BALTIMORE — WJZ obtained video from the night police in Oklahoma arrested Victor Martinez Hernandez, the man charged in the murder of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five.
Martinez Hernandez was taken into custody in June at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 10 months after Morin was found murdered off the Ma & Pa Trail in Harford County.
The video shows Martinez Hernandez being escorted out of the bar, put in handcuffs and into the patrol car.
He was later extradited to Maryland where he is facing charges of first and second-degree murder, rape, sex offense and kidnapping.
Investigators said they were tipped off that the Martinez Hernandez was in the Tulsa area after he fled Maryland.
Martinez Hernandez is being held in prison without bail and will stand trial on October 23.
What the video shows
Officer instincts kicked in as police on the video said they had a feeling Martinez Hernandez would be with a group of people heading to a bar, and that’s where he was found.
At first, he denied his crimes, but an officer said she knew it was Hernandez when he smiled.
The video starts inside a bar on a late Friday night in Tulsa when police and FBI agents approached Martinez Hernandez sitting at a bar.
Officers asked him to come outside and then asked to see his identification.
But Martinez Hernandez told the officer he didn’t have an ID and provided a fake name.
Moments later, Martinez Hernandez was placed in handcuffs and into the patrol car after officers uncovered his real identity.
A year has passed
Morin went for a jog on the Harford County trail on August 5, 2023, and was reported missing later that evening.
Her car was located at the trailhead and her body was found raped and murdered on August 6 about 60 to 70 feet off the trail, law enforcement officers said.
Martinez Hernandez had been hiding out in Maryland during some of the months-long nationwide manhunt, court documents revealed.
“Grateful they didn’t give up”
Law enforcement officers say Martinez Hernandez illegally crossed into the United States after an arrest warrant was issued for a murder in his native country of El Salvador.
He was also connected to a home invasion assault of a child in Los Angeles, where DNA matched what was found at Morin’s crime scene, according to police.
Through the DNA testing and surveillance video of Martinez Hernandez breaking into the Los Angeles home, he was pinned as the prime suspect.
Days after Martinez Hernandez was arrested, Morin’s mother spoke exclusively with WJZ, saying she is thankful that police never gave up on the search.
“I was just so very grateful that they didn’t give up, that she wasn’t the folder on the desk that I was afraid might happen,” Patty Morin said.
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Kelsey Kushner
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Publish date : 2024-08-15 13:13:00
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