(NewsNation) — The mother of a Maryland woman who was murdered while jogging in 2023 said the man convicted of killing her daughter is the first time she has “seen an evil person.”
“I never believed that men were totally evil, but this is the first time that I really think that I have seen an evil person,” Patty Morin said Tuesday on NewsNation’s “Banfield.” “It’s frightening. And he lived here in Bel Air among us, even after her murder.”
A jury found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape and kidnapping in the death of Rachel Morin after deliberating for less than an hour. The nine-day trial concluded with a verdict that will likely result in a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally multiple times from his native El Salvador, where he was accused of murdering a woman in December of 2022. He was expelled each time he crossed the border in early 2023.
He later appeared in Los Angeles after a successful attempt to get into the country, where he was linked to the assault of a woman and her 9-year-old daughter.
Patty Morin expressed mixed emotions about the verdict but said she was “happy” that justice had been found for her daughter.
“The evidence presented was so irrefutable that we truly believe that he was the murderer,” she said. “To see the process and to understand the crime, and then to see the jurors pay attention to the details of the case as presented, and to come back with a verdict … it felt like finally it was over.”
DNA evidence linked Hernandez to both the murder scene in Maryland and an assault in Los Angeles months earlier.
Two of Rachel Morin’s daughters testified during the trial, including her 14-year-old, who was the last person to speak with her before she disappeared.
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Rachel Morin, 37, was last seen alive at around 6 p.m. Saturday when she left to take a walk on a nature trail. (Photo: Harford County Sheriff’s Office) -
Rachel Morin was found dead in August 2023 after she went missing while going on a run.
(Credit: Facebook) -
A memorial for Rachel Morin is displayed on a tree on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. (Dillon Mullan/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“She broke down on the witness stand trying to keep herself composed to answer questions,” Patty Morin said. “And then when she’s leaving the courtroom, you just hear her just break out into these heart-wrenching sobs.”
When asked about potential punishment, Morin expressed conflicted feelings about the death penalty, which is not an option in Maryland. She also voiced concerns about proposals to send violent criminals to serve sentences in other countries, saying she preferred certainty that Martinez-Hernandez would remain incarcerated in the United States.
Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was described by her parent as “a very loving person” who “had compassion on everyone.”
“She accepted people at face value. She was very authentic, and she’s somebody that is going to be greatly missed,” Patty Morin said.
The case gained national attention partly due to the immigration status of Martinez-Hernandez.
