Rachel Morin : El Salvadoran charged in rape, murder of Maryland mom

A former FBI supervisory special agent provided insights into the collaborative efforts of federal and state law enforcement in capturing the suspect in the multi-state homicide investigation involving Rachel Morin.

Retired FBI agent Scott Duffey shared that at the onset of any homicide investigation, authorities typically focus on individuals closest to the victim.

‘First and foremost, you start with loved ones, whether it be a spouse, a partner or a romantic partner,’ he explained. ‘And then once you exclude them, then you move outward.’

Duffey, who engaged with Morin’s family in Harford County, Maryland, post her tragic demise, highlighted the significance of the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in enabling seamless coordination among law enforcement agencies across state boundaries during the 10-month inquiry.

CODIS, a DNA database utilised by federal and state law enforcement, collates DNA profiles of convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene samples, and missing persons data.

A breakthrough in Morin’s murder case occurred when DNA evidence linked to her was discovered thousands of miles away from her Maryland residence in Los Angeles, weeks after her disappearance.

‘And lo and behold, the two DNA matches from DNA found at Rachel Morin’s crime scene and the DNA from LA were a match through CODIS,’ he stated.

Duffey expressed confidence in the legitimacy of the DNA match, attributing it to the stringent protocols followed by CODIS.

‘They have very strict guidelines, and the fact that you had two DNA matches was very comforting to me as a former investigator,’ he affirmed.

The unexpected turn in the investigation arose when it was discovered that the suspected killer, Victor Martinez Hernandez, an undocumented migrant from El Salvador, was not a U.S. citizen.

Martinez Hernandez’s immigration status necessitated the involvement of FBI international offices, known as legal attachés.

‘What’s their next stop out of the country into El Salvador?’ Duffey pondered. ‘Now, it’s one thing when you have a genealogical tree, and you’re able to say, ‘OK, we’re getting closer’ and the DNA experts are able to say, ‘Hey, this is a match’.

‘But when you go out of the country, you lose certain ownership of an investigation.’

The FBI office in El Salvador played a pivotal role in facilitating communication between U.S. law enforcement and authorities in El Salvador regarding Martinez Hernandez’s criminal activities.

‘Having an FBI office in El Salvador allowed them to bridge the gap between American law enforcement and El Salvadorian authorities,’ he added.

Subsequently, El Salvadorian authorities informed U.S. law enforcement that Martinez Hernandez had fled his home country following a brutal murder.

This development prompted the issuance of a ‘red notice’ by the FBI, alerting Interpol and law enforcement agencies worldwide to apprehend Martinez Hernandez.

‘That red notice would have alerted authorities, ‘Do not let this individual go any further. Stop and detain,” Duffey explained. ‘All those things are falling into place, not to mention the hard work that Harford County investigators pursued with LA authorities.’

Duffey suggested that law enforcement leveraged Martinez Hernandez’s digital footprint to conclude their investigation.

‘A cellphone, an email address, something that this individual is communicating with anybody else and thereby having such a footprint that law enforcement can zone in, pinpoint to a relatively small, very tight area to where surveillance could go out and investigate,’ he elaborated.

He expressed amazement at Martinez Hernandez’s ability to evade capture for 10 months following Morin’s murder, questioning who may have aided the fugitive.

‘It will be interesting to see what his means were,’ he remarked. ‘Who was supporting this individual who was already a fugitive from justice from his country of origin?’

RACHEL MORIN MURDER

On Saturday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced the arrest of Martinez Hernandez.

Gahler revealed that the 23-year-old was apprehended in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.

Police disclosed that the 23-year-old migrant unlawfully entered the United States in February 2023.

‘We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,’ Gahler stated. ‘It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier, in January of 2023.’

Gahler mentioned that the first DNA match for Martinez Hernandez stemmed from an attack in Los Angeles in March 2023.

‘Once in our country, and likely emboldened by his anonymity, he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles,’ Gahler recounted. ‘And as everyone I believe is aware, that was our first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the one in Los Angeles.’

Morin, aged 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who noted her failure to return after going for a run on the Ma & Pa Trail, a pedestrian path in Bel Air, a serene and typically secure town approximately 28 miles northeast of Baltimore, on August 5, 2023.

Her lifeless body was discovered on the trail the following day.

Read further via FOX NEWS