Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.
(NewsNation) — Trial proceedings have kicked off for the man accused of raping and killing 37-year-old Rachel Morin in 2023.
Randolph Rice, attorney and spokesperson for Morin’s family, told “NewsNation Prime” on March 30 that evidence collected at the scene will be pivotal to prosecuting suspect Victor Martinez-Hernandez.
“The DNA collected at the scene is certainly going to be one of the biggest pieces of evidence,” Rice said. “There’s copious amounts of DNA at the scene that’s going to be the key, sort of the linchpin of this case.”
If convicted, Martinez-Hernandez would face life in jail without possibility of parole.
Rachel Morin disappears
Aug. 5, 2023: Morin’s boyfriend reports her missing after she does not return from a run at the popular Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.
Rachel Morin found dead
Aug. 6, 2023: A day after the search for Morin began, her body was found off the trail.
Police declared her death a homicide and said they believed she was attacked on the trail and dragged through the woods to the location where she was raped and killed.
Rachel Morin suspect linked to LA home invasion
In August 2023, DNA taken from the crime scene and analyzed through the CODIS database was linked to an unidentified suspect in a Los Angeles home invasion, according to Harford County authorities.
The sheriff’s office releases security footage from the Los Angeles crime scene showing the man leaving a home.
“Someone out there knows him,” Gahler said.
While Gahler said police have “some of the answers” as to the circumstances of the man leaving the house in Los Angeles, he declined to give more details at the time.
Search for Rachel Morin’s killer
September 2023: The reward for information in Morin’s death was doubled to $20,000.
“We’re still looking for the suspect and any opportunity we have to go national. … Because we don’t know where this guy is laying his head at night. We need people to look at that video, look at that picture and help us identify him,” Gahler said.
Morin’s family also launched a digital campaign with hopes of tracking down her killer.
Feb. 13, 2024: Police in Maryland release new sketches of the man they suspect killed Morin.
Police say witnesses saw the suspect in the area near the Maryland trail, and police say he could have been in the area for days or weeks.
Deputies also say the hat the suspect is wearing in one of the sketches is the key piece of DNA evidence allowing investigators to connect the suspect to a separate crime in Los Angeles.
April 2024: Morin’s family releases a commercial pleading for justice in the murder investigation.
On NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” Patty Morin and Rice suggest the suspect might have left the country during the search.
“We know he’s a Hispanic male. We know he has the propensity to travel from California to Maryland,” Rice said. “He may be willing to travel out of the country.”
The family’s advertisement is aired in border towns in the hope that someone will identify the suspect. By the time it hits airwaves, the reward for information leading to a conviction hits $35,000.
Suspect Victor Martinez-Hernandez arrested
June 15, 2024: Victor Martinez-Hernandez is arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, nearly a year after Morin’s death. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape, according to the Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler.
The Salvadorian national, who was 22 at the time of Morin’s death, is accused of entering the U.S. illegally multiple times and of crimes in his home country, according to authorities.
Authorities say Martinez-Hernandez is accused of murdering a woman in December 2022. In early 2023, he crossed the U.S. southern border three times but was expelled each time by the Border Patrol.
Martinez-Hernandez succeeded on his fourth attempt and later surfaced in Los Angeles, where he was linked to the assault of a woman and a 9-year-old girl. He then traveled to Maryland, where he was accused of killing Morin.
June 20: He waives his extradition rights, speeding up the process to transfer him to Maryland.
July 2: Martinez-Hernandez is indicted and denied bail, according to court documents.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey is pushing for the maximum sentence if he is convicted, which is a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Rachel Morin’s mother testifies at House hearing
Sept. 10, 2024: Patty Morin testified before Capitol Hill lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee Republicans hearing titled “The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Victim Perspectives.”
She discussed her daughter’s passing and detailed her own experience with sexual violence when a man kidnapped her for three days and raped her at night.
“And I can tell you that what I suffered as a teenager at the hands of a criminally insane man is nothing compared to the horrors that my daughter suffered,” Patty Morin said.
Patty Morin, following Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest, told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” that her daughter “lived life fearlessly” and that she was “very loving and compassionate toward people.”
“She loved life. To have somebody just take it from her, to rob her of her future and then also her children’s future. … She would have gotten the news that she was going to be a grandmother for the first time if she had lived, and now her grandchildren are never gonna know (her). It’s devastating,” Patty Morin said.
Rachel Morin trial: Pretrial proceedings begin
April 1, 2025: Jury selection begins.
Rice told NewsNation that Patty Morin is “nervous and anxious” as the trial gets underway.
“When Rachel was allegedly murdered by this suspect, she felt helpless that she wasn’t there to help her,” Rice said. “She has the same feelings this week, but she is confident that the prosecutors in this case are prepared to present the evidence to the jury.”
NewsNation’s Ashley Soriano, Damita Menezes and Urja Sinha contributed to this report.