Major update in search for Rachel Morin’s killer as Victor Martinez is charged with murder of mother of 5 found near hiking trail

POLICE have arrested and charged a man with the gruesome murder of Rachel Morin, whose body was found beside a wooded trail in Maryland last year.

Morin, 37, went for a walk on August 5 and never returned, sparking a frantic search that ended with the grisly discovery of his body the next day, but with no suspects.

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Police arrested Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler announced at a press conference Saturday.

Martinez-Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.

“From what I understand, this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States after the murder of a young girl in El Salvador a month earlier in January 2023,” said Sheriff Gahler.

“Once in our country, he brutally attacked a nine-year-old girl and her mother in a March 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles.”

Last August, Morin left for the Bel Air nature trail around 6pm that Friday, but never returned home.

She was reported missing by her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, at 11:30 pm that night.

The next day, volunteers searching for the mother of five made a horrific discovery.

Morin’s body was found in a drainage well near the trail.

“At approximately 1:07 p.m., a woman was located deceased on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air,” police said upon discovering her body.

“The identity of the victim, as well as the cause and manner of death, are still under investigation.”

DNA found on Morin’s body matched that of a man previously arrested in Los Angeles for a home invasion.

“This DNA was analyzed by the Maryland State Police and passed through a national coding system,” Maryland police said at a news conference last August.

“This DNA evidence may be a match linked to a home invasion, insult and assault of a young woman in Los Angeles last March.”

At the time, police did not give the suspect’s name, but only a physical description of him as a Hispanic man standing six feet tall and weighing approximately 160 pounds.

“We want to make it clear that we believe the suspect acted alone,” police said.

“And he does not represent the entire Hispanic community of Harford County, with whom we are now partnering to identify this suspect.”

The suspect, now identified as Martinez-Hernandez, was captured on camera during the home invasion in Los Angeles.

Police released the security footage to the public and offered thousands of dollars for information.

The hunt for Morin’s murdered became so widespread that even the notorious bounty hunter, Dog the Bounty Hunter, began helping in the search.

“Hey Bounty Nation, I need you to do what you do best and help me identify this suspect!!” Dog wrote on Facebook.

Attached to the post, Dog included security footage of the home invasion and police’s description of the perpetrator.

Despite having video footage, it was not until February 2024, more than six months after the discovery of Morin’s body, that police released a detailed sketch of the suspect.

Martinez-Hernandez, 23, came to the United States illegally from El Salvador in 2023, ABC affiliate WMAR reported.

Sheriff Gahler said at the conference that the suspect will be extradited from Oklahoma to Maryland, but did not give a specific timeline on when.

He is currently being held without bail.

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