A fugitive from El Salvador was founded guilty Monday in the 2023 slaying of a Maryland female who was assaulted while working out on a popular treking path northeast of Baltimore.
District attorneys declared that Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was performing a prepared attack when he got Rachel Morin off the path, slammed her head versus neighboring rocks, raped her and hid her body in a drain culvert. Their case depended upon DNA proof linking him to the criminal activity.
A jury discovered Martinez-Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree rape, to name a few offenses, according to Randolph Rice, a lawyer representing Morin’s family members.
“The Morin household is exceptionally alleviated that justice was served today,” Rice stated in a declaration.
Martinez-Hernandez was implicated of going into the United States unlawfully after presumably eliminating another female in his home nation. Authorities likewise connected him to a 2023 home intrusion in Los Angeles.
Morin was eliminated in August 2023. The act of violence sent out shock waves through Bel Air, a rural neighborhood northeast of Baltimore, and ended up being a political flashpoint throughout the 2024 governmental election project as Donald Trump required increased border security and mass deportations of immigrants residing in the U.S. unlawfully.
Martinez-Hernandez was detained last summer season in Oklahoma. He had actually been residing in Bel Air around the time of Morin’s death, district attorneys stated. They stated Morin went strolling or running along the exact same path nearly every day, generally at nights.
Defense lawyer challenged district attorneys’ assertion that the criminal activity was a random attack and stated cops just got the incorrect guy. They likewise asked jurors to pay attention to unanswered concerns throughout the trial, consisting of concerns of intention.
Investigators gathered DNA from numerous put on Morin’s body and established Martinez-Hernandez as a suspect, according to district attorneys. After talking to a few of his family members, investigators matched DNA from the scene with DNA gathered from socks that Martinez-Hernandez left when he ran away Maryland.
Morin, 37, left 5 kids. Her 14-year-old child was the very first witness to affirm recently, resisting tears as she explained the instant after-effects of her mama’s disappearance.