The illegal immigrant charged with the brutal 2023 slaying of Rachel Morin on a Maryland hiking trail made his first court appearance Friday, as the slain victim’s family looked on.
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit and handcuffs, appeared via video link from the Harford County Detention Center and declined to speak, according to the family’s attorney Randolph Rice.
“It was an emotionally challenging experience for [the family] to see the defendant on the video screen,” Rice said in a statement.
Judge Kerwin Miller ordered Martinez Hernandez held without bail, calling him a danger to society and a flight risk.
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It was revealed in court papers Thursday that Martinez Hernandez had been hiding out with relatives in the state during a nationwide manhunt that ended with his arrest for murder.
He was taken into custody at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and extradited to Maryland on Thursday to face rape, murder and assault charges.
His relatives in Maryland told police that he stayed with them between December 2023 and May 2024 before suddenly vanishing, according to court documents.
They did not specify where they lived in the state or how close the location was to where Morin was found Aug. 5, 2023.
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Morin’s mother, Patty Morin, was stunned to learn that Martinez Herandez did not flee.
“That’s really brazen to stay in the state where he committed the crime,” she told Fox News Digital. “It amazes me. It also amazes me that his family didn’t see the fliers we posted.”
The police hunt for Martinez Hernandez stretched to Los Angeles and El Salvador.
Morin’s boyfriend reported the 37-year-old missing after she left to go for a walk on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, and never returned.
Police later found the mother of five’s car parked near the trail and her brutally beaten body in a culvert nearby.
Martinez Hernandez left bags of clothes behind after leaving his relatives’ home last month, and police were able to collect DNA from the items that matched samples from the crime scene.
Officials said Martinez Hernandez, who has suspected gang ties, fled his native El Salvador in February 2023 after a warrant was issued for the murder of a woman there.
He made three unsuccessful attempts to enter the United States before making it across the border on Feb. 13, 2023 near El Paso, Texas, authorities said.
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Police said he assaulted a 9-year-old girl during a Los Angeles home invasion in March, and a DNA profile from that attack matched a sample found on Morin.
“Victor Hernandez did not come to this country to make a better life for him or his family, he came here to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came here to murder Rachel and God willing, no one else,” Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said this past weekend.
Morin’s relatives said they fear Martinez Hernandez may have assaulted other victims during his violent stay in the United States.
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