The illegal immigrant charged with the brutal 2023 slaying of Rachel Morin on a Maryland hiking trail made his first court appearance Friday, as the slain victim's family looked on. Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit and handcuffs, appeared via video link from the Harford County Detention Center and declined to speak, according to the family's attorney Randolph Rice.
It was revealed in court papers Thursday that Martinez Hernandez had been hiding out with relatives in the state during a nationwide manhunt that ended with his arrest for murder. He was taken into custody at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and extradited to Maryland on Thursday to face rape, murder and assault charges. His relatives in Maryland told police that he stayed with them between December 2023 and May 2024 before suddenly vanishing, according to court documents.
Morin's mother, Patty Morin, was stunned to learn that Martinez Herandez did not flee. 'That's really brazen to stay in the state where he committed the crime,' she told Fox News Digital. 'It amazes me. It also amazes me that his family didn't see the fliers we posted.' The police hunt for Martinez Hernandez stretched to Los Angeles and El Salvador.
Police said he assaulted a 9-year-old girl during a Los Angeles home invasion in March, and a DNA profile from that attack matched a sample found on Morin. 'Victor Hernandez did not come to this country to make a better life for him or his family, he came here to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came here to murder Rachel and God willing, no one else,' Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said this past weekend.
Morin's relatives said they fear Martinez Hernandez may have assaulted other victims during his violent stay in the United States.