Sheriff blasts scourge of migrant crime after alleged serial predator charged with rape, murder of Rachel Morin: ‘Should not be happening’
A county sheriff in Maryland sounded off on the scourge of migrant crime in the US after charging a suspected Salvadoran gang member with the brutal rape and murder of mother-of-five Rachel Morin on a popular hiking trail.
Cops arrested Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, who is in the country illegally, after a months-long investigation that relied heavily on DNA evidence.
Federal authorities were finally able to track him to a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to WBAL TV 11.
There, they found the career criminal — who’s also wanted for murder in El Salvador and the assault of a mom and young girl in Los Angeles — “casually sitting at the bar” on Friday night, Tulsa cops said in a Facebook post.
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border here in Harford County,” Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County, Maryland said at a Saturday press conference. “This is the second woman in our county to be killed by illegal suspects.”
“In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs,” he continued. “[This] should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador.”
Morin, the 37-year-old mom, was snatched off the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air last August and dragged into the woods, according to authorities.
Her body was found in a culvert on Aug. 6, and her car was found in a parking lot.
Authorities released a suspect sketch in February, and boosted the award for information leading to his arrest to $35,000, according to the network.
Meanwhile, local detectives worked with several different state and federal agencies — as well as Morin’s family — to crack the case.
“At one point, when things seemed like really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective said to me, he said, ‘Patience will win in the end.’ And that’s what (investigators have) been doing,” said Morin’s mom, Patricia Morin, according to the network.
“They’ve been diligent, working very hard, and they’ve been patiently working through all the leads,” she continued. “It’s because of that we have an arrest today. So I’m very thankful and just very grateful to these men.”
Authorities finally caught a break about three weeks ago — on what would have been Morin’s 38th birthday.
“The lead we received was related to DNA evidence and allowed investigators to finally put a name to the image of the suspect in the video from Los Angeles, which we released two weeks after Rachel’s death,” Gahler said.
“As I have stated many times, this killer could have been laying his head in any community in the country or even in the world and indeed, that was completely accurate.”
“Over the past two weeks, investigators continued their diligent investigation and tracked our suspect all the way from Prince George’s County to Tulsa, Oklahoma,” the sheriff continued. “Our investigators also obtained an arrest warrant (Friday) afternoon.”
Cops say Hernandez has been living illegally in the United States since February 2023 — just a month after he allegedly murdered a young woman in El Salvador.
He is also wanted for allegedly attacking a 9-year-old girl and her mom during a brutal home invasion in Los Angeles, the station said.
Hernandez has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape for Morin’s killing.
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“Our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members,” Bill DelBango, from the FBI Baltimore Field Office, said.
“Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer,” he continued. “To find the suspect, we’ve provided technical assistance helping to pinpoint his location. That brings us to (Friday night), where Tulsa police and FBI agents were able to successfully apprehend and arrest the suspect in Oklahoma.”
The extradition process to bring the suspected killer to Maryland has already begun, Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healy said.
That’s likely to last between 10 days to a month.
ICE has also issued a detainer on Hernandez since he’s been living in the US illegally, Gahler said.
“I’m here to tell you Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man,” Gahler said. “Hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again.”
