The Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday it used DNA evidence to identify a potential suspect in the murder of Maryland woman Rachel Morin earlier this month.
Colonel William Davis said DNA found at the scene of Morin’s death was analysed by state police, turning up a match with DNA found at the scene of a March home invasion in Los Angeles where a young girl was attacked.
“Unfortunately that suspect has not been positively identified, but he did leave behind his DNA,” Colonel Davis said. “Based on the DNA evidence, we consider the individual in the video we received from the Los Angeles Police Department to be the person that murdered Rachel Morin on August 5.”
The individual, a shirtless man thought to be Hispanic and in his 20s, was recorded leaving the LA crime scene on a home security camera.
The deputy added that despite the match, police still “don’t have a clue where he could be.”
“In March he was in California, and here in August he was in Maryland,” the officer said.
Suspect in murder of Rachel Morin seen in video released by police— (Screen grab)
Because the suspect was still out in public, police urged community members to remain vigilant.
“In the light of this new evidence, I urge our citizens to use caution while walking on our trials and through our community,” Mr Davis said. “Be alert. Walk with a friend. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by your cell phone or headphones.”
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office has engaged DNA specialists at the FBI for further assistance in using the new evidence to help catch the suspect.
Another view of the suspect leaving the scene of a home invasion in Los Angeles— (Screen grab)
Morin, a mother of five in Bel Air, Maryland, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail around 6pm on 5 August.
Her boyfriend Richard Tobin reporter her missing later that evening.
Morin’s body was found the following day, and her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Police have previously said a group of five witnesses were on the trail at the same time Morin was killed.
“We are grieving. We need the time and space to grieve as a family. We have not forgotten our community,” Morin’s mother wrote in a social media post this month.
