Horrific new information regarding the vicious rape and murder of Rachel Morin released as suspect is refused bail

It was disclosed on Friday that Rachel Morin had been brutally beaten and strangled. The undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, who is suspected of killing and raping the mother-of-five, was also refused bail.

Via video hookup from the Harford County Detention Center, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old accused gangbanger, attended the court on Friday. He was wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit and had his hands tied behind his back.

The court heard that on August 4, a mother named Morin, 37, was attacked on the Ma & Pa Heritage hiking route in Bel Air, Maryland. She was found half naked and suffered severe injuries before being savagely beaten to death.

After the hearing, Randolph Rice, the Morin family’s attorney, told The Post that the victim’s “badly beaten” body had been found the next day in a drainage tunnel.

She had “ten to fifteen head wounds, and blunt force injuries and strangulation were the manner of death,” according to him.

Citing the State’s Attorney’s argument from the bail hearing, he said, “She was attacked on the trail during her workout and dragged through the woods to the tunnel where she was located.”

First- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, and first- and second-degree assault are the charges brought against Hernandez.

Hernandez has an Interpol warrant and an ICE detainer, according to Judge Kerwin A. Miller’s ruling on Friday, which also stated that Hernandez poses a risk of flight and harm to society. His bond was turned down.

Hernandez turned down the chance to speak while the distraught Morin family looked on.

“Seeing the Defendant on the video screen was an emotionally challenging experience for them,” according to Rice.

It was also disclosed during the court that DNA testing was crucial to the investigation after it was initially connected to the suspect’s kin.

Hernandez was discovered through additional family genealogy research. According to authorities, Hernandez resided with relatives in Maryland from December 2023 to May 2024.

Hernandez was also connected by DNA to a house invasion and assault of a girl that occurred in Los Angeles on March 26, 2023. Previously, local officials possessed surveillance footage but were unaware of his identify.

Hernandez was taken into custody on June 14 at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and on Thursday, he was extradited to Maryland.

“Denying bail in such a serious case is not unexpected,” according to Rice.

“It’s obvious that the court found important reasons to retain the defendant in custody given the seriousness of the accusations in this case—rape and murder,” he stated.

“The court’s priority to protect the public’s safety and the integrity of the legal system is highlighted by this decision.”

The decision was made in the wake of Hernandez’s murder of Morin, which included the disclosure that Hernandez’s family had given over two bags of clothing and a pair of shoes that he had left behind at their Maryland residence.

Her family claimed that the deadly attack was so severe that it seemed like “her head had been smashed with a rock,” according to police reports.

Records indicate that after being examined at the Maryland State Police Forensics Lab, the DNA samples taken from the clothing matched the DNA found at the crime site.

Hernandez, who is suspected of killing another lady in El Salvador, was known to be a member of violent street gangs and entered the country illegally in February 2023, according to the authorities.

Hernandez was accused of the heinous murder of the woman, who had left a pub with him before her body was discovered in January 2023, the court heard at his bail hearing.

There were no other details given about that incident. source