Found Deceased MD - Rachel Morin, 37, left for walk on Ma & Pa Trail 6pm, car found at Williams St entrance, Bel Air, 5 Aug 2023 #3 *Arrest*

[x_files]

JMO, as i don't know the details. I would suspect that he was staying in the area close to the residence of the first family but I don't know if he were their relative. My guess would be, not, but he was staying with the people he knew in the same neighborhood.

That tracks, I agree.

 

[MollyHarps]

I’ve followed this case from day 1.. I’m so relieved I thought this was going to be a cold case.

I’m so happy for Rachel’s family - her mother especially who never gave up and although obviously frustrated with the speed of the investigation always came across very well on interviews.

My thoughts also go to the LA victims - I’m sure this has reopened old wounds.

I do believe this man will have committed further murders - I just can’t see him going nearly a year without having committed other attacks

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I know I am soin

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>

His picture in the blue Nike t-shirt is at least five years old (posted on his fb in 2019 when he would be 18). So he didn't slim down since the LA attack as some were speculating.

Ahhh . Helpful about that pik in the blue t shirt....he really looked "more innocent" then.

 

[sunspun]

The FBI contacted Tulsa Police Department Special Investigations Division detectives Friday after receiving information that Morin was in the Tulsa area.

According to the report, the FBI and TPD detectives found Morin at a bar located at 21st Street and Garnett Road, where he allegedly lied about his true identity and denied any knowledge of the crimes for which he is wanted.

International murder suspect arrested in Tulsa

Authorities in Tulsa arrested a man in a Tulsa bar late Friday who was described as an international murder suspect, a report states

tulsaworld.com

Right, but that still left the question of how they knew he was in Tulsa, and even knew WHERE in Tulsa he was! They then knew his name thru genealogy and they had a description and had seen him on video (barely), but that wouldn't tell them where to find him. UNTIL he made the mistake of stopping off in Tulsa to apparently be some kind of a public nuisance, enough to get the attention of the police who probably didn't know what to do with him so they just cited him for trespassing, just to make him go away probably. But they had to put some name on the ticket, and it's just a good thing they ran his name thru NCIC where there was a brand new warrant in his name, and for some serious major crimes. At that point, they had to handle everything just right, and I guess they did. "Arrested without incident" always sounds good. Sure glad they got him before anything else happened. I bet he was eagerly watching for his next opportunity.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Do you think he was staying with extended family and then assaulted them? Then fled to Maryland and assaulted/murdered Rachel?

I am actually quite confused with all the articles.
I'm Tulsa, was he at a bar, or a storefront?
Why trespassing?
WHAT was the actual tip to go to Tulsa?
One article said something like they were reviewing tips on her birthday that led them there. Was the tip there for a while?
One article stated he had ties to DC ...what does that mean?
Where ARE his relatives in the US.
I feel I have missed a lot so hopefully someone can answer my questions?

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I don't recall anything about a car being stolen but here's the article that refers to the LA incident as a "hot prowler" burglary.

South L.A. prowler tied by DNA to slaying of mother of five in Maryland

A South L.A. burglar who was caught on a home security video has been tied by DNA to the slaying of a mother of five in Maryland.

www.latimes.com

LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said the video comes from a March 26 “hot prowler” burglary in South L.A., which means he burglarized an occupied home. Muniz said a person was assaulted in that incident, but it was not a sexual assault. Hartford County sheriff’s officials said the assault victim was a minor. LAPD collected DNA during the burglary investigation.

Ok, assault but not sexual. Recent articles have said otherwise ????

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This is the news that I've been waiting for. And jfc this man is evil. I believe the best way to deal with him is to lock him up and throw away the key. My thoughts go out to his victims including the woman he killed in El Salvador.

It seems like genetic genealogy was the key to solving this case. That really surprises me considering that Hispanics are a tricky group when it comes to GG. Did a relative of his had DNA in GEDMatch or something? Edit: The police in his home country assisted in ancestry tracing. Wow. This really needs to be used in cases of unidentified migrants.

