Timeline of the Rachel Morin Case: From a Mother's Last Run to a Killer's Conviction
- Cassian Creed
- Sep 18
- 7 min read
Introduction
In the summer of 2023, Rachel Morin was the heart of a bustling Bel Air, Maryland home—a 37-year-old mother of five and a dedicated small business owner whose life was a portrait of routine and resilience. But on a warm evening in early August, the predictable rhythm of her life—the "before"—was about to be shattered. Her routine run on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail ended in a tragedy that would trigger a ten-month, multi-state manhunt. The search for her killer would push past the limits of traditional detective work, relying on the cold, hard certainty of cutting-edge forensic science to unmask a serial predator and bring him to justice. This is the story of that hunt, a trail of blood that could only be followed by a trail of DNA.
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1. Rachel Morin's Final Week: August 1 - August 5, 2023
The week leading up to Rachel Morin's murder was a tapestry of new beginnings and profound grief. She was navigating the excitement of a new relationship with Richard Tobin, which became "Facebook official" on August 1st, just four days before her death. But this joy was shadowed by a recent family tragedy—the sudden SIDS death of her five-month-old niece. Grief is a distraction predators recognize. Her mind was elsewhere, her focus consumed by her family's pain, a vulnerability that would prove fatal.
Despite the emotional turmoil, she remained a creature of habit. A dedicated fitness enthusiast, she predictably ran on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail, a 6.25-mile converted railroad corridor that wound through Harford County. It was this routine that tragically placed her in the path of a killer.
On the evening of August 3rd, a critical witness account emerged. Kyle Stacy and his girlfriend were walking the trail when they saw a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt holding what looked like a shovel or walking stick near a drainage culvert. The sight was unsettling—no one wore a hoodie in the oppressive August heat unless they were trying to hide.
The Last Normal Day
Saturday, August 5, 2023, began like any other. Rachel, however, made a small but fateful change to her schedule, opting for an evening run instead of her usual morning one. Her final documented movements created a digital timeline that investigators would later piece together with chilling precision:
6:29 p.m.: Surveillance cameras captured her at a Wawa convenience store, buying a bottle of water and a protein bar.
6:42 p.m.: She made a final stop at a Target in Bel Air.
6:50 p.m.: She parked her car near the Independent Brewery at the Williams Street entrance to the trail.
At 7:04 p.m., she sent her last text message. Just three minutes later, her Apple Watch data chronicled the attack. Her heart rate spiked to 115 beats per minute at 7:07 p.m. and plummeted to just 62 bpm by 7:09 p.m., pinpointing the exact two-minute window in which her life was taken.
And with that, the predictable rhythm of a mother's life was shattered, replaced by the frantic, dissonant beat of a search that would soon consume a community in fear.
2. The Search and Discovery: August 5 - August 6, 2023
As Saturday evening turned to night, the timeline shifted from a mother's last run to the frantic search for a missing person.
The Alarm is Raised When Rachel failed to return, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, grew increasingly concerned. After checking local bars, his dread intensified when he found her car still parked at the trailhead at 10:15 p.m. At 11:23 p.m., he called 911 and officially reported her missing.
Community Mobilization The Harford County Sheriff's Office immediately launched an investigation. As word spread through social media, a massive volunteer search party was organized for the morning of Sunday, August 6th, with hundreds of community members gathering to comb the trail system.
A Grim Discovery At 1:07 p.m. on August 6th, the search came to a horrific end. A volunteer, Evan Knapp, ventured off the main path and discovered Rachel's body hidden inside a concrete drainage culvert, approximately 70 feet from the trail.
The Crime Scene The scene screamed of a violent, predatory attack, leaving no doubt that this was a homicide. Investigators found evidence of catastrophic blunt force trauma and a 150-foot blood trail leading from the path where she was attacked to the culvert where her body was concealed.
A missing person case had become a homicide. Now, a local murder investigation was about to transform into a coast-to-coast manhunt, driven by a microscopic trace of the killer's biological code.
3. The Investigation Goes National: August 2023
What began as a local tragedy rapidly expanded into a nationwide manhunt, driven by a crucial piece of forensic evidence. Forensic analysts successfully extracted a high-quality, complete DNA sample belonging to an unknown male from the crime scene. On August 17, 2023, that sample was uploaded to the national CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) database, and the system returned a shocking match, linking the Bel Air murder to a violent crime that had occurred nearly 3,000 miles away.
