THE illegal immigrant who raped and murdered mom of five Rachel Morin has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms, plus an additional 40 years.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a 24-year-old native of El Salvador, was sentenced more than two years after Morin, 37, was found dead on the Ma and Pa trail in in Bel Air, Maryland, in August 2023.
All five of Morin‘s children shared a statement or audio recording with the court as Martinez-Hernandez waited to hear his fate, ABC affiliate WMAR reported.
The victim’s older brother, Michael, said he was clinging to his faith and trying to forgive the killer because God forgives even the worst of sinners.
Morin’s younger brother, John, said that he suffered through a “tidal wave of grief” after losing his sister.
Throughout the emotional statements, Martinez-Hernandez reportedly sat stone-faced as prosecutors accused him of failing to acknowledge the severity of his crime.
Earlier this week, a doctor conducted an evaluation and found the sick criminal was at a high risk of reoffending, prosecutors said.
In an emotional interview, Morin’s mom, Patty, said that she had been struggling to translate the value of her daughter’s life into a statement to give the court.
“I think about my grandchildren and her siblings, and the pain that they’ve suffered,” she told Fox News.
“It’s just gonna be a really hard day. No way around it.”
His sentencing came after Morin disappeared on August 5, 2023, when she went on a run in the wilderness near her home in Bel Air, Maryland, which is about 45 minutes outside Baltimore.
The mom, who owned her own house cleaning business, frequented the trail and tried to exercise there every day.
Later that night, her boyfriend Richard Tobin called 911 and reported her missing. Her daughters tried to get in touch with her but Morin wasn’t responding to texts.
The following day, two of Morin’s friends found her body abandoned in a drainage tunnel underneath a road.
The medical examiner determined that Morin had been strangled and ruled her death a homicide.
The Hartford County Sheriff’s Office launched an urgent search for the killer and fielded over 1,000 tips.
They uncovered DNA at the scene that matched another profile from a home invasion in Los Angeles that was four months before the murder.
However, detectives didn’t have an identity at the time.
Investigators were led to several residences around Maryland and collected more genetic material before naming Martinez-Hernandez as their primary suspect.
They learned that he was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but lived and worked at a Popeyes near Morin at the time of her death.
The suspect was arrested on June 14, 2024, and denied ever hearing Morin’s name.
However, when investigators looked through his internet search history, they found he had watched YouTube videos about her case.
Timeline of Rachel Morin's Case
Ten months after Rachel Morin's body was discovered in a Maryland park, police arrested 23-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez for her murder.
- August 5, 2023: Rachel left for the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore, at 6 pm and never came home. She was reported missing by her boyfriend five hours later.
- August 6, 2023: Volunteers find Morin’s body in a drain runoff pit near the trail.
- August 17, 2023: Police hold a press conference about the case and announce that DNA collected from her body matched a man previously arrested for a home invasion in Los Angeles.
- October 2023: With no new leads, $10,000 is offered to anyone with details of the suspect.
- February 13, 2024: Police release a sketch of the suspect.
- June 14, 2024: Victor Martinez-Hernandez is arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and charged with first-degree rape and murder.
- April 15, 2025: Martinez-Hernandez is found guilty of murder, rape, and kidnapping charges
- August 11, 2025: Martinez-Hernandez is sentenced
‘A LIGHT’
Morin’s mom remembered her daughter as being very “alive” and always having a positive impact on people.
“When she walked into a room, it’s like the whole room lit up because she brought this energy and life with her,” Patty told Fox News.
“She always seemed happy. Even when she was stressing out, she was always joking.”
Now that Morin is gone, her heartbroken mom said they are left with a “void.”
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