Law enforcement officials have made an arrest in the case of Rachel Morin, a mother of five from Harford County, Maryland, who was found dead near a hiking trail in August 2023. Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a 23-year-old citizen of El Salvador, was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, late Friday night and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler announced the arrest during a press conference on Saturday, revealing that Martinez-Hernandez had crossed the border into the United States in February 2023. Gahler believes that Morin was not the suspect’s first victim, stating that Martinez-Hernandez had fled to the U.S. after allegedly murdering a young woman in El Salvador in January 2023. Additionally, he is suspected of brutally attacking a nine-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in Los Angeles in March 2023.

Investigators were able to connect DNA samples from the Harford County murder scene to surveillance video of the suspect in the Los Angeles case, providing them with their first images of Martinez-Hernandez. FBI Baltimore field office special agent in charge William DelBagno explained that they traced the suspect’s DNA to potential family members in El Salvador, helping to identify him. With the support of local law enforcement, they tracked Martinez-Hernandez down to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was taken into custody.

Sheriff Gahler expressed hope that the arrest would bring some peace to Morin’s family and the Harford County community. Alison Healey, the State’s Attorney for Harford County, announced that she would personally lead the prosecution and ensure that justice is served for Rachel Morin and her family once the suspect is extradited to Harford County.