New gruesome details emerge about brutal rape and murder of Rachel Morin, suspect denied bail

As was revealed on Friday, Rachel Morin was not only strangled but also brutally beaten – and the illegal immigrant from El Salvador, who is accused of raping and killing the mother of five, was denied bail.

Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old suspected mobster, attended Friday’s hearing via video link from the Harford County Detention Center. He wore a black-and-white striped jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The court heard that Morin, a 37-year-old mother, was found brutally beaten to death and partially naked after being attacked on the Ma & Pa Heritage trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on August 4.

Morin family attorney Randolph Rice told The Post after the hearing that the victim’s “severely beaten” body was found in a sewer tunnel the next day.

He said she had “10 to 15 wounds to her head and died from strangulation or blunt force trauma.”

“She was attacked while training on the trail and dragged through the woods to the tunnel where she was,” he added, quoting the prosecutor’s argument at the bail hearing.

Hernandez is charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, and first- and second-degree assault.

Judge Kerwin A. Miller ruled Friday that Hernandez was a flight risk and a danger to society. He noted that he had an ICE warrant and an Interpol warrant against him. His bail was denied.

Hernandez declined to comment as the heartbroken Morin family watched.

Rice described it as an “emotionally challenging experience for her to see the defendant on the video screen.”

During the hearing, it was also revealed that DNA testing played a crucial role in the investigation after a connection was first established with a relative of the suspect.

Further investigation into the family history led to Hernandez, who authorities said was staying with relatives in Maryland from December 2023 to May 2024.

DNA also linked Hernandez to a home invasion and assault of a girl in Los Angeles on March 26, 2023. Local authorities already had surveillance video but did not know his identity.

Hernandez was arrested at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 14 and extradited to Maryland on Thursday.

Rice said the decision to “deny bail in such a serious case was not unexpected.”

“Given the seriousness of the allegations in this case – rape and murder – it is clear that the court saw important reasons for keeping the defendant in custody,” he said.

“This decision underscores the court’s priority to ensure public safety and the integrity of the judicial process.”

The ruling also came after it was revealed that Hernandez’s relatives had handed over two bags of clothing and a pair of shoes that he had left behind at their Maryland home after fleeing following the rape and murder of Morin.

According to police, the fatal attack was so brutal that her family said it looked like “her head had been smashed with a rock.”

DNA samples taken from the clothing were processed at the Maryland State Police forensic laboratory and matched DNA from the crime scene, documents show.

Authorities said Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally in February 2023 and has proven ties to violent street gangs in El Salvador, where he is suspected of murdering another woman.

At his bail hearing, the court heard that Hernandez was charged with the aggravated murder of the woman who left a bar with him before her body was found in January 2023.

No further details about this incident have been released.