Rachel Morin killing: Police arrest Victor Hernandez in connection to murder

Your question is my question. Did a relative have their DNA on the public sites? Really?⁰
And articles say a "tip" led them. So how does GG really fit in?
DNA yes, but GG???
Can you tell I am confused ?

 

[nhmemorymaker]

No group is tricky but there is a question of enough representation/not enough representation in databases. What happened was that a year ago, there were no close enough relatives in the databases to build a tree, and now they got a new DNA match. One good match could be enough, but then it has to be at a really close level. Or two, at the farther ones. Here is an example: a first cousin, and the Y-haplogroup matches. That means, father's side and common ancestors are paternal grandparents. The genetic criminologists go at the CA level and make the tree for all descendants and rule out/in possibilities. If it is a cousin and mito DNA match, it is a direct maternal line. Same thing. The two other versions could be when neither Y nor mito match in cousins, but it is doable. In endogamous communities the level of the match is closer than in reality (e.g., fifth cousins on both maternal/paternal lines may look like third cousins), but this factor disappears at the level of first-dergee or second-degree relative. So either the LE hit a paydirt and somehow got the good DNA ofp one close relative, or they had one match, but not close enough, and now they got a second one.

I understand what you are saying, but El Salvador?????
I guess I need to see what they actually see and have regarding this guy's family relations in the US. Right now, it feels quite ambiguous to me.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Authorities tracked the alleged serial assailant in Tulsa two weeks ago and executed an arrest warrant just before midnight Friday.

Rachel Morin murder: Illegal immigrant from El Salvador charged in rape, killing of Maryland mom-of-5

Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was tracked down in Tulsa, Oklahoma Friday, after police matched his DNA to the gruesome crime scene, Harford County Sherriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters Saturday.…

nypost.com

….

The Los Angeles case was the through line which allowed investigators to connect DNA samples from the murder scene in Harford County to the surveillance video of the suspect in California. This gave local and federal investigators their first images of Martinez-Hernandez.

"After we had the video, we knew what he looked like, but we didn't know who he was," Gahler said.

Illegal immigrant charged in killing of Rachel Morin, mom found dead near trail in 2023

A man has been arrested in the killing of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five who was found dead near a hiking trail in August of 2023.

abc6onyourside.com

FBI Baltimore field office special agent in charge William DelBagno explained that they were able to trace his DNA to potential family members in El Salvador to help identify the suspect. Then with support from local law enforcement, they were able to track him down to Tulsa, Oklahoma and take him into custody.

" They were able to track hiS DNA to relatives in El Salvador"
THIS is what I hope they better explain with "the local law enforcement":to track him to Tulsa.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

JMO, as i don't know the details. I would suspect that he was staying in the area close to the residence of the first family but I don't know if he were their relative. My guess would be, not, but he was staying with the people he knew in the same neighborhood.

Still confusing

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Right, but that still left the question of how they knew he was in Tulsa, and even knew WHERE in Tulsa he was! They then knew his name thru genealogy and they had a description and had seen him on video (barely), but that wouldn't tell them where to find him. UNTIL he made the mistake of stopping off in Tulsa to apparently be some kind of a public nuisance, enough to get the attention of the police who probably didn't know what to do with him so they just cited him for trespassing, just to make him go away probably. But they had to put some name on the ticket, and it's just a good thing they ran his name thru NCIC where there was a brand new warrant in his name, and for some serious major crimes. At that point, they had to handle everything just right, and I guess they did. "Arrested without incident" always sounds good. Sure glad they got him before anything else happened. I bet he was eagerly watching for his next opportunity.

I dunno. Still find missing pieces in our puzzle.

