The family of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman tragically killed by undocumented Salvadoran immigrants in 2023, expressed their grief and thoughts before and after the sentencing of the perpetrator on Monday.
Hours before the hearing, Rachel’s mother, Patty Morin, mentioned that she was unsure about believing the apology from Victor Martinez Hernandez, the 24-year-old accused. He allegedly had killed a woman in El Salvador before entering the United States.
“To be honest, I don’t know. Even if he spoke, do you believe what he said?” she remarked when asked if she wanted an apology.
Rachel, a 37-year-old mother of five, was brutally raped and strangled to death along the MA & PA Heritage Trail in Harford County in August 2023. Martinez Hernandez was arrested in June 2024, nearly a year later, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He, connected to the MS-13 gang, was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offenses, and other charges related to Rachel’s death in April this year.
He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole on Monday after the court listened to powerful victim impact statements from Patty, Rachel’s siblings, and her four children, aged 9, 12, 15, and 20.
The youngest three children shared their feelings through audio recordings, with Rachel’s son saying, “She was a good mom. Every time I see a picture of her, I think about the life I had with her and my four sisters. I miss her.”
Rachel’s eldest daughter, Fay McMahon, initially planned to deliver her statement in person but opted for Harford County State Attorney Alison Healy to read it for her.
In her statement, McMahon mentioned, “To write this, I had to relive the worst two days of my life,” and described her mother as “kind, strong, honest, determined, and funny.”
Speaking directly to the judge, McMahon conveyed:
Patty told the court about her ongoing struggles with nightmares, anxiety, and insomnia. “The depth of sadness corresponds to the depth of love that we felt. This will affect future generations,” she noted.
Rachel’s brother, Michael Morin, expressed feelings of despair, saying, “We felt broken and discouraged, we cried, we cried, we suffered.” He attributed his ability to forgive Martinez Hernandez to his faith, stating, “I’m standing here and saying I’m forgiving you.”
Rachel’s sister, Rebekah Morin, shared her exhaustion after two years of relentless pain.
Judge Yolanda Curtin of Harford County Circuit Court addressed the request for maximum sentencing, telling Martinez Hernandez, “You took a life that wasn’t yours. Your actions have made young women suffer and terrified the community. The MA & PA Trail is a place of beauty… Your actions have turned it into a place of fear.”
Patty had contemplated the idea of a hypothetical apology from her daughter’s killer before the verdict, but none came. Healy mentioned that the doctor who assessed Martinez Hernandez found that he showed no remorse for his actions, reportedly joking during the evaluation.
Additionally, investigators found child pornography on his mobile phone during their search.
“Hopefully, this monster spends the rest of his life behind bars, giving us some peace as we move on,” Healy said outside the courthouse after the hearing.
Patty expressed her gratitude to the judge for delivering the maximum sentence, feeling relieved that others would not endure the same heartache.
Erin Rayman, Rachel’s sister, also reacted positively to the sentence, stating, “Life, then life, and then life, and then forty, we couldn’t ask for something better. It gives us some closure. It won’t bring Rachel back, though there will always be an empty void in our lives and in our children’s lives.”
Matt McMahon, the father of Rachel’s oldest child, shared his thoughts after the hearing, stating that while justice feels inadequate because Rachel is gone, they likely received the best outcome possible.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem remarked that this criminal should never have been in the country to begin with, emphasizing that Rachel should still be here for her children.
Noem commented on how the mainstream media often focuses too much on stories of criminals rather than the victims and their families.
Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated that undocumented individuals like Martinez Hernandez should not have been allowed in the country at all.
“The judicial system offers a measure of closure, but it can’t heal the pain of losing a mother, daughter, friend,” Lyons shared in a social media post. “Rachel Morin was taken from her family by those accused of crimes and who shouldn’t have been in this country.”
He added that their thoughts are with the Morin family and others who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by undocumented individuals.
