A Connecticut jury found an illegal immigrant guilty on Monday of murdering 37-year-old mother Rachel Morin.
The just issued its verdict after deliberating for less than an hour, according to The Baltimore Banner.
A man was found guilty on Monday of killing Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a case that received intense national attention and became an issue in the 2024 presidential election.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted in Harford County Circuit Court of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping.
Hartford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey told reporters, “While no verdict or sentence can ever bring Rachel back, I’m proud of the work that we’ve done to ensure that justice was served, and that Victor Martinez-Hernandez will never again be a threat to another woman in his lifetime.”
Morin was viciously raped and murdered on August 5, 2023, while jogging in the evening. Her family reported her missing that night. The authorities found her body the next day in a drainage culvert. She had been dragged, beaten, and strangled.
DNA evidence linked Martinez-Hernandez to the crime. He was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. The police found and arrested him in June 2024 after a months-long manhunt. He was previously wanted for murder in El Salvador, according to People.
Morin, who had been “beaten to death and sexually assaulted,” had DNA present in several parts of her body, police said in a charging document reviewed by PEOPLE.
A genetic profile generated using the DNA samples indicated to authorities that the samples were all from the same individual, authorities said.
Police then conducted further DNA tests that came up with results of a possible relative of the unknown person. After an “investigation into the family lineage,” police were able to identify Martinez-Hernandez as the suspect, the document alleges.
Investigators spoke with his relatives who said the suspect began staying with them last December and left in May, per the document.
The relatives also provided authorities with his clothes and shoes, which the suspect reportedly left behind in the residence, police said. DNA recovered from those items allegedly matched the samples recovered from the crime scene, per the document.
Morin’s murder, along with that of Georgia student Laken Riley’s, played a significant part in the 2024 presidential campaign. President Donald Trump frequently brought up the crimes as reasons why the US must take a more aggressive approach to deporting illegal immigrants – especially those who commit violent crimes.
They were protesting Trump blocks from where Rachel Morin’s murder trial is currently happening. Literal blocks, and I bet you none of them even know who Rachel is.
— Sarah Sansoni (@sarahsansoni) April 7, 2025
Rachel Morin’s murder trial started last week and is resuming today in Bel Air, Maryland.
She was murdered by… pic.twitter.com/ueNZcI0M9e
24-year-old illegal found guilty of first-degree premeditated m*rder, first-degree r*pe, third-degree s*xual assault and kidnapping of Rachel Morin.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 14, 2025
Jury will decide next if Victor Martinez-Hernandez spends the rest of his life in prison.
Send him to El Salvador’s CECOT jail. pic.twitter.com/2AGwWQBEDS
Martinez-Hernandez’s is expected to be sentenced within 60 to 90 days. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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