 

[sunspun]

I am actually quite confused with all the articles.
I'm Tulsa, was he at a bar, or a storefront?
Why trespassing?
WHAT was the actual tip to go to Tulsa?
One article said something like they were reviewing tips on her birthday that led them there. Was the tip there for a while?
One article stated he had ties to DC ...what does that mean?
Where ARE his relatives in the US.
I feel I have missed a lot so hopefully someone can answer my questions?

I still don't know why he chose to go to Tulsa. Maybe he looked at a map and picked a place that was about the furthest distance from the 2 places he had fled after each of his crimes. He might have just started driving away from Maryland, trying to get as far away from there as he could, trying to distance himself from the scene of the (latest) crime, but then at some point, he would realize he was now heading back toward the scene of his OTHER crime in California, so he better stop driving, and geographically, Tulsa's about the place that leaves him pretty much in the middle between the two! Or maybe he was on his way back to the west coast, and just stopped off here for a beer.

But stupidly, he first had to get arrested for trespassing. He was probably surprised they didn't take him to jail, just wrote him a ticket and let him go. But it's my theory that they ID'd him when they cited him for trespassing and found out he was wanted in at least 2 distant states as well as in another country! So I think they did let him go for the moment, but kept him on surveillance while they contacted the other agencies who were looking for him, and when the time was right, they swooped in and got him. I think they knew he was at that bar, bc they'd followed him from the moment they wrote him that ticket for trespassing, when they found his warrants.

So I still have questions about a couple things. Did he choose to come to Tulsa for any reason in particular? Like does he have family or other connections here? Or was he just running, and randomly ended up here? And I'm also curious what he was doing at that "storefront" that got the attention of police and ended up being his downfall? I just find that odd that they told him he was trespassing in the middle of the day in front of some store that I assume was open to the public... I think all the police said was that he was hanging around by a storefront. I believe he had to have been causing a disturbance of some kind, or maybe he'd just been there for too long and was giving someone the heebiejeebies, and they called the cops on him.

 

[IDK]

I’m going to flag my post to see about updating the thread title— *** Arrest Made*** with thanks to the moderators.

 

[Elley Mae]

" They were able to track hiS DNA to relatives in El Salvador"
THIS is what I hope they better explain with "the local law enforcement":to track him to Tulsa.

And also “they knew what he looked like”, picture?

 

[whitelilac]

I'm seeing that the speculation about how he got around to various states is that he drove, was driven or took buses.

But maybe he hopped on freight trains, and simply ended up wherever that freight train stopped or even jumped off. Hence the seemingly random locations.
He may have had practice too, may have done so during his escape from El Salvador, as many illegal immigrants on the way to the border do also.

I may be wrong, he may have had gang connections, or hitchhiked, got lifts from truckers etc. but it's another means of transport to be considered.

 

[Yemelyan]

I am actually quite confused with all the articles.
I'm Tulsa, was he at a bar, or a storefront?
Why trespassing?
WHAT was the actual tip to go to Tulsa?
One article said something like they were reviewing tips on her birthday that led them there. Was the tip there for a while?
One article stated he had ties to DC ...what does that mean?
Where ARE his relatives in the US.
I feel I have missed a lot so hopefully someone can answer my questions?

I feel that a lot of this will maybe become more clear in time. The LE at the presser said that they couldn't reveal everything they know just yet because the investigation is still active and evolving. I will try to give my opinion on some of the questions you and @sunspun have, based on what I heard in the presser.

LE described the place he was at in Tulsa when apprehended as "a storefront." The sheriff said he was charged with trespassing at that location because he was "unwanted." I know from reading police incident reports from many other cases that "unwanted" usually means police have received a call for service from a location (a residence or business) stating that someone is there who the owner/staff wants removed. Often it's because of bad conduct occurring but could be because of past incidents of theft or the like where the owner wants the person trespassed.

However, LE at the presser made it seem like they already knew he was in Tulsa prior to this and Tulsa police were actively looking for him in conjunction with the FBI. They didn't want to say much about the info that led them to his current location. Hopefully this will be clarified eventually.

