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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Pittsburg, PA
Trash pickup schedules adjusted in Pittsburgh-area communities due to impending heat wave
Several communities in the Pittsburgh area have adjusted their trash pickup times as the region is bracing for a heat wave with temperatures and heat indexes expected to be near 100 degrees this week.
The hottest temperatures of 2026 are expected this week and by Tuesday afternoon, temperatures are anticipated to reach into the 90s. This, coupled with extremely high humidity levels, means the heat index — also known as the “feels like” temperature — will flirt with triple digits.
In Mt. Lebanon, trash and recycling pickup routes will begin earlier than normal to help keep workers safe amid the extreme heat.
“All trash and recycling should be placed at the curb the night before your scheduled collection day, as collection times may occur earlier than usual,” a notice posted on municipality’s Facebook page said.
Shaler Township said that it received an update from County Hauling that collection crews will begin their routes earlier than normal this week as well.
“Please place all trash and recycling at the curb the night before your scheduled collection day,” the township said.
In Robinson Township, trash collection will begin at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, one hour earlier than normal.
People are being asked to have their trash and recycling at the curb at least one hour prior to their normal pickup time.
Pleasant Hills Borough said it had adjusted its trash pickup schedule for earlier in the day on Friday to “help reduce employee exposure to hazardous temperatures.”
“This temporary adjustment is being made in the interest of employee health and safety,” the borough said. “We kindly ask that you help notify your residents that all trash and/or recycling should be placed at the curb the night before their scheduled collection day, as collection times may occur earlier than usual.”
In Brentwood Borough, Noble Environmental will begin earlier collection on pickup routes as well.
People are being asked to place their trash and recycling at the curb the night before their scheduled collection day.
The borough added that collection days are not changing, only the start time of the pickup routes.
“Thank you for your cooperation as crews work safely during this week’s heat wave,” the borough said.
The Library Volunteer Fire Company said that trash pickup in South Park Township is being moved earlier on Thursday.
“We kindly ask Township residents to place trash and recycling at the curb the night before Thursday, July 2nd pickup, as collection times may occur earlier than usual,” the notice said.
Connecticut
New Haven asks for retrial after jury awards Connecticut man $38M in wrongful conviction lawsuit
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The City of New Haven is asking for a retrial after a jury awarded a Connecticut man $38 million in May for being wrongfully convicted of murder and imprisoned for 21 years.
Stefon Morant was allegedly wrongfully convicted of a double homicide in 1994. According to the New York-based law firm of Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP, the jury ruled New Haven police officers and the City of New Haven were liable for his wrongful imprisonment.
The jury found that New Haven police detectives made up false evidence to frame Morant and that the city was liable for suppressing evidence favorable to criminal defendants.
A judge has issued a temporary stay, pausing any payments until the motion is resolved.
PORTLAND (WGME) — The third annual Celebration of America 300 is set for Thursday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.
This race was a favorite of NASCAR star Kyle Busch, who tragically passed away back in May. He was just 41.
Now, a Maine-born driver who worked on Busch’s team is ready to take the 8 car into victory lane.
For the past five years, Windham native Derek Kneeland was Busch’s eye in the sky, working as a spotter for the cup star. Kneeland says his relationship with Busch was like a brotherhood.
“I was fortunate enough where I got to have a personal relationship with him,” Kneeland said. “He came up, and he ran several races with me in late models and stuff at Oxford and Lee Speedway, and we got to do a lot of cool things together.”
Kneeland says dealing with the sudden loss has been both painful and difficult.
“It’s still hard,” Kneeland said. “I’m having a hard time with it. The weekdays are the hardest. At the track is where I’m most comfortable.”
Kneeland will be at the track and behind the wheel Thursday night, competing in the Celebration of America 300, driving the number 8 car.
“You know, a few days after everything went down, his dad called me, and his dad is a man of very few words, and I said, ‘You know, I’m thinking about running the 8 or 51 as long as I have your guys’ blessing, I would like to do that.’ And he said, ‘Short track world knows him as 51, but the world knows him as 8,’” Kneeland said.
Kneeland says it will be an emotional race, but he’s confident he’ll have a special co-pilot leading the way.
“Hoping he’s going to be on my shoulder and give me the guiding way and but to win it for Kyle, I think that would put the stamp on it,” Kneeland said.
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