Victor Martinez-Hernandez, the illegal immigrant suspected of killing mother-of-five Rachel Morin last year, is expected to be extradited to Maryland this week to face prosecution, according to information obtained by Fox News Digital.
Harford County police confirmed that Martinez-Hernandez left Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Thursday morning and was scheduled to arrive at the Martin State Airport between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
Police said the 23-year-old man will be transported to the Harford County Detention Center once he arrives in Maryland.
Rachel Morin murder: Maryland sheriff says open borders gave illegal immigrants “permission” to kill mother of five
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested on June 14 after a lengthy, 10-month investigation into Morin’s murder.
He was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
Victor Martinez Hernandez is scheduled to be extradited to Maryland on June 20. (Tathra Police Station)
Authorities said Martinez Hernandez entered the United States illegally in February 2023.
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“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said in announcing the arrest Saturday. “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 will be one month earlier, in January 2023.”
Rachel Maureen (left) and Maureen with her boyfriend Richard Tobin (right) (Facebook)
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Rachel Morin’s disappearance in August 2023. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
Maureen, 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who said she had gone for a run on the Mama and Pa Trail in Bel Air, a quiet and usually safe town, and never returned. Northeast of Baltimore, August 5, 2023.
Her body was found by the roadside the next day.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland posted a sign at the entrance to the Mama & Papa Trail on June 17, 2024, announcing an arrest in the August 2023 murder of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)
The identification of the suspect in Morin’s murder as an illegal immigrant has sparked debate about the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
After Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest was announced, Gahler slammed the administration’s “failed immigration policies.”
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border,” Gahler said, “and the American people are not safe because of failed immigration policies.”
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“For the second time in two years, an innocent woman in Harford County has had her life wrongfully taken by criminals in our country,” he reiterated in the statement. “In both cases, the suspect was a Salvadoran national with ties to organized crime. This should not happen.”
“Victor Hernandez did not come to this country to better his life or his family’s, but to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came to kill Rachel and, God willing, not to kill anyone else,” he said.
“But that should never have been allowed to happen,” Gahler said.
Rachel Morin went missing after she said she was walking along a trail in Maryland. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office/FB)
Maryland Governor Wes Moore appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday to express his anger over the state’s failed immigration policies.
“I am outraged and our state continues to grieve,” Moore said.
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“The state where this brutal murder occurred is Harford County, 1,800 miles from the state line, and while some may think this only affects a few states, it actually affects all of us,” he said.
“This inaction that we’re seeing without any form of sensible immigration policy being implemented affects all of us because we all and our local governments deal with the consequences of this,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Baille Hill contributed to this report.
