Jury Finds Illegal Alien Guilty of Raping, Murdering Maryland Mother of 5

A Maryland jury has found an illegal alien guilty of murdering Rachel Morin, a mother of five. 

Victor Martinez-Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping in Morin’s case. The jury found Martinez-Hernandez guilty on all four counts.  

In August 2023, Morin went missing after leaving home to exercise on the MA & PA Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore. Authorities found her body off the trail in a culvert on Aug. 6. 

After a lengthy investigation, authorities tracked Martinez-Hernandez to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was arrested in June 2024 as the lead suspect in Morin’s killing.  

Martinez-Hernandez, 24, is from El Salvador and crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in February 2023, according to Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler.  

Following jury selection, opening statements were delivered before the court on April 4. During what Fox Baltimore describes as an “emotional” trial, Morin’s boyfriend, older daughter, and several others, including law enforcement, spoke in court. The jury was also shown photos from the crime scene and was presented with DNA evidence.  

The defense presentation lasted only about 10 minutes on Monday before the jury deliberated for less than an hour and finding Martinez-Hernandez guilty. 

Martinez-Hernandez could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.  

“This criminal illegal alien should have never been in our country in the first place,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X following the guilty verdict.  

 “Rachel should still be here watching her five children grow up,” Noem said. “She was a victim of open-border policies that prioritized illegal aliens over the safety of American citizens. We hear far too much in the mainstream media about sob stories of gang members and criminal illegals and not enough about their victims.”  

Among the millions of illegal aliens who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, more than 662,000 had either already been convicted of crimes or faced pending criminal charges, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

President Donald Trump responded to the guilty verdict Monday night, writing on Truth Social:  

We will never forget Rachel Morin, and are committed to protecting women like her across our Country. We will deport Illegal Murderers, Rapists, and Criminals. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! 

Trump also challenged what he calls the “fake news” to focus “on the beautiful life and tragic death of this Maryland mother, rather than the so-called “Maryland father,” who is actually an MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist from El Salvador.

The “Maryland father” Trump referenced is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in March.  

Abrego Garcia was deported on grounds of having reported ties to MS-13. The Trump administration initially said he was removed due to an “administrative error,” even though he did enter the country illegally. The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., but that requires the government of El Salvador to release Abrego Garcia from prison, which El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, made clear he does not intend to do.  

The Trump administration since has pushed back against the claim that Abrego Garcia was accidentally deported.  

“A [Department of Justice] lawyer, who has since been relieved of duty, a saboteur, a Democrat, put into a filing incorrectly that this was a mistaken removal. It was not,” Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said on Fox News on Monday.

“This was the right person sent to the right place,” Miller added. 

The post Jury Finds Illegal Alien Guilty of Raping, Murdering Maryland Mother of 5 appeared first on The Daily Signal.