A former FBI special agent gives an inside look at how federal and state law enforcement arrested a Salvadoran immigrant suspect in the multistate murder investigation of Rachel Morin.
Retired FBI Senior Special Agent Scott Duffy told Fox News Digital that murder investigations start with those closest to the victim.
“You start with your loved ones first — your spouse, partner, significant other,” he says, “and once you’ve removed them, you can then work your way outward.”
Duffy, who met with Maurin’s family in Harford County, Maryland, after her murder, said the FBI’s Coordinated Integrated DNA Indexing System (CODIS) helped keep law enforcement agencies on the same page across state lines as the 10-month investigation unfolded.
Rachel Morin murder: Illegal immigrant from El Salvador charged with raping, murdering Maryland mother of five
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
CODIS is a database used by federal and state law enforcement agencies to compile DNA profiles of convicted criminals, evidence from unsolved crime scenes and missing persons.
The breakthrough in Morin’s murder case came weeks after her disappearance, when DNA evidence was found in Los Angeles, thousands of miles from Morin’s hometown in Maryland.
Retired FBI Special Agent Scott Duffy spoke about the murder of Rachel Miron on Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)
“And lo and behold, there was a match through CODIS between Rachel Morin’s crime scene DNA and the Los Angeles DNA,” he said.
Morin said CODIS operates under “strict guidelines” that give him peace of mind about the legitimacy of DNA matches.
“They have very strict guidelines and the fact that there were two DNA matches was very reassuring to me as a former investigator,” he said.
Rachel Morin went missing after walking along a trail in Maryland. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office/FB)
The unexpected development came after agents discovered that Morin’s suspect in the murder, later identified as Victor Martinez Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was not a U.S. citizen, according to the former special agent.
Martinez-Hernandez’s immigration status forced law enforcement to turn to the FBI’s international office, known as the legal affairs officer.
A Maryland sheriff’s “intuition” suggested Rachel Morin had been “stalked” by the suspect before she was killed.
““Where do they go next? To El Salvador?” Duffy said. “It’s one thing to have a family tree and say, ‘OK, we’re getting close,’ and it’s another to have a DNA expert say, ‘Here’s a match.'”
“But when you go abroad, you lose a certain amount of responsibility for the investigation.”
A photo of Rachel Morin is posted by her family to a tree along the Mama & Papa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 10, 2023. The 37-year-old was killed while hiking the trail. (Mega from Fox News Digital)
Duffy said the FBI’s international office in El Salvador was used to “bridge the gap” with U.S. law enforcement regarding Morin’s case.
Rachel Morin murder: Maryland State Police link crime scene DNA to Los Angeles assault, burglary
“But having an FBI office in El Salvador allows them to bridge the gap between U.S. law enforcement and Salvadoran authorities,” he said.
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
Salvadoran authorities then contacted U.S. law enforcement, stating that Martinez Hernandez had fled his home country after brutally murdering a person in the Central American country.
Following the news, the FBI issued a “red notice” instructing all law enforcement agencies affiliated with Interpol to be on the lookout for Martinez Hernandez.
“That red notice would have been a warning to authorities saying, ‘Don’t let this person go any further. Stop him and detain him,'” Duffy said. “Needless to say, Harford County investigators have been working diligently with Los Angeles authorities, and all of this is working out.”
Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was found dead on a hiking trail and reported missing by her new boyfriend, Richard Tobin (far right). (Facebook)
Duffy said he believes law enforcement used Martinez-Hernandez’s “digital forensic evidence” to piece together the final stages of the investigation.
“You have cell phones, you have email addresses, you have communications from this individual with anybody else, and that leaves a trail that allows law enforcement to narrow it down to a relatively small, very small area that their monitors can look at,” he said.
Rachel Morin murder: Maryland State Police link crime scene DNA to Los Angeles assault, burglary
Mr Duffy said it was “astonishing” that wanted fugitive Martinez-Hernandez managed to evade capture for 10 months after Ms Morin’s murder.
“It would be interesting to know what his assets were,” he said. “Who was supporting this person who was already a fugitive in his country of origin?”
Richard Tobin, far left, denied any involvement in the death of his girlfriend, Rachel Morin, after her body was found on a hiking trail in Maryland. (Facebook)
Rachel Morin murder case
On Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest.
Gahler said the 23-year-old was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
Police said the 23-year-old immigrant entered the United States illegally in February 2023.
“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Gahler said. “My understanding is that this suspect, this monster, had brutally murdered a young woman and then illegally fled to the United States. El Salvador It’s one month early, in January 2023.”
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Gahler said the first DNA match to Martinez-Hernandez was from the March 2023 attack in Los Angeles.
“Once in our country, and perhaps emboldened by his anonymity, he carried out a home invasion and brutal assault of a 9-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles in March of 2023,” Gahler said. “And as we all know, this was the first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the Los Angeles case.”
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Maureen, 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who said she had gone for a run on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, a quiet and normally safe town, and never returned. Northeast of Baltimore, August 5, 2023.
Her body was found by the roadside the next day.
