An illegal immigrant was indicted this week on charges of the brutal rape and murder of Rachel Morin, in a move the victim’s family’s lawyer called a “significant step.”
A Maryland grand jury voted to formally indict Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, on two counts of murder, two counts of rape and one count each of sexual assault and kidnapping for the brutal 2023 attack on the mother of five.
“The indictment marks an important step in our pursuit of justice for Rachel Morin and her family,” Attorney Randolph Rice said in a statement. “This is an important step towards achieving justice for Rachel Morin and holding the defendant accountable for this heinous crime.”
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Victor Martinez Hernandez is accused of brutally raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a mother of five, on Aug. 5, 2023, in Maryland. (Tulsa Police Department/Facebook)
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested last month at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following a nationwide manhunt for the Salvadoran native, who is being held without bail.
Authorities said Martinez Hernandez, who has suspected gang ties, fled his home country after an arrest warrant was issued there in February 2023 for the murder of a woman.
He tried three times to enter the United States but failed. Across borders According to authorities, the incident occurred on February 13, 2023, near El Paso, Texas.
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Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail and murdered on August 5, 2023. (Handouts for families)
The man is accused of breaking into a Los Angeles home in March and assaulting a 9-year-old girl and her mother before attacking Morin on Aug. 5 at Mama & Papa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, according to prosecutors and police.
He is accused of dragging her off the street, brutally beating her, leaving more than 10 cuts on her head, and then strangling her to death.
Her body was found covered in bruises in a drainage tunnel.
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Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, arrived in Maryland. He was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Rachel Morin. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/Getty Images)
Her mother, Patty Morin, of Harford County, said she was grieving her daughter’s final moments.
“She must have known she wasn’t going to survive,” she previously told Fox News Digital. “I’m sure she was thinking about her children and everything she was going to lose and that this was going to be the end of her life. She must have felt so helpless.”
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Martinez-Hernandez is scheduled to return to Harford County District Court on July 22. His court-appointed attorney, Marcus Jenkins, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
