Northeast
Rachel Morin’s alleged illegal killer left slain jogger’s body along 150-foot blood trail: prosecutors
Jury selection begins in Rachel Morin trial
Randolph Rice, attorney for Patty Morin, explains the first steps in the trial process, the considerations for the murder suspect’s alleged gang ties, and the impact of the Biden administration’s border policies.
Community members discovered the 150-foot blood trail leading to Rachel Morin’s lifeless body on a hiking trail as volunteers helped police search for the Maryland mom, opening remarks revealed in the long-awaited trial for her accused migrant killer.
Opening statements began Friday morning at the Harford County Circuit Court in Bel Air, Maryland, for the trial of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a 23-year-old from El Salvador, who is charged with murdering the 37-year-old Morin in 2023.
Morin’s family members, including her mother, Patty Morin, were seen arriving at the courthouse on Friday.
Martinez-Hernandez is accused of raping and killing Morin, a Harford County mother of five, whose body was discovered along a popular walking trail back in August 2023.
ILLEGAL ACCUSED IN JOGGER RACHEL MORIN’S MURDER SET TO FACE FAMILY, JURY
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez is accused of raping and murdering mother of five Rachel Morin in Maryland on Aug. 5, 2023. (Tulsa Police Department/ Facebook)
Rebekah Morin, left, and Patty Morin arrive at Harford County Courthouse in Bel Air, Maryland, on Friday, April 4, 2025, for the murder trial of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, who is accused of murdering Rachel Morin. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Morin was reported missing after she did not return home from some evening exercise on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air on Aug. 5.
In opening statements Friday, 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.
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.
“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.”
Knapp and his friend, Cecilia, immediately called 911. Authorities retraced the path where Morin’s body had been dragged after her brutal rape and murder. Police also collected large bloody rocks that authorities say she had been bashed with.
Healey said that Morin’s right shoe and socks had been left on, and her left shoe and socks had been discarded. She noted that Morin’s bra had been pulled over her breasts.
The Harford County Courthouse in Bel Air, Maryland, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Healey said the defendant, Martinez-Hernandez, forced Morin against the tunnel wall and raped her. Evidence revealed that the brutal assault had taken place between 7:04 and 7:10 p.m., she said.
Authorities discovered her phone submerged in the water, completely shattered, along with her destroyed Apple Watch. Nearby, they also found her Apple AirPods.
MARYLAND SHERIFF’S ‘GUT’ SAYS RACHEL MORIN WAS ‘STALKED’ BY SUSPECT BEFORE HER MURDER
Erin Morin-Layman arrives at Harford County Courthouse in Bel-Air, MD, Friday, April 4, 2025 for the murder trial of Victor Antonio Martinez who is accused of murdering Morin-Layman’s half-sister, Rachel Morin. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
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.
Her body bore bruises around her neck, and according to Healey, a DNA profile matched Martinez-Hernandez.
WATCH: VICTOR MARTINEZ-HERNANDEZ’S OKLAHOMA ARREST
On June 14, 2024, authorities pinged Martinez-Hernandez’s cellphone and responded to a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He eventually admitted his identity after initially lying to police and providing a false name, authorities said.
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.
WATCH: BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE OF MIGRANT ACCUSED IN MURDER, RAPE OF MARYLAND MOM RACHEL MORIN
Martinez-Hernandez repeatedly told authorities that he had never been in Maryland, only in Texas and Oklahoma, they said.
“You will be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that all of it is the defendant’s DNA,” Healey said Friday. “I’m certain you will be convinced that he had a plan to grab her off the trail and conceal her in the tunnel, drug her in there, bashed her in the head, disrobed her and left his DNA.”
You will be convinced he left her there and fulfilled a mother’s worst nightmare.
The boyfriend of slain Maryland mother Rachel Morin posted a tribute to her. (Facebook)
Defense attorney Sawyer Hicks, representing Martinez-Hernandez, used his opening statement to cast doubt on the DNA match and suggest the incident was a crime of passion.
Hicks reiterated that the state has the burden of proof, noting that his client is presumed innocent until proven beyond reasonable doubt that he killed Morin.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT INDICTED FOR RACHEL MORIN’S MURDER IN ‘CRUCIAL STEP’: FAMILY LAWYER
“When you retire to deliberate, we are confident that you will see there is reasonable doubt in this case and that Hernandez is not guilty,” Hicks said.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez was extradited to Maryland on June 20, 2024. (Tusla Police Department)
He said that Martinez-Hernandez and Morin were strangers, and appeared to be laying the groundwork to cast suspicion on her then-boyfriend, Richard Tobin.
Hicks challenged the jury with pointed questions: “Where is the motive? Where is Richard Tobin’s DNA?’”
Tobin has never been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
Richard Tobin took to Facebook to deny he had any involvement in the killing of his girlfriend, Rachel Morin, whose body was found on a hiking trail. (Facebook)
Morin’s boyfriend took the stand on Friday, sharing the pair had talked for about five months before he asked her to be his girlfriend just five days before Morin’s murder.
After Morin failed to answer Tobin’s repeated text messages and phone calls, worry began to set in.
“Somebody messaged me on Facebook and said they had found her,” he said. “I freaked out. I cried. I screamed.”
Who is Rachel Morin?
Morin was reported missing in August 2023 by her boyfriend, who said she had 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, on Aug. 5, 2023.
Her body was found near the trail the next day.
In February, police released new sketches of Martinez-Hernandez.
WATCH: Rachel Morin murder suspect linked to LA home invasion, assault
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 had turned violent, injuring a nine-year-old girl and her mother.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN RACHEL MORIN’S MURDER EXPECTED TO ARGUE FOR A CHANGE OF VENUE
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.
