Man wanted for murder of woman in El Salvador arrested for death of hiker in Maryland

A fugitive wanted in El Salvador for the killing of a young woman has been arrested for the murder of a Maryland hiker last year, authorities said Saturday.

The suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was arrested around 11:30 p.m. Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sheriff Jeff Gahler of Harford County, Maryland, said at a news conference.

Rachel Morin’s body was discovered on Aug. 6, 2023, along Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, a day after her boyfriend reported her missing, authorities said. The sheriff had previously suggested she may have been murdered in the hour or two before sunset on Aug. 5.

In a statement Saturday, the sheriff’s office said investigators believe Martinez-Hernandez “hid next to a trail and where Rachel was walking and attacked and killed Morin before fleeing Maryland.”

Authorities have not said whether a weapon was involved or how exactly Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was killed. On Saturday, Gahler said the suspect faces charges of first-degree murder and rape. Charges have been filed in Maryland in connection with the attack on Morin.

Gahler claimed the suspect entered the United States without permission in February 2023 while fleeing El Salvador authorities who were looking for him in connection with the death of a young woman there. The sheriff did not name the gang the suspect allegedly claimed allegiance to.

The sheriff used Saturday’s press conference to criticize federal leadership regarding border security.

“Due to failed immigration policies, American citizens are not safe,” Gahler said.

He said Morin was the second woman in the county to be killed in recent years, allegedly by a gang member from El Salvador who was in the country illegally.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced that he will “close” the border if elected, and accused President Joe Biden of creating an “open border” with Mexico that would allow criminals from all over the world to enter.

While spending on the border has steadily increased since the 1990s, Biden responded to concerns about migration by taking executive action this month to ban the “entry” of immigrants crossing the border illegally.

Oklahoma jail records show the suspect was being held without bail in Tulsa County based on detention as a “fugitive from justice” as well as warrants issued by Maryland authorities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It was not clear whether Martinez-Hernandez has hired an attorney. The public defender’s office in Tulsa did not immediately respond to a request for comment; the public defender in Bel Air acknowledged the request but declined to comment.

Gahler expressed concern that other crimes may be connected to the Harford County case.

“The investigators fear that we will come across another crime here,” said Gahler.

A March 2023 home invasion in South Los Angeles in which a 9-year-old girl was attacked contributed to an arrest in the Maryland case, the sheriff said.

Video from the doorbell shows a shirtless suspect leaving the house. More importantly, Gahler said, DNA evidence from the crime scene matches genetic material found during the investigation into Morin’s murder.

William J. DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore office, said familial DNA – genetic material that traces back to a small circle of relatives – led to the suspect. Agents traveled to El Salvador as part of the investigation, he said.

Details of the murder in El Salvador, which is set to occur in January 2023, were not available. “We suspected that Rachel was not the first victim,” Gahler said.

The sheriff said investigators first targeted Martinez-Hernandez on May 20, Morin’s birthday.

There were different versions of how the suspect was arrested.

A statement from the sheriff’s office said the FBI contacted Tulsa Police Department detectives “late last night” about the case. “They were working on information that the suspect was in the Tulsa area,” the statement said.

It states that officers “converged on a bar,” “found the suspect sitting there and arrested him.”

Gahler said at the press conference that Tulsa police encountered the suspect by chance late Friday and did not know he was wanted.

Officers at a Tulsa commercial park arrested him for trespassing and, after checking his information, determined that Martinez-Hernandez was wanted, the sheriff said.

“He was in a commercial area or in front of a store,” he said, “and he was identified during the arrest and investigation.”

Tulsa police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the press conference, authorities expressed confidence that Martinez-Hernandez would be extradited and tried in Maryland before authorities in El Salvador or California could consider prosecuting him. No charges have been filed in the California case.

Morin’s mother, Patricia “Patty” Morin, spoke at Saturday’s press conference, thanking investigators for solving a difficult case and the media for “keeping the story alive.”

“At one point, when the situation seemed really bleak and hopeless,” she said, “the lead investigator said to me: In the end, patience will prevail.”