Murder of Rachel Morin

Rachel Hannah Morin (born May 20, 1986) was a mother of five who owned a house cleaning business. On the evening of August 5, 2023, she went to the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, arriving around 6:58 p.m. According to data from her phone and smartwatch, she was killed between 7:04 and 7:10 p.m. Her partner, Richard Tobin, reported her missing around 11:20 p.m. after she failed to return home. Her car was found at the trailhead the next day, and a volunteer discovered her body and called 911 at 1:07 p.m. on August 6. The Harford County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) confirmed the body was Morin's on August 8.

The case was investigated as a homicide from the outset, with HCSO Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler stating there was "no doubt" it was a homicide based on scene indicators. It was initially unclear whether the attack was targeted. Investigators received more than 200 tips within the first week and interviewed Tobin and other friends of Morin, with Tobin voluntarily surrendering his phone and a DNA sample. A group of people on the trail at the time of the murder were also identified and questioned.

The suspect's DNA, recovered from Morin's body, was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and matched to DNA from a March 26, 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles in which a nine-year-old girl and her mother were assaulted. This led investigators to release doorbell camera footage and a description of a suspect later identified as Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a Salvadoran national. Martinez Hernandez had an outstanding arrest warrant in El Salvador for a suspected murder issued in January 2023, had been detained and deported under Title 42 three times in early 2023, and successfully entered the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, on February 13, 2023. Morin's family worked with a criminal profiler to distribute posters describing the suspect in Los Angeles. A reward for information, initially $2,000, was raised to $10,000.

Investigators developed a lead through genetic genealogy on May 20, 2024, coinciding with what would have been Morin's 38th birthday. Martinez Hernandez was arrested at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 14, 2024, after giving officers false information about his identity, and was extradited to Maryland on June 18, 2024.

Martinez Hernandez's trial began April 1, 2025, in Harford County, Maryland, following jury selection that drew scrutiny over public and press access. During the trial, Morin's daughter, Tobin, and the volunteer who found Morin's body testified. On April 14, 2025, after less than 50 minutes of deliberation, a jury found Martinez Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual assault, and kidnapping. On August 11, 2025, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years; because Maryland judges cannot order incarceration outside the state, he will serve his sentence in Maryland.

In the aftermath, the HCSO increased patrols of the trail, and community events including a "Trail of Life" walk and a Women's Walk Along were held to commemorate Morin. Harford County officials announced plans to install cameras along the trail. Morin's brother, Michael Morin, later addressed the 2024 Republican National Convention regarding the case.