Individual Deemed Guilty of Fatally Attacking Mother in Maryland Faces Lifetime Imprisonment Following Migration

An illicit immigrant from El Salvador has received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder of an American mother of five. This case was used by President Donald Trump to bolster his border security measures.

Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was found guilty this year of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, 37, on a Bel Air, Maryland, hiking trail in August 2023.

He assaulted her, struck her head with rocks, and strangled her before disposing of her body in a drainage culvert, the court heard.

The murderer has also been linked to a 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles and is wanted in El Salvador for the murder of another woman, according to prosecutors.

He displayed little emotion when he received his sentence on Monday.

Judge Yolanda Curtin sentenced him to life in prison for the first-degree murder conviction, and life in addition for the rape charge, with an extra 40 years for a third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping. He will serve his full term in a Maryland prison.

He was apprehended in June 2024 following a 10-month man hunt in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“It is arguably that Harford County has never seen a case or a defendant more deserving of every day of the maximum sentences this court has handed out,” prosecutor Alison Healey said outside the courtroom.

In a victim-impact statement before the sentence announcement, the victim’s mother, Patty Morin, stated, “The brutality of her murder will haunt us for the rest of our lives.”

Voice recordings of Ms. Morin’s children, who age from nine to 15, were played for the court.

A child’s message to their mother read, “Now I will spend more time without you than I did with you.”

Rachel’s older sibling, Michael Morin, urged the court to forgive the killer, citing his Christian beliefs.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the murderer entered the U.S. unlawfully and was returned across the U.S.-Mexico border three times in 2023.

In last year’s White House campaign, Trump cited Ms. Morin’s death and other so-called angel families, who suffered the loss of loved ones to unlawful immigrants, as he vowed to close the U.S.-Mexico border.

Most studies indicate that unauthorized immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminal activity than American citizens.

The Morin family has stood behind Trump’s push for border security.

Michael Morin spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“Open borders are often painted as kind and virtuous, but there is nothing kind about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother,” he stated.

In April, during a rising conflict between the president and the judiciary over immigration, the White House invited Ms. Morin’s mother to address a press briefing.

Patty Morin shared detailed information about her daughter’s death.