An illegal immigrant was convicted by a jury on Monday of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old woman and mother of five children, in August of 2023.
According to Fox 5, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was found guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree murder, third-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping by a Maryland jury on Monday.
Fox News reported that Morin was killed by Martinez-Hernandez as she was jogging on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel-Air, Maryland. Officials accused the 23-year-old illegal immigrant of ambushing Morin, strangling her, and beating her to death, according to the outlet. Fox News cited law enforcement officials, who confirmed that Martinez-Hernandez illegally entered the United States in February of 2023.
According to Harford County autopsy results obtained by Fox News, Morin sustained between 15 and 20 blows to her head and died due to a combination of blunt-force trauma and strangulation.
Fox News reported that Evan Knapp, who discovered Morin’s body after she was killed by Martinez-Hernandez, testified during the recent trial regarding how he found the 37-year-old’s body. “I saw an unclothed human body on her back,” Knapp said. “At first, I truly thought it might have been a deer or something that had died in there. So, I had to move a bit closer to confirm what I had seen, and it was a human. I feel like time froze for a second and I didn’t know what I was looking at.”
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After the jury’s decision on Monday, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler criticized the issue of illegal immigration in the United States, saying, “The failure here, again, is the immigration system that allowed this person to enter our country illegally and remain in our country and commit crimes in Los Angeles and then here in Harford County,” according to Fox News.
Additionally, Homeland Security Special Agent in Charge Mike McCarthy explained that Martinez-Hernandez’s status as an illegal immigrant “raises questions that deserve to be taken seriously about how we protect our neighborhoods, about how we enforce our laws and how we prevent such tragedy in the future.”
President Donald Trump issued a statement following Monday’s conviction, saying, “Moments ago, the Illegal Criminal, who was allowed into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden, was convicted of the heinous murder of Rachel Morin. Rachel was a beautiful mother of five from Maryland, and her life was taken at the hands of a monster who should have NEVER been here in the first place.”
“We will never forget Rachel Morin, and are committed to protecting women like her across our Country,” Trump added. “We will deport Illegal Murderers, Rapists, and Criminals. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
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