HARFORD COUNTY, Md. — On Thursday, prosecutors laid out how defendant Victor Martinez-Hernandez was in the area around the time of the murder, and the clues found on his phone that connects him to the case.
A user dictionary, which tracks all text written on the phone's keyboard, showed he had written, or selected predicted text, the following words:
"Asesino" (2 times, murderer in Spanish), "Matar" (3 times, to kill in Spanish), "Rachel", "Moring" (a misspelling of "Morin"), and "Merryland" (a misspelling of "Maryland").
Investigators also found several "cached" images or automatically saved photos taken from a YouTube video that was viewed on June 5, 2024 of a news report on the case showing several images of Morin, as well as a screenshot of another news report about the case taken on June 14, 2024 the same day as the defendant's eventual arrest.
The defense, during cross examination, pointed out the selective nature of the manual search by forensics expert Heather Marsh, who downloaded the phone's contents, and the limited number of times the terms come up.
Ex-roommates and former co-workers of Martinez-Hernandez helped the state establish a timeline of the defendant being in Harford County from about March through August 2023, answering questions through an interpreter.
"Apparently he was working at Popeyes for a period of time, then he had a job at Barrett's on the Pike. So that puts him in the area, that puts him in contact with people and that ultimately establishes that he was here when this crime occurred," Rice said.
Former roommate Marcos Campos-Guevara testified he knew Martinez-Hernandez from El Salvador and helped him move into his cousin's place where he lived as well. They later moved to a house "near the park" believed to be Plumtree Park, which is less than a mile from the Ma and Pa trail.
“We haven’t heard anything about a vehicle, so his ability to walk to the Ma and Pa trail certainly establishes his ability to go there and ultimately commit this crime," Rice explained.
Campos-Guevara testified the defendant moved out suddenly around August, leaving only a written note after he failed to pay rent or any bills.
The last time he heard from Martinez-Hernandez, he asked if he could buy him a ticket to Texas under his name instead. He said no.
TRIAL DAY 7 🧵 Rachel Morin case
— Blair Sabol TV (@BlairSabolTV) April 10, 2025
Another juror dismissed (the alternate who replaced the juror dismissed yesterday) again, we don’t know why. 3 alternates remain.
Nearly all the witnesses who know and are related to Martinez-Hernandez barely looked in his direction during testimony and vice versa.
The defense also did not question many of the witnesses who know the defendant personally.
“Really, there’s not much to ask these people there doesn’t seem to be any inconsistencies with their stories that the defense can grab onto and use," Rice said.
CONTINUING COVERAGE:
After December 2023 through about May 2024, Martinez-Hernandez then stayed with cousins in Maryland and Virgina, who testified that after staying with them briefly he left clothing, a toothbrush and blanket.
Family handed these items over to police to be swabbed for DNA, which when the results come back an arrest warrant is generated, and the phone number also provided by family to police pings in Tulsa, OK.
Officers from the Tulsa Police Department testified that Martinez-Hernandez gave a false name of "Juan Carlos" when they found him at the Los Dos Amigos bar and arrested him, identifying him with his picture and more specifically, his teeth which an officer notes are "unique."
Early in the day, the judge dismissed a second juror, the alternate who replaced a dismissed juror on Wednesday. Both were relieved for unknown reasons.
"Right now I think the judge is trying to keep as little information out there as possible," Rice said.
Three out of six alternates remain with a little less than a week of testimony left.
