Rachel Morin murder: Illegal immigrant suspect denied ever being in Maryland at time of crime

Maryland prosecutors on Friday rested their case against Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, the illegal immigrant accused of raping and murdering Bel-Air woman Rachel Morin in August 2023.

Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was jogging along the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel-Air, a quaint community northeast of Baltimore, when Martinez-Hernandez allegedly ambushed, strangled and beat her to death.

"This has been an emotionally grueling experience for Rachel’s family, but they remain steadfast in their pursuit of justice," Randolph Rice, the family’s attorney, said in a Friday statement. "The State has presented a thorough and powerful case. We now await the Defense’s response and look ahead to closing arguments to bring this trial into its final stage."

Harford County Det. Phil Golden testified Friday as prosecutors played a video of his interview with the suspect after Morin's murder, facilitated by a Spanish interpreter. 

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In the video interview, Martinez-Hernandez says he does not know Morin and denied being in Bel Air at the time of her murder, according to FOX 45 Baltimore.

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When pressed about where he was at the time, Martinez-Hernandez, who is from El Salvador, repeated that he was not in the area when Morin was killed.

"I haven't done anything wrong," the suspect can be heard saying later in the interview.

At one point during the interview, Golden shows Martinez-Hernandez a photo of him posing with his cousin, who lives in Virginia and testified Thursday that Martinez-Hernandez had stayed with her and her husband. 

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The suspect first denied knowing about the photo and then later admitted it was him, FOX 45 reported.

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Martinez-Hernandez would eventually admit to police after his arrest that he was in Bel-Air at the time of the murder after initially lying and providing a false identity. 

When authorities searched his phone, they said they discovered internet queries for "Bel Air, [Md.]" and "Rachel"—including a misspelled version of Morin's name—along with images of Morin and media coverage related to the investigation.

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Golden also reportedly questioned Martinez-Hernandez about his DNA that was allegedly found at the scene of Morin's murder.

"No two people have the same DNA," Golden can be heard telling the suspect in the interview.

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During his testimony, Golden recalled Martinez-Hernandez telling him he "didn't know" how his DNA got to the crime scene, as FOX 45 reported.

"[I]f someone wanted to do him harm, they could have taken his DNA and put it somewhere," Golden recalled during his testimony.

Autopsy results revealed that Morin had endured 15 to 20 blows to the head and had died from a combination of strangulation and blunt force trauma. Her death was officially ruled a homicide.

In opening statements on April 4, Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey said that concerned community members had gone along the walking trail after seeing missing person posters on Facebook.

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Along the creek line, they found a trail that resembled a deer trail, with flattened leaves, before finding rocks with blood on them. The pair walked through two tunnels, with overgrown brush, where they found Morin's body, Healey said.

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"I saw an unclothed human body on her back. At first, I truly thought it might have been a deer or something that had died in there," Evan Knapp, who found Rachel Morin’s body, testified. "So, I had to move a bit closer to confirm what I had seen, and it was a human. I feel like time froze for a second and I didn’t know what I was looking at."

The defense is expected to call witnesses on Monday, and the judge advised that closing arguments will likely be delivered Monday, as well.

Rachel Morin’s family has been present for each day of the trial so far and are expected to stay until its conclusion.