The long-awaited trial begins this week for the illegal immigrant accused of murdering 37-year-old Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five who was killed along a hiking trail.
Jury selection was set to start Tuesday in the Harford Country Circuit Court in Bel Air, Maryland, before Judge Yolanda Curtin.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, of El Salvador, is charged with the brutal rape and murder of Morin, whose body was discovered on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air in August 2023. She was found bashed in the head and strangled to death.
The crime shocked the community and highlighted the then-Biden administration’s failed border policies.
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Victor Hernandez-Martinez is accused of the rape and murder of Rachel Morin Aug. 5, 2023, in Bel Air, Maryland. (Hartford County Sheriff’s Office/Tulsa Police Department)
Morin’s family attorney Randolph Rice, the managing partner of Rice Law in Baltimore, told Fox News Digital that jury selection would begin on Tuesday and is expected to take up to three days, with the entirety of the trial anticipated to last approximately two weeks.
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“The Morin family has long waited for this moment,” Rice said. “This trial marks the beginning of the justice they’ve been seeking since the day Rachel was taken from them. They are prepared to face the difficult days ahead with strength and hope.”
The Morin family plans to be in attendance throughout the proceedings.
Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail Aug. 5, 2023, and brutally murdered. (Family handout)
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 near the trail the next day.
In February, police released new sketches of Martinez Hernandez.
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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, injuring a 9-year-old girl and her mother.
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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, Patricia Morin, said previously. “I just want to take this time to thank all the law enforcement for all their hard work.
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“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.”
Martinez-Hernandez’s court-appointed attorney Marcus Jenkins did not immediately return a request for comment.
