Rachel Morin’s family releases new video appeal as killer remains at large eight months on from murder

The mother of Rachel Morin, a woman found murdered on a Maryland hiking trail last August, has released a fresh plea for information with the unidentified killer still at large eight months after the slaying.

Patty Morin released a video along with her lawyers to ask people to turn in the killer if they know who they are.

“Rachel Morin was my daughter. She was a mother to five children. She’s a sister,” Ms Morin said in the video.

“Somebody just grabbed her and took her. If he’s willing to kill a perfect stranger, he’s willing to kill anybody,” she added before showing sketches of the suspect and saying, “If you know this person, turn him in.”

Her attorney, Randolph Rice, also featured in the video calling for people to help them bring the murderer to justice.

“Let’s do this. Let’s catch this guy and bring peace to Rachel Morin’s family,’ Mr Rice said.

Rachel Morin, 37, was found dead on 6 August after her body was found on the Ma & Pa hiking trail in Bel Air, Maryland.

She was initially reported missing at 11pm the night before after she did not return from a run. A person using the trail found her body hours later and authorities quickly identified the mother-of-five.

In February, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office released sketches of a suspect in the case hoping that it would lead to an arrest.

Investigators say they have looked into more than 1,000 tips, conducted more than 100 interviews and have offered up a $35,000 reward for information that would lead to the capture of a suspect.

After Ms Morin’s body was found, DNA also recovered from the scene was entered into a national database, which showed that the suspect may have also been behind a violent home invasion in Los Angeles in March 2023.

While the suspect was not identified, he was caught on a home security camera, leaving the home he is thought to have invaded, which aided authorities in drawing up the sketches.

Despite police discovering this connection and assessing a huge amount of tips, authorities have yet to track down a suspect.

Now, Morin’s family are attempting to gain any information that can put the killer behind bars by placing a video advertisement on social media in Maryland and Los Angeles, as well as in towns along the southern border, as they suggest he could have potentially fled into Mexico.

“That’s certainly one suspicion that we have,” Mr Rice told NewsNation on Tuesday. “We know he’s a Hispanic male, we know he has the propensity to travel from California to Maryland, which would make logical sense that he may be willing to travel out of the country.

Police have also said that the suspect they are looking for is of Hispanic origin.

The victim’s mother also spoke to the TV station, explaining her theory as to why the suspect is still on the loose.

She suggested that he is possibly in “cahoots” with another person who is helping him hide him or that he changed his appearance.

Patty Morin also added that she thinks that the murderer may have “stalked and premeditatedly committed this crime” due to how unlikely the murder would have happened in their small community.

“The town that we live in is a very small town, and it’s unheard of to have something like this happen,” she said to the outlet. “And for this person to just be so blatant in broad daylight to just grab someone and murder them, it shows that they have no respect for human life.”

Police have not yet officially determined whether the suspect had stalked Ms Morin and targeted her specifically or if it was a “crime of opportunity,” with the suspect waiting for a random victim to come down the trail.

While authorities and Patty’s legal team continue to search for the suspect at large, she told the outlet that Morin’s five children are currently getting counselling after the horrifying events that have changed the trajectory of their day-to-day.

“Not only has my daughter been murdered, brutally murdered,” she said. “It has traumatically affected our whole family for the rest of our lives.”