Suspect Detained for Role in 2023 Homicide of Maryland Resident Rachel Morin
A fella named Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, originally hailing from El Salvador, was nabbed at a watering hole in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on a weekend night, as per the Tulsa PD.
Cops found the perp chillin' at the bar and cuffed him. Initially, the dude denied his real identity and pleaded ignorance about the crimes he's wanted for, according to their Facebook post.
Martinez-Hernandez got put in the clink for trespassing, but when they ran his details, they discovered he was desired in relation to a raid and murder in Maryland. He's facing charges of first-degree rape and first-degree murder in that case, authorities said.
On Monday, he gave the nod for Maryland authorities to haul him from Oklahoma to Maryland for trial, Cristie Hopkins, Harford County Sheriff’s Office Director of Media and Public Relations, told CNN.
During a press briefing on Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler mentioned the extradition might take at least a week.
Martinez-Hernandez is suspected of being involved in multiple criminal activities since he slipped across the border into the US in February of 2023, Gahler said.
One of those wrongdoings is the rape and murder of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mom of five, the sheriff revealed. Morin was offed along a trekking trail in Bel Air in August of 2023, as per authorities.
“I reckon we all suspected that perhaps Rachel wasn't his sole victim. And it seems this SOB, this scumbag, high-tailed it to the US unlawfully after executing the heinous murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month prior in January,” Gahler said. “I ain't gonna let him leave Maryland again. I want him to kick the bucket in a Maryland jail.”
On May 20, which would have been Morin’s 38th birthday, investigators unveiled a lead that guided them to Martinez-Hernandez, Gahler said during the press briefing.
The lead was a shred of DNA evidence left at a crime scene in Los Angeles where cops claim Martinez-Hernandez viciously attacked a 9-year-old kid and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023.
William DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, stated their investigative genetic genealogy team traced that DNA to prospective kinfolk and even journeyed to El Salvador to help ID the presumed killer.
“We know nothing can make up for the pain and the despair Rachel’s family and pals have suffered. Kindly know, on behalf of the FBI, our hearts go out to you,” DelBagno said.
Morin’s mom, Patricia Morin, attended the press briefing and expressed thanks to the authorities for their persistence and to the media for keeping her daughter's story alive.
“I am so gracious that they have brought us to this place. In some of the phases during this, I didn't think that we were ever gonna get to an end, that it was gonna be a cold case,” Patricia Morin said.
The room then cheered.
Speaking with CNN affiliate WBFF, Matt McMahon, Morin's eldest daughter's dad, stated that he felt "joy, relief, gratitude" at the news of Martinez-Hernandez' apprehension, as well as sadness over the things Morin would never experience.
McMahon and Morin's daughter, 18-year-old Faye, is slated to become a mom this year, he told WBFF.
"It's a happy moment and a sad moment too because Rachel should have been here for that moment," he said. "And Faye should have been able to give Rachel the news, to tell Rachel you're gonna be a grandmother. But she can never give that news."
Alison Healey, Harford County State’s Attorney, is taking up the prosecution of this case and said it will commence once the suspect has been sent back to Harford County.
At this juncture, it's unclear if Martinez-Hernandez has snagged a defense attorney.
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The extradition of Martinez-Hernandez from Oklahoma to Maryland for trial was authorized by him on Monday, as confirmed by Cristie Hopkins, Harford County Sheriff’s Office Director of Media and Public Relations.
Once Martinez-Hernandez is sent back to Harford County, Alison Healey, Harford County State’s Attorney, will begin prosecuting him for the charges of first-degree rape and first-degree murder he is facing in the 2023 homicide of Maryland resident Rachel Morin.