I believe that the tip they received on her birthday was the result of investigative genetic genealogy. Results of investigative genetic genealogy analysis are referred to, in LE, as "tips," when they first come in from the analyzing agency, because the DNA of the suspect still has to be directly compared to crime scene DNA to show a match to that specific person. Sometimes LE gets a warrant to do a "garbage pull" to grab a sample to compare, based on this type of tip from an analyzing agency or private lab. I have seen this in several cases. I wonder if, in this particular case, there are circumstances that allowed them to receive a warrant for his arrest without doing this confirmation step or if they have done it and don't want to tell us yet. Regardless, the initial information from the lab that does the analysis is called a "tip" in most cases I have seen.

They haven't stated exactly what his ties are to DC and Prince Georges County, just that these ties exist. So you haven't missed anything there yet.

 

[Elley Mae]

Maybe LE went around where they thought he would be and showed his pic to some of the establishments they thought he might go to.

Jmo

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I still don't know why he chose to go to Tulsa. Maybe he looked at a map and picked a place that was about the furthest distance from the 2 places he had fled after each of his crimes. He might have just started driving away from Maryland, trying to get as far away from there as he could, trying to distance himself from the scene of the (latest) crime, but then at some point, he would realize he was now heading back toward the scene of his OTHER crime in California, so he better stop driving, and geographically, Tulsa's about the place that leaves him pretty much in the middle between the two! Or maybe he was on his way back to the west coast, and just stopped off here for a beer.

But stupidly, he first had to get arrested for trespassing. He was probably surprised they didn't take him to jail, just wrote him a ticket and let him go. But it's my theory that they ID'd him when they cited him for trespassing and found out he was wanted in at least 2 distant states as well as in another country! So I think they did let him go for the moment, but kept him on surveillance while they contacted the other agencies who were looking for him, and when the time was right, they swooped in and got him. I think they knew he was at that bar, bc they'd followed him from the moment they wrote him that ticket for trespassing, when they found his warrants.

So I still have questions about a couple things. Did he choose to come to Tulsa for any reason in particular? Like does he have family or other connections here? Or was he just running, and randomly ended up here? And I'm also curious what he was doing at that "storefront" that got the attention of police and ended up being his downfall? I just find that odd that they told him he was trespassing in the middle of the day in front of some store that I assume was open to the public... I think all the police said was that he was hanging around by a storefront. I believe he had to have been causing a disturbance of some kind, or maybe he'd just been there for too long and was giving someone the heebiejeebies, and they called the cops on him.

But why would have they done any DNA testing for trespassing?
I currently understand that the tip came up in MD. So what did MD have, to contact Tulsa ???

 

[Charlot123]

.

I understand what you are saying, but El Salvador?????
I guess I need to see what they actually see and have regarding this guy's family relations in the US. Right now, it feels quite ambiguous to me.

It is statistics. Once geneticists have a representative sample from the area, all is doable. El Salvador is in Central America, close to Southern Mexico, Belise, and even closer to Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It is extremely densely populated, 307/sq km, compare to Mexican 66/sq km. Lots of things stem from that factor, including migration. I assume, as more people from El Salvador are migrating here, we get more samples. What is important, El Salvador is a Catholic country and there usually are records of marriages and baptisms in local churches. Also, the Spanish/Portuguese surname conventions (paternal first maternal - second in Spanish) allows to keep and trace both family lines.

(I assume there is a huge migration in the area given the population density. I can even imagine a problem when LE initially found a match whose relatives came from, say, Nicaragua, and who didn't know that his second cousin moved to El Salvador. Then a second match could be found a year later.Of course, lots of other things, such as NPE, might interfere. One never knows how complicated genetic work can be.) But overall, with total population just slightly below 6.5 mln, it is not such a small group.

 

[KooshBall]

Do you think he was staying with extended family and then assaulted them? Then fled to Maryland and assaulted/murdered Rachel?

No, when this story first broke, LE were clear that it was a stranger that broke into the home and assaulted a child.