Maryland
Bodycam video shows bar arrest of migrant accused in murder, rape of Maryland mom Rachel Morin
Newly released body camera footage captured the arrest of the illegal migrant accused of killing Maryland mom Rachel Morin.
In footage released by the Tulsa Police Department and obtained by FOX 5, officers encounter Victor Martinez Hernandez at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
His arrest came 10 months into an intense nationwide manhunt.
The mother of five, whose children range in age from 8 to 18, was raped before being murdered in August while jogging on the Ma & Pa Trail in Harford County, Maryland.
In the footage, officers arrive at a bar where Martinez Hernandez was sitting.
After the initial encounter, he complied when taken outside the bar, and police began asking him for his identification.
Martinez Hernandez told the officers he didn’t have an ID and provided a fake name.
“You live in El Salvador?” one officer is heard asking.
The migrant’s identity was revealed, and officers snapped pictures to circulate the long-awaited capture of Morin’s suspected killer.
In a press conference, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said Victor Martinez Hernandez was arrested in Tulsa and booked.
“Five hours after meeting with [Morin’s] family and just before midnight our time, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, assisted by our federal partners, located and arrested Rachel’s murderer: Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez,” Gahler said.
He was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
The 23-year-old migrant illegally crossed into the United States in February 2023, police announced.
“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Gahler said. “It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier, in January of 2023.”
Gahler said the first DNA match for Martinez Hernandez was from a Los Angeles attack in March 2023.
“Once in our country, and likely emboldened by his anonymity, he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles,” Gahler said. “And as everyone I believe is aware, that was our first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the one in Los Angeles.”
The sheriff turned his attention to the crisis at the Southern border, directing his remarks to the White House and to “both members of Congress.”
“We are 1,800 miles of the southern border,” Gahler said. “And American citizens are not safe because of their failed immigration policies.”
“This is the second time in two years that an innocent Harford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally,” he said. “In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs. This should not be happening.
“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. But that should have never been allowed to happen.”
Rachel Morin murder
Morin, 37, was reported missing in August 2023 by her boyfriend, who said she never returned after going out for a run on the Ma & Pa Trail, a pedestrian trail in Bel Air, a quiet and typically safe town about 28 miles northeast of Baltimore, Aug. 5, 2023.
Her body was found on a trail the next day.
In February, police released new sketches of Martinez Hernandez.
The sketches came after DNA evidence linked Martinez Hernandez to the location of a Los Angeles home invasion.
Police used the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which led them to a single DNA match for an unidentified Hispanic male.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) collected a hat left behind at the site of the March 2023 home invasion that turned violent, leaving multiple people, including minor children, injured.
The suspect allegedly broke into the home in the middle of the night and assaulted the family inside before he was chased out. Surveillance video footage captured the man leaving, shirtless, through the front door.
“I’m going to make this short because I’m very emotional,” Rachel’s mother, Patricia Morin, said. “I just want to take this time to thank all the law enforcement for all their hard work.
“They just really cared for our family and for our daughter,” she said. “They were going to diligently work and find the person who murdered her.”
Maryland
Attempted traffic stop leads to arrest of Maryland man wanted for kidnapping
Frederick County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) announced the arrest of a man wanted for kidnapping on Thursday afternoon.
Suba Washington Jr., 27, of Williamsport, Maryland, was apprehended in Frederick after an attempted traffic stop early Thursday morning, according to deputies.
The pursuit
When officers tried to pull over a Hyundai Elantra in the 7300 block of Crestwood Blvd., the driver, later identified as Washington, refused to stop.
Deputies were later notified that Washington was wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment in Washington County, Maryland.
As Washington fled northbound on Route 85, he struck a car near Crestwood Blvd. and Buckeystown Pike; however, the driver of the vehicle was unharmed as the suspect continued onto northbound I-270 and then westbound I-70.
Washington’s tires were eventually flattened after deputies deployed stop sticks near the Middletown exit.
Though the pursuit still wasn’t over, as the vehicle managed to cross over into Washington County, where the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and Maryland State Police (MSP) aided in apprehension.
Washington was taken into custody after his vehicle approached the Route 40 exit, coming to a full stop on the highway.
The charges
A 17-year-old in the passenger seat was found with Washington during the pursuit. The teenager was released to WSCO.
According to FCSO, Washington Jr. was taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center and charged with numerous traffic citations, including reckless driving, negligent driving, and two counts of attempting to elude law enforcement.
Maryland
Maryland to launch study on economic impacts of climate change
Maryland will launch a study to analyze the economic impacts of climate change to determine the costs associated with storm damage and health outcomes.
The move is part of the Moore-Miller administration’s strategic approach to investing in a clean energy economy and modernizing the state’s energy infrastructure.
“While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate change,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. “This study will give us a clear, data-driven look at the real burden taxpayers are shouldering as climate change drives more extreme and costly weather events.”
The RENEW Act Study will be funded by investments and state sources, including $30,000 from philanthropic funding and $470,000 from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, to assess the burden that Marylanders are paying due to intense weather events and environmental shifts.
Marylanders on climate change
The announcement comes months after Maryland lawmakers opposed a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to recind its 2009 endangerment finding, which determined that greenhouse gases were a danger to public health.
Lawmakers raised concerns that the move would mean engine and vehicle manufacturers would not be required to measure, control or report greenhouse gas emissions. They also raised concerns that the decision could impact climate change and harm local communities.
The EPA said it intended to retain regulations for pollutant and toxic air measurement and standards. In September, the agency initiated the formal process to reconsider the finding.
In March, a Johns Hopkins University poll found that nearly 73% of surveyed Baltimore City and County residents were concerned that climate change would affect them.
According to the study, city residents were more concerned about personal harm from climate change than county residents. However, county residents expected to see higher costs in the next five years due to climate change.
About 70% of Baltimore area residents believe climate change will increase costs for homeowners and businesses in the next five years, the study found.
An April report ranked the Washington/Baltimore/Arlington region as the 36th worst in the country and second worst in the mid-Atlantic region for ozone smog. The report graded Baltimore County an “F” for ozone smog.
Maryland
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