PHOTOS OF INITIAL SEARCH IN MARYLAND:
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“I’m going to make this short, because I’m very emotional,” Morin’s mother said previously. “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.”
Fox News’ Alexandria Hoff and Sally Persons contributed to this report.
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A 9-year-old boy died Friday morning after a school bus hit him while he was crossing the street in Brooklyn, the police said.
The child, who has not been identified pending notification of his family, was struck around 8:18 a.m. at the intersection of Lee Avenue and Lorimer Street in the Williamsburg neighborhood as the bus driver turned left, the police said.
The boy was “unconscious, unresponsive” and had injuries to his head and body when the police arrived, officials said. Paramedics responded and transported him to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The police said the bus driver left the scene but returned; it was not immediately clear why.
In February, another child was killed by a school bus while crossing a street in Brooklyn, in the Bath Beach neighborhood. Amira Aminova, 11, had been waiting at the edge of an intersection when the pedestrian signal turned from a walk sign to a flashing red hand with a countdown timer, according to surveillance video. She started running across the crosswalk.
The bus driver appeared to have a green light, and began to make a right turn. Amira was halfway through the intersection by then, but the driver failed to yield and struck her.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent his condolences to the child’s family in a post on X on Friday, saying that he was “devastated” by the incident.
“Children should be safe walking around our city,” Mr. Mamdani wrote. “This horrific road death is a painful reminder that we must continue to use every tool available to make our streets safe for all New Yorkers.”
Lincoln Restler, a City Council member, said he was “heartbroken” about the accident that occurred in his district.
“This is one of the busiest intersections in Williamsburg, and I have requested that city agencies immediately make safety improvements,” Mr. Restler said in a statement.
Mr. Restler said he had asked the city’s Department of Transportation to expedite painting new markings at the intersection, which he said was recently under construction and lacked crosswalks and street markings. He also asked the department to analyze crosswalk signal timing for pedestrians and to make the signals longer to give people more time to walk.
“I have also asked the N.Y.P.D. to station a crossing guard here to help children cross safely,” Mr. Restler said.
FSU softball focuses on rival Florida. Here’s its approach on Wednesday
Here’s how Lonni Alameda and Florida State softball are preparing for its rivalry matchup against Florida. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
Jazzy Francik returned to the site of one of the toughest outings of her career and delivered a dominant performance.
The Florida State sophomore tossed her third career no-hitter and powered the Seminoles to a 10-0 win over Boston College in six innings Saturday at Harrington Athletics Village, moving FSU within one win of clinching the ACC regular-season title.
Francik (19-2) was in control from the first pitch, striking out six and allowing only one baserunner on an infield error in the fifth inning. She needed just 67 pitches to complete the no-hitter, the third of her career and one of the most efficient outings of her season.
Florida State’s offense gave its ace plenty of support, collecting 12 hits and scoring 10 runs. After a scoreless first inning, the Seminoles broke through in the second with three runs on RBI doubles by freshmen Haley Griggs and Makenna Sturgis.
FSU added four more runs in the fourth inning behind a two-run double from Jaysoni Beachum and an RBI single by Ashtyn Danley. The Seminoles put the run-rule into play in the sixth, scoring three times on an RBI single from Sturgis, an RBI double by Isa Torres and a sacrifice fly from Danley.
Beachum, Torres, Sturgis and Danley each drove in two runs as Florida State continued to pressure Boston College despite several highlight-reel defensive plays from the Eagles.
Francik and the Seminole defense sealed the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early.
Florida State is one win away from securing at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship. A sweep of Boston College on Sunday would clinch the title outright.
How to watch FSU vs. Boston College Game 2
- Date: Saturday, May 2
- Time: 4 p.m.
- Where: Harrington Athletics Village, Brighton, Massachusetts
- TV/Stream: ACC extra
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics and Big Bend Preps for the Tallahassee Democrat. If you like to pitch a story on a high school athlete, don’t hesitate to get in touch with him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
Outrage is building in a quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood.
Residents say they were blindsided by a plan to convert the former Fraternal Order of Police lodge on Banksville Road into a reentry center. The building could be turned into housing for up to 100 federal inmates, officials said.
Dismas Charities, an organization that operates federal halfway houses across the country, is behind the proposal. But neighbors say this isn’t the place.
“What will these people be doing when they’re not in the halfway house? Will they be law-abiding citizens and respect our community and its members?” questioned Judi Perry, a Shady Crest resident.
Concerns range from safety to proximity. Some fear the risk of repeat offenses, even though the facility is designed for rehabilitation. Residents point to past incidents tied to similar programs, including a case in Kentucky where an inmate left a facility and killed a police officer.
“We need to be better educated about how this facility would operate, what the parameters are for the people who stay there, and maybe, if we had more information, it would comfort us,” Perry said.
Inside a recent Pittsburgh Planning Commission presentation, Dismas Charities pitched the facility as a second-chance model.
“Over the past five years, we’ve had almost 40,000 residents participate in our programs nationally, and the rate of recidivism is .08 percent,” a Dismas Charities representative said at the meeting.
But that message isn’t landing here. Petitions are already circulating with hundreds of signatures collected. Neighbors say this fight is just beginning.
“We have preconceived notions about these people who were convicted and committed a crime. We don’t know what their crime was, and so maybe our concerns are exaggerated. But in general, you don’t like the idea of that facility being so close to our community,” Perry said.
A decision could come soon, as the commission is set to take this up in the coming days. If approved, it would still need additional sign-off before any inmates move in.
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