Salvadoran fugitive convicted in deadly attack of Maryland hiker
A jury found Victor Martinez-Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree rape, according to an attorney for Rachel Morin’s relatives.
April 15, 2025, 5:45 AM EDT / Source: The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
BEL AIR, Md. — A fugitive from El Salvador was convicted Monday in the 2023 slaying of a Maryland woman who was attacked while exercising on a popular hiking trail northeast of Baltimore.
Prosecutors alleged that Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was carrying out a planned attack when he grabbed Rachel Morin off the trail, bashed her head against nearby rocks, raped her and concealed her body in a drainage culvert. Their case hinged on DNA evidence connecting him to the crime.
A jury found Martinez-Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree rape, among other offenses, according to Randolph Rice, an attorney representing Morin’s relatives.
“The Morin family is incredibly relieved that justice was served today,” Rice said in a statement.
Martinez-Hernandez was accused of entering the United States illegally after allegedly killing another woman in his home country. Authorities also linked him to a 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles.
Morin was killed in August 2023. The act of violence sent shock waves through Bel Air, a suburban community northeast of Baltimore. It also became a political flashpoint during the 2024 presidential election campaign as Donald Trump called for increased border security and mass deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/salvadoran-fugitive-convicted-deadly-attack-maryland-hiker-rcna201270
