An illegal immigrant from El Salvador was arrested last week by Maryland police in connection with the brutal murder of a mother of five in August last year.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was arrested on June 14 in relation to the murder of Rachel Morin of Maryland, and was booked the following day, said Jeffery Gahler, sheriff of Harford County, near Baltimore.
“Five hours after meeting with [Morin’s] family and just before midnight our time, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, assisted by our federal partners, located and arrested Rachel’s murderer,” Sheriff Gahler said in a press conference on June 15.
Mr. Martinez-Hernandez, who allegedly crossed into the United States illegally in February 2023, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Mr Gahler said. “It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier, in January of 2023.”
The sheriff said a DNA match for Mr. Martinez-Hernandez was also linked to an attack in Los Angeles in March 2023.
“Once in our country, and likely emboldened by his anonymity, he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles,” he said. “That was our first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the one in Los Angeles.”
In the press briefing, Sherrif Gahler pointed at what he referred to as “failed immigration policies.”
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border. And American citizens are not safe because of their failed immigration policies.”
“This is the second time in two years that an innocent Harford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally,” he said.
“In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs. This should not be happening.
“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,” he said.
Ms Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five from Maryland, was found dead the day after her boyfriend reported her missing on Aug. 5, 2023.
Her boyfriend said she went for a run on the quiet Ma & Pa Trail, a pedestrian trail in Bel Air, around 30 miles outside of Baltimore.
Police had linked traces of DNA obtained at the scene to the Los Angeles home invasion committed in March 2023. Police were then able to release sketches of the suspect in February.
The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) led police initially to a single DNA match for an unidentified Hispanic male, based on forensic evidence collected from the home invasion.
During the violent, late-night home invasion, multiple people were assaulted and injured, including children. A surveillance camera caught images of a shirtless man escaping through the front door.
In an emotional address during the press conference, Ms Morin’s mother Patricia Morin thanked law enforcement for their tireless efforts to bring the criminal to justice.
“They just really cared for our family and for our daughter,” she said. “They were going to diligently work and find the person who murdered her.”