Rachel Morin’s family have torn down the wanted flyers for her killer on the trail where her body was discovered and replaced them with flowers — saying they wanted the area to “belong to Rachel again” after an arrest was made in her murder.
The father of Morin’s 18-year-old daughter, Matt McMahon, said since receiving the news his ex’s suspected killer was in custody, coming back to the trail where she was found murdered nearly a year ago “finally feels different.”
“I brought flowers and placed them on the rock at the trailhead, and I took down the flyers with Victor’s sketch,” McMahon tearfully told Fox 45 News near the spot where the mother of five’s body was discovered last August.
“I felt like up to this point Victor had taken this trail from us, but now this trail belongs to Rachel again.”
McMahon described the feeling of “joy, relief,” and “gratitude” that washed over him when he received the 1 a.m. phone call from police Friday telling him Morin’s suspected killer — El Salvadoran gang member and illegal migrant, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez — had been arrested.
“Before answering the phone, just looking at the name and knowing the time, I knew what it meant,” he told the outlet.
As the painstakingly long search for the mother of five’s killer has come to a close, McMahon shared that Faye, the daughter he shares with Morin, is “going to introduce a little girl into the world later this year.”
“It’s a happy moment and a sad moment too because Rachel should be here for that moment,” he said.
“Faye should be able to give Rachel that news, to tell Rachel you’re going to be a grandmother. But she can never give that news.”
Law enforcement revealed Martinez-Hernandez, 23, has been living illegally in the US since February 2023 — arriving only a month after he allegedly fled from his home country of El Salvador for the murder of a young woman.
The violent migrant had illegally crossed into the US four times within two months, only successfully making it through on his last try.
He escaped border detection and was roaming freely around the states for about 16 months — leaving behind a trail of heinous crimes before his capture.
In March 2023, Martinez-Hernandez allegedly attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mom during a brutal home invasion in Los Angeles.
In August, he allegedly struck again, raping and killing Morin on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.
Her body was found in a ditch on Aug. 6, and her car was found in a parking lot.
Less than two weeks after Morin’s murder, police were able to match her suspected killer’s DNA to the LA crime scene after recovering a water bottle and hat he left behind during the home invasion.
Doorbell surveillance footage of the suspect from the home invasion is released to the public.
“Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer,” Bill DelBango of the FBI Baltimore Field Office said.
“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.”
Cops busted Martinez-Hernandez while “casually sitting” at a Tulsa bar.
What Martinez-Hernandez was doing in Oklahoma is unclear, but Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said that it’s clear that the suspected killer did not come into America “to make a better life for himself or his family.”
“He came here and murdered Rachel,” said Gahler during a press conference announcing his arrest. “That should not have been allowed to happen.”
Martinez-Hernandez is facing first-degree murder and first-degree rape charges for Morin’s death.
The extradition process to bring the suspected killer to Maryland has already begun, according to the Harford County State’s Attorney’s office.
