TRIAL DAY 3: Remembering Rachel Morin's final day down to her last minutes alive

HARFORD COUNTY, Md. — Friday marked the first day of opening statements and witness testimony in the high profile Rachel Morin case.

The state called five witnesses, including Morin's two eldest children and boyfriend, with whom she had just become "Facebook official" with days prior to her death.

They painted a picture of Morin's last day alive. And then, the panicked moments that followed when they realized she hadn't returned.

"A mother's worst nightmare came true that day," Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healy said.

But it began as a lazy Saturday morning spent with her boyfriend Richard Tobin, later running errands, then meeting back up with Tobin to go to the gym, cleaning the house with her daughter and then around 6 p.m. heading to the Ma and Pa trail for her daily ritual run.

"It was her peace," Tobin said in court.

Texts submitted into evidence on Friday show Morin's final conversations down to the minute she stops responding. During opening statements, Healy identified it was data from her tech devices, including these messages, that helped to narrow down a window of time in which Morin was attacked, raped and murdered on the Ma and Pa trail in August 2023.

She had been strangled and hit multiple times on the head, sustaining blunt force trauma, both of which led to her death.

Investigators also found Martinez-Hernandez had searched for "Rachel" and a misspelling of "Morin". They also found a screenshot of a report about the investigation into her death.

Court, at times, did get emotional. Violet Custer, Morin's 14-year-old, broke down on the stand and could be heard sobbing outside of the courtroom after her testimony. At one point, it appeared Tobin was staring down defendant Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez.

Custer and Tobin testified they with a family friend went searching for Morin around 3 a.m. on August 6.
That's around the time that the Criminal Investigation Division within the Harford County Sheriff's Office took over the missing persons case, not even 12 hours after Tobin reported it.

Patty Morin attended court as well, with her son Michael and daughter Rebecca, Rachel's siblings.

“A little anxious but they’re certainly looking forward to getting this over with," their attorney Randolph Rice said. “I think that this is going to be a case that the family’s going to be very happy with seeing the evidence presented and I am optimistic that they will secure a conviction.”

Healy, during an even-keeled speech to jurors, made note to emphasize the DNA evidence they have linking Martinez-Hernandez to the crime.

However, defense attorney Sawyer Hicks pointed out the state lacks a motive, a strong connection between Morin and the defendant and leaves unanswered questions as in, if Tobin and Morin had had intimate relations the morning of her death, why was none of his DNA found anywhere on her body?

The prosecution appeared to try and answer this question by asking Tobin when Morin usually showered, to which he replied, usually in the morning.

The defense in their opening, suggested to the jury a stranger couldn't have committed a "crime of passion" like this one where the suspect intended to "humiliate" Morin. Defense attorney Sawyer Hicks suggested that Morin's new relationship could have been unwelcome news to others.

The state also called Evan Knapp, the bystander who discovered Morin's body in a drainage culvert underneath Rt. 24, just off of the trail, to the stand.

He saw a rock with blood after following what looked like a deer path, then checked the left drainage culvert tunnel, where he saw an unclothed woman's body.

"It was brutal and not cool," he recalled telling his friend who went searching with him.

Police later discovered a 150 foot long blood trail that led to the location where she was found.

At the beginning of the day, the judge dismissed the first alternate juror for unknown reasons. There were also other discussions with two other jurors, though it's unclear why.

Five alternate jurors remain.

Court resumes Monday morning at 9:3 0 a.m.