Illegal immigrant accused of murdering Maryland mom crossed border in 2023
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler offers details on the illegal immigrant accused of killing a mother of five in his community.
A Maryland sheriff has ripped America’s open southern border after an illegal immigrant – who was already wanted for the slaying of a woman in his native El Salvador – was arrested Friday and charged with the rape and murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was killed while on a hiking trail last year.
Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County said illegal immigrant Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, should not have been in the country in the first place to carry out the horrific crime.
He was nabbed "casually sitting" at a bar Friday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma with investigators saying a police tip and DNA evidence allowed them to crack the case and track him down.
"He killed a woman in El Salvador and that's why he fled there, to come here through our open border," Gahler told "America’s Newsroom" Monday.
Illegal immigrant Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, left; Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County, top right; Rachel Morin with her boyfriend Richard Tobin, bottom right. (Tulsa Police Department, Fox News, Facebook)
"He tried to come in legally and he was turned away. And yeah, that didn't deter him because we have such a porous border and he came right through… and this is the result."
Morin’s naked and beaten body was found in a culvert on Aug. 6 after the 37-year-old had gone missing the day before while out on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, a quiet and typically safe town about 28 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Gahler said that Martinez Hernandez was free to roam all over the U.S. having entered the country illegally in February 2023, about a month after he was wanted in El Salvador for homicide. Police linked Martinez Hernandez’s DNA to a March home invasion in Los Angeles where a mother and her 9-year-old daughter were assaulted.
"To my citizens here in Harford County, to every citizen in this country, this is a public safety crisis and one that we can so easily fix by really coming up with a workable immigration policy for our country. It's just insane that we would allow things like Rachel's murder to happen, and when I say ‘allow it,’ we allowed it by letting him into this country unchallenged."
"That shouldn't happen to families in our country. This is preventable."
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland posted signs at Ma & Pa Trail heads on June 17, 2024 announcing the arrest in the August 2023 murder of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
Gahler said there is no death penalty in Maryland but he hopes Martinez Hernandez will rot in jail for his alleged crimes. The sheriff went on to say that a bipartisan effort is needed to address border issues that have been raging for decades.
"The border was never more secure than when President Trump was in office, but it has been an issue dating way back in my 40 years in law enforcement."
Trump, meanwhile, weighed in on Morin’s death on Monday, likening it to that of Georgia student Laken Riley’s death and pointing the blame at President Biden.
"Rachel Morin was on a run in Maryland, just like Laken Riley was in Georgia, when she was brutally killed by an illegal monster who was wanted for murder in El Salvador and fled to the USA because he knew Crooked Joe would let him in," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Now Rachel Morin's 5 young children will grow up without their mother because Crooked Joe refuses to shut down the border."
Video: Attorney Randolph Rice reacts to arrest of illegal immigrant in Rachel Morin case
Randolph Rice, an attorney for Morin's family, said it's astounding that someone like Martinez Hernandez, who was already wanted for murder in his home country, could gain entry to America.
"This is an American problem and you would think that Border Patrol would be able to stop people and say, ‘Hey are you wanted for murder back in your country? If so you can’t come in here,’" Rice told Fox and Friends First on Monday.
"And so that’s certainly a big problem and Maryland is a long way from the southern border, so clearly it's not something just affecting the southern states. It’s making its way all the way up to Maryland, and Harford County, which is a very rural, small county. It can happen anywhere in America and it's something Washington really has to fix."
MARYLAND SHERIFF'S 'GUT' SAYS RACHEL MORIN WAS 'STALKED' BY SUSPECT BEFORE HER MURDER
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, right, was arrested in the murder of Rachel Morin, left.
Rice later on Monday revealed to Fox News that Martinez Hernandez waived extradition and will soon be sent back to Maryland.
A DNA tip on May 20, what would have been Morin’s 38th birthday, helped uncover the lead that ultimately led to Martinez Hernandez’s arrest.
"That DNA hit out in Los Angeles was a big break in the investigation," Gahler said. "So working hand in hand on a planet of billions of people we were able to find the one individual, identify him, and find him on a barstool sitting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and bring him into custody."
Surveillance footage of the suspect leaving the Los Angeles home was released to the public in February, showing a shirtless man fleeing the home. The suspect allegedly broke into the home in the middle of the night and assaulted the family inside before he was chased out, but he left a hat behind at the scene.
Gahler said the intensive investigation was aided by multiple agencies, including the FBI and law enforcement officials in Los Angeles and Tulsa.
RACHEL MORIN MURDER: MARYLAND POLICE TIE CRIME SCENE DNA TO LOS ANGELES ASSAULT, HOME INVASION
A photo of Rachel Morin is posted to a tree by her family last night along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Bill DelBango, of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, said at a Saturday press conference that FBI investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify Morin’s alleged killer.
"Our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members," DelBango said.
"To find the suspect, we’ve provided technical assistance helping to pinpoint his location. That brings us to (Friday night), where Tulsa police and FBI agents were able to successfully apprehend and arrest the suspect in Oklahoma."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Police at the Williams Street section of Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 8, 2023. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Morin’s mother, Patricia, at the press conference praised the efforts of law enforcement.
"At one point, when things seemed like really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective said to me, he said, ‘Patience will win in the end.’ And that’s what (investigators have) been doing," she said.
"They’ve been diligently working very hard, and they’ve been patiently working through all the leads. And it’s because of that we have an arrest today, so I’m very thankful and just very grateful to these men."
True Crime
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.