Case A: Maryland | Case B: California |
Victim: Rachel Morin | Victims: A mother and her 9-year-old daughter |
Date: August 5, 2023 | Date: March 26, 2023 |
Crime: Homicide & Sexual Assault | Crime: Home Invasion & Sexual Assault |
Location: Bel Air, MD | Location: Los Angeles, CA |
The CODIS hit was a terrifying breakthrough. Investigators now knew they were hunting a serial predator who was mobile, adaptable—shifting from a home invasion to a trail ambush—and escalating in violence from assault to murder in just over four months. The Los Angeles Police Department provided crucial Ring doorbell footage of the suspect leaving the scene of the March assault, giving the FBI task force a face to go with the DNA, but still no name.
With a face from a camera and a genetic profile from a lab, investigators had the ghost's shadow. To give him a name, they would need to delve into a revolutionary science that could read a killer's history in his blood.
4. The Scientific Hunt: January - May 2024
With a DNA profile but no name, the FBI-led task force turned to the revolutionary field of forensic genetic genealogy to unmask the killer.
Genetic Genealogy The DNA evidence was sent to Othram Labs, a private laboratory specializing in the same science used to identify the infamous Golden State Killer. This process would use the suspect's DNA to find his relatives, effectively building a family tree to pinpoint his identity.
Building a Family Tree Scientists uploaded the genetic profile to public genealogy databases, searching for distant cousins who had voluntarily submitted their DNA for ancestry testing. They painstakingly traced genetic connections, building a complex family tree that spanned from El Salvador to the United States.
A Name for the Ghost On May 20, 2024—what would have been Rachel's 38th birthday—the investigative team achieved its goal. They identified the suspect as Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a 23-year-old from El Salvador.
A Violent Past With a name, investigators quickly uncovered Martinez-Hernandez's disturbing history:
He was already wanted for the murder of a young woman in his native El Salvador in January 2023.
He had been deported from the U.S. three separate times in early 2023.
He had successfully entered the U.S. illegally on February 13, 2023, just 41 days before committing the home invasion and assault in Los Angeles.
The scientific hunt had given the ghost a name; now, the tactical operation to capture a known killer could begin.
5. The Net Closes: The Arrest in Tulsa
Armed with a name and a face, federal and local law enforcement agencies launched a coordinated effort to locate and apprehend Martinez-Hernandez.
The Location: Using digital evidence and tracing family connections, investigators tracked Martinez-Hernandez to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was living under an alias and working day labor jobs.
The Takedown: On June 14, 2024, after a period of intense surveillance, a team of FBI agents and Tulsa police officers cornered Martinez-Hernandez at The Anchor, a local sports bar. He was arrested without incident. He initially gave a false name, "Carlos Mendez," but was positively identified by his fingerprints, which matched his prior deportation records.
With the killer in custody, the hunt was over. But the reckoning was just beginning, and the full weight of his crimes would be laid bare in a courtroom.
6. The Reckoning: Trial and Verdict
The trial of Victor Martinez-Hernandez began in April 2025 in Harford County Circuit Court. Over nine days, the prosecution built an irrefutable case based on three powerful pillars of evidence.
DNA Evidence: Forensic experts testified that the statistical probability of the DNA found on Rachel Morin and at the Los Angeles crime scene belonging to anyone other than Martinez-Hernandez was one in 400 nonillion—a number with 30 zeroes.
Digital Timeline: The data recovered from Rachel's Apple Watch was presented to the jury, providing a precise, second-by-second account of the attack and establishing a two-minute window for the murder, from 7:07 p.m. to 7:09 p.m.
Medical & Witness Testimony: The medical examiner detailed the 15-20 blows to Rachel's head, confirming the brutality of the attack. This was corroborated by witness Kyle Stacy, who recounted seeing a man matching the suspect's description with a shovel near the crime scene. Thirty seconds later, he passed Rachel Morin jogging toward that spot. She smiled as she passed. She had three minutes left to live.
On April 14, 2025, after listening to all testimony, the jury deliberated for only 46 minutes before returning its verdict: Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty on all counts, including first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree rape.
The guilty verdict affirmed the science, but the final judgment would come at sentencing, where the human cost of a predator's violence would be articulated for the permanent record.
7. The Final Judgment: Sentencing
On August 11, 2025, two years after Rachel's death, the sentencing hearing provided a final, emotional chapter in the pursuit of justice.
The Voices of the Family: Rachel's family delivered powerful victim impact statements. Her children's statements were presented through videos and letters, their words capturing the profound and permanent loss of their mother. Her mother, Patty Morin, faced her daughter's killer and stated, "The brutality of her murder will haunt us for the rest of our lives."
The Killer's Silence: When Judge Yolanda L. Curtin offered Martinez-Hernandez the opportunity to speak, he said nothing.
The Sentence: Judge Curtin handed down the maximum penalty allowable under Maryland law: Two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 40 years. The judge made it unequivocally clear that he would die in prison.
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