Salvadoran national who murdered Rachel Morin sentenced to life imprisonment

The Salvadoran man who in April was found guilty of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a mother of five, while exercising on the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland, was finally sentenced Monday.

Victor Martinez Hernandez, who entered the United States without a visa, was sentenced Monday to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the rape and murder of Morin.

After learning of the sentence, the secretary of homeland security posted on X: "This criminal illegal alien should never have been in our country."

"Rachel should still be here watching her 5 children grow up," added Kristi Noem.

"There is too much talk in the mainstream media about the sad stories of gang members and illegal alien criminals and not enough about their victims," Noem concluded.

The case caused great shock in the country and fueled debate on immigration control.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Salvadoran beat "Morin's head with rocks and raped her corpse" and then tried to hide it "in a drain."

Patty Morin: "There was no remorse on his face"

In April Patty Morin, mother of the murdered woman, criticized in the White House Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen for traveling to El Salvador to mediate in the case of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Ábrego García, expelled to his country and brought back to the U.S. to face charges of migrant smuggling.

Among other things, she detailed how Martínez Hernández premeditated the crime of her daughter, who was leaving to work out at a Maryland gym when she was accosted by the illegal immigrant.

"These are the kind of people who have no, no compulsion. Like for them, this is nothing. And when he was sitting in the courtroom, it really looked like he thought he was going to be released. There was no remorse on his face. This person took my daughter in such a violent, gruesome, graphic way that they sealed the pictures because I don't want my granddaughters to see. This is the kind of criminals that President Trump wants to get out of our country," she stated.

Trump blamed the Biden administration

In April, Donald Trump celebrated the conviction verdict on Truth Social: "The illegal criminal, who was allowed into our country by the corrupt Joe Biden, was convicted of the heinous murder of Rachel Morin."

The president said that "the fake news should focus on the beautiful life and tragic death of this Maryland mother, instead of the so-called 'father of Maryland,' who is actually a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and a foreign terrorist from El Salvador."

Trump concluded his message by stating that the new administration is committed to "protecting women" like Morin across the country and stated that they will deport "murderers, rapists, and criminal aliens."