The El Salvadoran migrant accused of brutally killing a Maryland mother of five on a running trail before leading police on an interstate investigation is expected to argue for a change of venue Friday to have his case moved out of the town that received national attention after the murder.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree rape after police allege he beat, raped and killed Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland in August 2023.
Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was reported missing after failing to return from her daily jog. Police said her remains were discovered stuffed in a drain pipe near the trail.
She suffered savage injuries that her mother told House members during a congressional hearing were so severe she was unrecognizable even after morticians tried to make her up for the funeral.
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Lawyers for Martinez-Hernandez told the court that news of his arrest sparked “numerous inflammatory and prejudicial reports.”
“Public reaction to these reports has been uniformly derogatory against the Defendant,” the defense wrote in a court filing. “The numerous comments which accompany media reports indicate that the Defendant has been the subject of nationwide public hatred and vilification, notwithstanding that no trial has yet occurred.”
Martinez-Hernandez came to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador in 2023. Police in his home country suspect him in another woman’s murder there, and before his arrest in Morin’s case, California authorities allege he raped a woman and her 9-year-old daughter in a home invasion attack there.
“This hearing is an important milestone as we move closer to justice for Rachel,” Randolph Rice, the attorney for Morin’s mother Patty Morin, said Tuesday. “The family remains committed to seeing this process through and ensuring the evidence is presented fairly at trial. They are prepared for this step and remain resolute in their pursuit of accountability.”
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Martinez-Hernandez made his first in-person court appearance in October, coming face to face with Morin’s mother for the first time after repeatedly attending court dates virtually.
There was an Interpol warrant out for his arrest at the time he came to the U.S. Border Patrol agents had blocked his entry to the country three times before he finally snuck in.
Police captured him in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June 2024, 10 months after Morin’s murder. He was extradited to Maryland days later and is also the subject of an ICE detainer.
Martinez-Hernandez remains in the Harford County Jail pending trial. He faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment without parole.
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