A county sheriff in Maryland expressed concerns about migrant crime in the US after a Salvadoran gang member was charged with the brutal rape and murder of mother-of-five Rachel Morin on a popular hiking trail.
Victor Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old Salvadoran gang member who is in the country illegally, was arrested by the police after a lengthy investigation that heavily relied on DNA evidence.
Authorities were able to locate him at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as reported by WBAL TV 11.
According to Tulsa police, Hernandez, who is also wanted for murder in El Salvador and the assault of a mother and young girl in Los Angeles, was found “casually sitting at the bar” on Friday night.
Addressing the press, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County, Maryland, stated, “We are 1,800 miles from the southern border here in Harford County. This is the second woman in our county to be killed by illegal suspects.”
“In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs,” he continued. “This should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador.”
Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother, was abducted from the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air last August and taken into the woods, according to authorities.
Her body was discovered in a culvert on Aug. 6, and her car was found in a parking lot.
In February, authorities released a suspect sketch and increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $35,000.
Local detectives, along with several state and federal agencies and Morin’s family, worked tirelessly to solve the case.
“At one point, when things seemed 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,” said Patricia Morin, Rachel’s mother.
“They’ve been diligent, working very hard, and they’ve been patiently working through all the leads,” she continued. “It’s because of that we have an arrest today. So I’m very thankful and just very grateful to these men.”
About three weeks ago, on what would have been Morin’s 38th birthday, authorities received a breakthrough.
“The lead we received was related to DNA evidence and allowed investigators to finally put a name to the suspect in the video from Los Angeles, which we released two weeks after Rachel’s death,” Gahler said.
“As I have stated many times, this killer could have been laying his head in any community in the country or even in the world and indeed, that was completely accurate.”
“Over the past two weeks, investigators continued their diligent investigation and tracked our suspect all the way from Prince George’s County to Tulsa, Oklahoma,” the sheriff added. “Our investigators also obtained an arrest warrant on Friday afternoon.”
Hernandez has been living illegally in the United States since February 2023, just a month after he allegedly murdered a young woman in El Salvador, according to the police.
He is also wanted for allegedly attacking a 9-year-old girl and her mom during a brutal home invasion in Los Angeles, the station said.
Hernandez has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape for Morin’s killing.
“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,” said Bill DelBango from the FBI Baltimore Field Office.
“Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer,” he continued. “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.”
The extradition process to bring the suspected killer to Maryland has already begun, according to Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healy.
It is expected to last between 10 days to a month.
ICE has issued a detainer on Hernandez since he has been living in the US illegally, Sheriff Gahler mentioned.
“I’m here to tell you Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man,” Gahler stated. “Hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again.”
Could you please rewrite this sentence for me?
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