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BEL AIR, Md. (NewsNation) — Opening statements were heard Friday in the trial of a man accused of murdering a Maryland woman who was jogging on a popular Bel Air trail in 2023.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez is facing life without the possibility of parole in the August 2023 death of 37-year-old Rachel Morin.
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested in June in Tulsa, Oklahoma, nearly a year after Morin’s death. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape, according to Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler.
The Salvadorian national, who was 22 at the time of Morin’s death, is accused of entering the U.S. illegally multiple times as well as crimes in his home country, according to authorities.
Authorities say Martinez-Hernandez is accused of murdering a woman in December 2022. In early 2023, he crossed the U.S. southern border three times but was expelled each time by the Border Patrol.
Martinez-Hernandez succeeded on his fourth attempt and later surfaced in Los Angeles, where he was linked to the assault of a woman and a 9-year-old girl. He then traveled to Maryland, where he allegedly killed Morin.
Randolph Rice, attorney for Morin’s mother and siblings, told NewsNation that the family is “very nervous” ahead of the trial.
“Very nervous, obviously, very anxious. Most of them just kind of want this to be over with. This has been such a nightmare for the past 19 months,” said Rice. “They sort of see an end of this process now that their trial is starting here today but it’s certainly going to be tough for the next week and a half. All this evidence, even the opening statements. I mean, it was difficult to hear some new facts that we just have not heard yet.”