More than 10 months after a Maryland mother of five was killed while out on a run, authorities on Saturday said they brought murder and rape charges against a Salvadoran man who is in the country illegally and has ties to international gang MS-13.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, was taken into custody Friday by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Police said the suspect will be extradited back to Harford County to face charges in the August 2023 death of Rachel Morin.
Mr. Hernandez is also wanted for a January 2023 homicide in El Salvador, the sheriff said. He crossed into the U.S. illegally in February of that same year, and in March 2023 was tied to a home invasion and assault in Los Angeles that left a mother and a young girl injured.
“I want to now direct these comments 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to every member in both chambers of Congress: We are 1,800 miles away — here in Harford County — we are 1,800 miles away from the southern border,” Sheriff Gahler said Saturday. “The American citizens are not safe because of failed immigration policies. This is the second time in just two years that an innocent Harford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally.“
Last year, a 17-year-old Salvadoran boy who entered the country illegally was charged in the 2022 slaying of a woman in Aberdeen, Maryland.
Police said Morin was killed Aug. 5, 2023, while she was jogging on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.
Authorities found the 37-year-old’s body had been dragged off the trail and into a drainage culvert — the same place where police believe the suspect hid before attacking Morin.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office shared security footage of the Los Angeles break-in shortly afterward. Months later in February, police released a sketch of the suspect and a physical description.
But Sheriff Gahler said the investigation began to sputter, despite trips to El Salvador and genetic testing in Baltimore in hopes of identifying the suspect.
That was until the sheriff said detectives benefitted from a “poetic coincidence, or perhaps, Rachel’s own divine assistance” when the case hit a breakthrough on May 20 — what would have been Morin’s 38th birthday.
Investigators obtained DNA evidence that allowed them to name the suspect, police said.
Mr. Hernandez was arrested in a bar in Tulsa weeks later.
The sheriff said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a detainer on Mr. Hernandez as well.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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