How Police Finally Tracked Down Alleged Killer of Rachel Morin??

 

Rachel Morin, A 37-year-old fitness enthusiast and mother of five who disappeared while out on a jog in August 2023.

Morin’s remains were found on Aug. 6, a day after she vanished from her run along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Md, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler told PEOPLE at the time.

More than 10 months later, on June 14, police arrested Victor Martinez-Hernandez in Tulsa, Okla., Gahler said in a statement.

In charging documents, Harford County authorities say they were able to track Martinez-Hernandez, 23, using DNA recovered from Morin’s body that they connected to the suspect through relatives he had been staying with. 

Morin, who had been “beaten to death and sexually assaulted,” had DNA present in several parts of her body, police said in a charging document reviewed by PEOPLE. 

A genetic profile generated using the DNA samples indicated to authorities that the samples were all from the same individual, authorities said. 

Police then conducted further DNA tests that came up with results of a possible relative of the unknown person. After an “investigation into the family lineage,” police were able to identify Martinez-Hernandez as the suspect, the document alleges.

Investigators spoke with his relatives who said the suspect began staying with them last December and left in May, per the document. 

The relatives also provided authorities with his clothes and shoes, which the suspect reportedly left behind in the residence, police said. DNA recovered from those items allegedly matched the samples recovered from the crime scene, per the document.