(NewsNation) — Police arrested Victor Martinez Hernandez for the murder of Maryland mother Rachel Morin nearly a year after her body was found on a popular hiking trail. He has since been connected to multiple brutal attacks in different states.
Hernandez was found and arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but he is also accused of a murder in El Salvador and a home invasion and the assault of a nine-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles in early 2023.
Authorities on Monday announced Hernandez has waived extradition in Oklahoma, meaning he will be brought to Maryland to face charges, possibly within the next 10 days.
Morin, 37, was reported missing in August 2023 by her boyfriend, who said she never returned after going out for a run. Her body was found on a trail the following day.
DNA taken from the Rachel Morin crime scene had been linked to the unidentified suspect in a Los Angeles home invasion, Colonel William Davis of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced soon after Morin’s brutal rape and murder.
The arrest was the result of a multi-agency investigation that faced roadblocks as Hernandez doesn’t have a driver’s license, passport, or birth certificate in the U.S. Because he entered the U.S. illegally, there are no records of him.
NewsNation has learned that a tip was called in, which led investigators to a location where Hernandez was believed to have been recently. The DNA found on some of the belongings at the scene is believed to have matched unknown DNA in the system from a past crime scene.
Morin’s loved ones say they are relieved Hernandez will face charges in Maryland first, before facing charges in any of the other cases he has been linked to.
“He’s just a horrible person that needs to never set foot into a free world. Again, he needs to be behind bars his whole life and I want him to live a very long life and hate every single second of that long life,” Matthew McMahon, the father of Morin’s older daughter, told NewsNation.
Hernandez will be brought to a maximum security facility that holds about 300 other inmates.
The case drew national attention after the suspect’s immigration status was made public. NewsNation learned Hernandez crossed over the southern border multiple times, and it appears that he came in through the El Paso Sector in Texas.
As the investigation continues, questions remain about how and why Hernandez was able to enter the U.S. despite his criminal history, how long he has been on the loose and whether he committed any other crimes.