In the year and a half since Rachel Morin was killed near a wooded trail in Bel Air, her five children have marked many milestones.
They’ve packed up their things from their mother’s rented home. Some have switched schools. Some have lost teeth. The eldest became a mother herself.
And through all the changes, the children — who range in age from 9 to 19 — have been steeped in grief.
“The kids are having a really rough time,” said Matt McMahon, the father of Morin’s oldest child, who’s in frequent contact with the four younger siblings. “I’ve been asked about this many times and I’ve given many answers, but the truth is they are always doing bad and what changes is how much it comes to the surface.”
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Morin’s family hopes that the trial of the man accused of killing her, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, will at least bring some closure to this painful period. Two of her children are expected to testify in the case.
Martinez-Hernandez, 24, who was arrested last summer at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is charged in Harford County Circuit Court with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, a third-degree sex offense and kidnapping. Jury selection is set for Tuesday.
Prosecutors are seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole for Martinez-Hernandez, who’s been held without bail since he was extradited to Maryland last summer.
Martinez-Hernandez’s attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders Marcus Jenkins, Sawyer Hicks and Tara LeCompte, said in a statement that their client “asserts his innocence and looks forward to his day in court.”
“There are many unanswered questions in this case and we are prepared to hold the State to its burden,” the attorneys said.
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How law enforcement captured Victor Martinez-Hernandez
The town of Bel Air is bracing for an influx of media to cover the case, which has generated national attention and become a political flashpoint as Martinez-Hernandez, an El Salvador native, was living illegally in the country.
The Bel Air Police Department announced last week that several streets around the Harford County Circuit Courthouse would be closed beginning Monday due to “increasing security and safety during a court trial in a high profile criminal case.”
From the beginning, Morin’s case has drawn widespread attention, in part because the gruesome crime seemed so out of place in quiet Harford County, which is usually is the setting of just a few homicides each year.
Morin, 37, left her home at about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, to go for a run on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail, a meandering path shrouded by forest. A fitness enthusiast who owned her own cleaning business, Morin often ran on the path and was well-known to others who walked or jogged there.
A few hours later, Morin’s boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing. The following afternoon, someone called 911 to report finding Morin’s badly battered body in a secluded area near the trail.
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The case quickly drew national and international attention. Cable news hosts displayed photos of Morin, a striking blonde woman, and recited the details of her killing.
Two weeks later, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced a major break in the case: DNA found on Morin’s body matched genetic material collected from a violent home invasion in Los Angeles in March 2023.
That same trail of genetic evidence eventually led authorities to Martinez-Hernandez, whom the sheriff’s office alleged spent time in Harford and Prince George’s counties in 2023.
Martinez-Hernandez was sitting in a Tulsa sports bar when officers moved in to arrest him last June. He initially lied about his identity and told investigators he knew nothing about the crimes for which he was accused, Tulsa Police said at the time.
Law enforcement dramatically escorted Martinez-Hernandez in front of TV cameras from an airplane at Martin State Airport after he waived extradition.
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Center of Trump’s immigration debate
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials reported that they apprehended Martinez-Hernandez on three separate occasions in 2023 and expelled him to Mexico. He entered the country again around Feb. 13, 2023, they assert, near El Paso, Texas.
He’s also wanted in connection to a killing in his native country, authorities reported.
The allegations instantly became a flashpoint in the heated political debate about immigration.
The New York Post ran a cover story about Martinez-Hernandez with the headline, “OPEN BORDER KILLER.”
Morin’s mother, Patty, appeared on stage with President Donald Trump at campaign rallies, attended his inauguration and testified before Congress. Other members of the Morin family recorded ads for the Trump campaign.
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Her brother, Michael, spoke during the 2024 Republican National Convention.
“My sister’s death was preventable. The monster arrested for killing Rachel entered the U.S. unlawfully after killing a woman in El Salvador,” he said. “Joe Biden, and his designated border czar, Kamala Harris, opened our borders to him and others like him, empowering them to victimize the innocent.”
The notoriety prompted Martinez-Hernandez’s attorneys to seek to move the trial out of Harford County, arguing that the case had been the subject of “numerous inflammatory and prejudicial reports in both legacy and social media.”
Though Circuit Judge Yolanda L. Curtin, who is presiding over the case, acknowledged there had been “extensive media coverage” of Morin’s killing, she ruled that the selection process was sufficient to find a fair and impartial jury.
The courtroom has been reserved for 10 days for the trial, with jury selection expected to take at least three days.
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As the trial nears, Morin’s mother and siblings are feeling anxious, said their attorney, Randolph Rice.
“This trial marks the beginning of the justice they’ve been seeking since the day Rachel was taken from them,” Rice said in a statement. “They are prepared to face the difficult days ahead with strength and hope.”
Morin’s children, too, feel anxiety as they await the beginning of the trial.
The eldest, Faye McMahon, 19, declined through her father to be interviewed.
Matt McMahon said that his daughter is often able to suppress her emotions, except when she is caught off guard by memories or questions about her mother.
She gave birth to a daughter in November, he said, and has welcomed the distraction of caring for her baby.
Though she longed for her mother’s presence during this important milestone, Faye McMahon found a way to carry on her mother’s legacy.
The baby’s middle names are “Rachel Ann.”
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