Illegal immigrant charged in rape, killing of mother-of-five

A migrant from El Salvador has been charged over the brutal 2023 rape and murder of a mother-of-five on a US hiking trail, police say.

A migrant from El Salvador has been charged over the brutal 2023 rape and murder of mother-of-five Rachel Morin on a US hiking trail, police say.

Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was tracked down in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday, local time, after police matched his DNA to the gruesome crime scene in the US state of Maryland, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said, the New York Post reported.

“Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man and, hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again,” Sheriff Gahler said.

According to police, Martinez-Hernandez has connections to Salvadoran street gangs and had a violent history that included at least one other homicide.

Mother-of-five Rachel Morin was raped and murdered in 2023, police said. Picture: Harford County Sheriff’s Office

Her body was found in a gruesome scene on a hiking trail in the US state of Maryland. Picture: Harford County Sheriff’s Office

“Victor Hernandez did not come to this country to make a better life for him or his family, he came here to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came here to murder Rachel and God-willing, no one else,” Sheriff Gahler said.

“But that should have never been allowed to happen.”

The accused killer illegally crossed into the US in February 2023 after he viciously murdered another young woman.

Martinez-Hernandez was in the US for six months before he allegedly targeted Ms Morin while she was walking alone on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.

Her naked body suffered such severe trauma that family said it looked as though “her head had been smashed in with a rock”.

Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, has been charged in relation to the young woman’s death. Picture: Harford County Sheriff’s Office

Authorities say Martinez-Hernandez is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Picture: Harford County Sheriff’s Office

About a month after the killing, police matched Martinez-Hernandez’s DNA to a sample recovered at the scene of a home invasion and assault of a young girl in Los Angeles.

Although they had the DNA evidence and video from that break-in, Sheriff Gahler said they did not have an identity on the suspect until May.

Authorities tracked the alleged serial assailant in Tulsa two weeks ago and executed an arrest warrant just before midnight on Friday.

Ms Morin’s mother has expressed relief over the development in the investigation. Picture: Rachel Morin/Facebook

He was taken into custody and charged on Saturday morning with first-degree murder and first-degree rape charges. A motive for the killing remains a mystery.

Patricia Morin, the victim’s mother, held back tears at a press conference as she thanked investigators for tracking down the suspect.

“At some of the points during this, I didn’t think that we were ever going to have an answer and that it would be a cold case,” she said.

“At one point when things looked really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective told me, ‘Patience will win in the end’.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission