Dressed in all black, Patty Morin sat down, positioned herself in front of a microphone inside a courtroom in Harford County and read a statement that expressed how she lives every day with the pain of losing her youngest daughter in a senseless murder.

Rachel Morin was her fourth child. She was a deeply religious small-business owner who enjoyed country music, tattoos and fitness. Family members remembered her as a loving, vibrant and resilient woman, as well as a good mother.

Her five children — Faye, Violet, Octavia, Deklan and Lilah — were her world.

“She was our family treasure,” Patty Morin said on Monday in Harford County Circuit Court. “She deserved to live.”

But on Aug. 5, 2023, Victor Martinez-Hernandez raped and murdered Rachel Morin while she was out for her daily run on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air and left her badly beaten body in a drainage tunnel that runs under Maryland Route 24.

She was 37.

Circuit Judge Yolanda L. Curtin told Martinez-Hernandez that he could have chosen at any point when he was committing the crime to reevaluate his decision. But, she said, “you were unstoppable.”

The Ma & Pa Heritage Trail is a place of beauty where people find peace, Curtin said. The murder, she said, terrorized the community.

Curtin then ordered Martinez-Hernandez, 24, to serve the maximum sentence: life in prison without the possibility of parole. That’s along with a consecutive life sentence plus 40 years in prison.

“You took a life that was not yours to take,” Curtin said. “There is simply no hope to rehabilitate you.”

Her remarks came at the end of a sentencing hearing that, with breaks, lasted more than four hours.

The killing received national — and international — attention. During the 2024 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump jumped on the case to push the false narrative that immigrants are committing violent crimes in large numbers.

Martinez-Hernandez is a native of El Salvador who illegally crossed the border into the United States in 2023 after law enforcement apprehended and expelled him on three prior occasions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported.

Rachel Morin’s brother, Michael Morin, said his sister was not a “cosmic accident.”

Instead, he said, she was a gift from God.

“Rachel was not just a victim,” he said. “Her life had meaning.”

His family members have experienced a profound grief that’s touched all parts of their lives, he said, nothing that the murder has “changed us forever.”

Though he said he did not believe that Martinez-Hernandez should escape consequences, Michael Morin said he forgives him.

“I forgive you,” Michael Morin said, “because God forgives even the worst of sinners.”

Her half-sister, Erin Layman, described her sibling as a “radiant light in this very dark world.”

Meanwhile, John Morin, Rachel Morin’s brother, spoke about the unshakable bond that he had with his sister, along with the anguish that he’s endured since her death.

“Rachel was a constant. I love her deeply,” he said. “And honestly, I feel lost.”

Prosecutors read statements on behalf of several other loved ones and played recordings of three of her children. Though they were not present, their voices still filled the ceremonial courtroom.

In one recording, Violet Custer, Rachel Morin’s 15-year-old daughter, said losing her mother was the moment when her “life ended.”

“I’ll never have my normal life back,” she said. “Nothing’s ever going to be the same.”

Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey pushed for the maximum sentence, characterizing the crime as “most likely the most violent attack this court or this county has ever seen.”

“It was premeditated, planned and vicious,” Healey said. “This crime shook our Harford County community.”

The jury took less than one hour in April to convict Martinez-Hernandez of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping.

Despite the strength of the evidence, Martinez-Hernandez continued to tell stories, Healey said.

Martinez-Hernandez, she said, told a forensic psychologist who performed a psychosexual evaluation for sentencing that he only viewed pornography on one occasion.

But law enforcement found more than 2,300 pornographic images on his cellphone. And Healey said investigators also discovered child sexual abuse material.

The forensic psychologist noted that Martinez-Hernandez repeatedly laughed and joked over the course of two interviews and appeared cold, dismissive and callous, Healey said. He also did not show remorse.

One of Martinez-Hernandez’s attorneys, Assistant Public Defender Tara LeCompte, said her client respects the verdict but maintains his innocence.

She asked the judge to sentence him to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

“This case has been difficult for all parties involved,” LeCompte said.

LeCompte spoke about the challenges that her client experienced in El Salvador during his upbringing.

Before he could finish eighth grade, Martinez-Hernandez dropped out of school to support his family. He worked on a coffee farm, sold bread door-to-door and took on various positions at a window fabrication plant, LeCompte said.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

So LeCompte said her client went to the United States to take whatever jobs he could find to send money back to his loved ones. He also has a 4-year-old daughter.

Martinez-Hernandez wore a striped white and gray jumpsuit and listened, emotionless, through earbuds to a Spanish translation of the court proceedings.

He said he appreciated the judge for giving him the opportunity to address the court and thanked his attorneys for their representation.

“But,” he said through a Spanish-language interpreter, “I will not give any testimony.”

When the judge finished handing down the sentence, Martinez-Hernandez said he did not have any questions. He added, though, that he would like to appeal.