust, which continues to provide for Rachel’s five children,” Rice wrote in a statement. “From day one, they did everything right with the money raised. Their only mission has been to honor Rachel’s memory and responsibly safeguard the future of her children.”

Morin’s children and their fathers filed an identical suit in May 2024 against Patricia and Rebekah Morin. According to court documents, the first suit was closed after both parties agreed to dismiss the matter by mutual consent in February.

The latest dismissal ruling permanently bars allegations of fraud and unjust enrichment in the matter from being refiled, Rice said.

George Robinson, the lawyer who represented Morin’s children, declined to comment due to the confidentiality of the settlement terms.

Rachel Morin, 37, a Bel Air mother of five, was killed in August 2023 after she went for a walk on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air. Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, a Salvadoran national, was convicted April 14 of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual assault and kidnapping in Morin’s death, and was sentenced in August to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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