Man arrested in Rachel Morin murder case, Harford County sheriff says

A suspect in the murder of Bel Air mother Rachel Morin is being held without bail in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.

Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was arrested Friday evening by Tulsa County police on a warrant. Police said Martinez-Hernandez's DNA matched that found by detectives during their investigation into Morin's disappearance in August.

The 37-year-old mother of five was reported missing by her boyfriend when she did not return home from a walk on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air on August 5. The next day, Morin's body was discovered in a drainage. ditch along popular hiking trail.

Morin's death quickly gained national attention as detectives worked to identify a possible suspect and his motive. Sheriff Gahler urged residents to “exercise caution” following Morin’s death.

Less than a month later, detectives compared DNA found at the Bel Air scene to DNA recovered during an investigation in California. The DNA matched that of an unidentified man wanted by Los Angeles police for burglary and residential assault.

Security footage from the California home showed a shirtless man emerging from a front door. Detectives from the Harford County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department were unable to identify the man, but created numerous sketches and profiles of the alleged perpetrator.

The Morin family's attorney, Randolph Rice, said the entire team, including the family and attorneys, as well as the Harford County community, were “incredibly relieved” that an arrest was made in this case and the suspect is no longer at large. He called it “a good day for the good guys.”

“A lot of mixed emotions,” Rice said. “They still lost Rachel and she still won't come back.”

An arrest in the case marks the end of the search, but is just the beginning of a whole new legal process, he said.

“It’s going to be a very long road of hearings and appearances and motions,” Rice said.

The legal team has collected a $35,000 reward for information in the case, but no one has come forward yet, Rice said.

This story will be updated.