Arrest Made 10 Months After Mom of 5’s Brutal Homicide on Operating Path

In a press convention on Saturday, the Harford County Sheriff’s Workplace introduced that Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday night time.

The 23-year-old — who’s a citizen of El Salvador — was charged with first-degree homicide and first-degree rape.

The investigation into Morin’s homicide started in August 2023, after her boyfriend mentioned she by no means returned from a run on the Ma & Pa path in Bel Air. After he reported her lacking, her physique was found the next day alongside a climbing path. Later that month, authorities launched footage of a male they believed was related to the brutal murder of Morin; the video was from Los Angeles.

On the six-month anniversary of the mom of 5’s homicide, the Harford County Sheriff’s Workplace launched two sketches of the suspect, and new particulars concerning the case.

Throughout Saturday’s press launch, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler mentioned authorities have been capable of find Martinez-Hernandez by means of DNA proof. He added that Martinez-Hernandez was not a authorized citizen, and illegally crossed the border in February 2023. In line with Tulsa County jail data, Martinez-Hernandez was additionally on an ICE maintain.

Gahler mentioned Martinez-Hernandez “fled” El Salvador to the US after he allegedly murdered a girl in January 2023.

Two months later, he “brutally attacked” a 9-year-old woman and her mom in Los Angeles in a house invasion, in response to Gahler, noting this was the crime scene the place the recovered genetic materials was linked to Morin’s case.

Within the wake of his arrest, the sheriff’s division mentioned Martinez-Hernandez shall be extradited to Harford County, however it will possibly take “30 to 60 days.” He’s being held with out bond.

Whereas the investigation continues to be ongoing, Gahler mentioned he is assured Martinez-Hernandez will spend “the remainder of his days behind bars,” later including that he hopes he’ll “die in a Maryland jail.”

Gahler additionally shared that investigators don’t but know if Morin’s homicide was “random or focused,” and are unclear relating to motive. Nonetheless, he mentioned authorities imagine Martinez-Hernandez “spent a while” within the Bel-Air space previous to Mortin’s murder.

In the meantime, additionally in the course of the press convention, Morin’s mom, Patricia, obtained emotional as she expressed her gratitude to regulation enforcement and the general public for his or her willpower to seek out her daughter’s killer.

“At one level, when issues appeared actually bleak and hopeless, the lead detective mentioned to me … ‘Endurance will win in the long run,'” she mentioned. “And that is what they have been doing. They have been diligently working very laborious and so they’ve been patiently working by means of the entire leads, and it is due to that that now we have an arrest as we speak.”

“I am very grateful, and really grateful to those males,” she added. “And I am additionally very grateful to the press since you saved her story alive.”

Matt McMahon, who’s the daddy of Morin’s oldest baby, Faye, additionally reacted to Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest.

“I am feeling aid and gratitude,” he instructed The Baltimore Banner. “Gratitude to the HCSO for not giving up on Rachel.”