New and harrowing details have emerged in the murder of Rachel Morin, including how the Maryland mother of five was “severely beaten” before being raped.
A Maryland court heard Friday that Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is accused of raping and murdering Morin, brutally beat, strangled and raped his victim before leaving her partially naked. Report from the New York Post.
Randolph Rice, an attorney for the Morin family, told the New York Post that the mother of five “suffered between 10 and 15 wounds to the head and the cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma.”
Police said the fatal assault on Morin was so brutal that her family believes her head appeared to have been “smashed with a stone.”
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Victor Martinez Hernandez is accused of raping and murdering Rachel Morin on Aug. 5, 2023, in Bel Air, Maryland. (Hartford County Sheriff’s Office/Tulsa Police Department)
“She was attacked on a trail while working out and was dragged through the woods to a tunnel where she was found,” he said, repeating arguments made by the state attorney’s office and Hernandez at his bail hearing.
Judge Kerwin A. Miller denied bail to the Salvadoran immigrant, finding that Martinez-Hernandez is a flight risk and poses a potential danger to society. The judge also noted that Martinez-Hernandez has entered the country illegally four times and has an active ICE detention warrant and an Interpol arrest warrant.
“Watching the defendant on a video screen has been an emotionally difficult experience for the family,” a lawyer for the Morin family told the New York Post.
“The judge’s decision to deny bail in such a serious case is not unexpected,” the lawyer added.
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
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“Given the charges in this case, which are rape and murder, it is clear that the court found serious reasons to continue to detain the defendant,” Rice said. “This decision underscores the court’s priority of ensuring public safety and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Martinez-Hernandez is charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape and second-degree assault in the case. He did not have an opportunity to make a statement at the hearing.
Friday’s hearing revealed that DNA testing played a key role in identifying Martinez-Hernandez as a suspect: DNA from the Morin murder scene matched DNA found on a water bottle and cap in the March assault of a 9-year-old girl in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles authorities had surveillance footage of the March robbery but were unable to identify Martinez-Hernandez as a suspect at the time. He was eventually tracked down at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and arrested earlier this month.
Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, arrived in Maryland and was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Rachel Morin of Bel Air, Maryland. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/Getty Images)
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The hearing also revealed that relatives of Martinez-Hernandez handed over two bags of clothing and a pair of shoes that he left behind in Maryland after fleeing the state, according to the report.
Authorities said Martinez Hernandez fled to the United States in January 2023 after he was accused of murdering a woman in El Salvador. He tried to cross the U.S. border twice that month, in Texas and New Mexico, but was caught and deported both times.
Martinez-Hernandez tried to cross the border again in New Mexico a month later, but was caught and deported. His fourth, and ultimately successful, illegal border crossing attempt occurred the same month or a month later.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
