A 23-year-old fugitive, already wanted for the murder of a woman in El Salvador, has been arrested for the killing of a 37-year-old Maryland hiker last year, authorities said.
In a press conference, Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeff Gahler said that the suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
Rachel Morin's body was found at Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 6 last year, the day after her boyfriend reported her missing. Authorities earlier said that the victim may have been killed in an hour or two before sunset on Aug. 5.
Investigators believe that Martinez-Hernandez "was hiding adjacent to a trail and where Rachel was walking and attacked and killed Morin before fleeing Maryland," the sheriff's office said in a statement over the weekend, NBC News reported.
The officials did not say if any weapon was used, or how exactly 37-year-old Morin was killed that day. She was a mother of five children.
Gahler said that the suspect faces first-degree murder and first-degree rape charges in Maryland in relation to Morin's death. He further said that Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally in February last year from El Salvador, where he was wanted for killing a young woman.
During the press conference, the sheriff criticized federal leadership over border security and emphasized that it needs to be increased.
"American citizens are not safe because of failed immigration policies," Gahler said, adding that Morin was the second lady to be allegedly killed in recent years by someone who fled to the country illegally.
"We are 1,800 miles from the Southern border here in Harford County. This is the second woman in our county to be killed by illegal suspects. In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs," he added, according to Wbal TV.
"(This) should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador," Gahler further said.
This news comes as the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General recently pointed out that DHS has not been effectively screening and checking non-citizens and asylum seekers who are coming to the United States.
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