Rachel Morin murder update: Maryland cops reveal at press conference they’ve identified suspected killer through DNA – and share footage of him during home invasion in LA
Maryland police have released footage of the man they believe killed Rachel Morin, 37, with a clip of the Hispanic man breaking into a home 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles in March and assaulting a young girl.
Morin, a mother of five, went for a walk along a Maryland hiking trail on Aug. 5 and was killed that night: Police said Thursday they don’t believe she knew her killer.
Her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, called the police that same evening to report her missing, saying he found her car at the Williams Street Trailhead in downtown Bel Air, 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Morin had recently announced on Facebook that she was dating Tobin.
She appeared to have been beaten to death and was left naked, DailyMail.com has learned. Her body was discovered this weekend in a drain in a tunnel on the scenic Ma & Pa Heritage Trail.
On Thursday, Harford sheriffs shared footage of a black-haired young man leaving a home in Los Angeles — 3,000 miles from the murder scene — where he had broken into and assaulted the girl.
The man is wanted for questioning in connection with Morin’s murder.
“We think this was a person Rachel didn’t know, possibly a random act of violence,” Colonel William Davis said at a news conference Thursday night.
“We don’t know anything more about him than he was in LA in March and we think he’s the killer.”
Harford sheriffs released this footage on Thursday of a man they want to speak leaving a Los Angeles home he had broken into and assaulting a young girl inside
The man can be seen walking away from the Los Angeles home. His DNA was linked to the LA home invasion and Morin’s body
Sheriffs said the Los Angeles home invasion happened in March.
He was described as Hispanic, 20-30 years old and muscular.
“It is believed he has ties to the Los Angeles area and may have been involved in violent crimes in other states,” they said.
Local man Michael Gabriszeski had joined the search for the missing mother along with his stepdaughter Cecilia – who was friends with Morin – and her boyfriend Evan, when he claimed to have found her remains on Sunday.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Gabriszeski, a Native American tracker, said the pair decided to check two drainage tunnels on the Hartford County trail after noticing “breakdowns” on the ground close to the track where the fitness fanatic was taking a run that evening.
Michael Gabriszeski, along with his stepdaughter and her boyfriend, had joined the search for missing mother Rachel Morin, 37, at the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland when the trio found her remains on Sunday, he claims
Police have declined to comment on how Morin died or the type of injuries she sustained, but according to Gabriszeski, the 37-year-old was completely naked and appeared to have suffered “brutal head trauma.”
Grabiszeski said he felt compelled to check out the drainage tunnels on the trail after noticing “disturbances” on the ground near the trail where Morin had gone hiking.
“Cecilia was the first person to see the body,” he claimed. “She hyperventilated very, very much. And then the police told her to sit down.
“When she sat down, she realized she was in a large pool of blood.”
Morin was last seen leaving her home around 6 p.m. on Saturday to go for a walk on the Ma and Pa Trail
“She was lying on her back, completely naked, and she had a brutal head trauma… it looked like her head had been smashed in with a rock.
“There was a 15 to 20 foot trail of blood. So it looked like she had been beaten and dragged into that position.”
“It looked like (the killer) was trying to erase her identity,” the 48-year-old added.
“The right side of her face was gone.”
A separate source close to the family had previously told DailyMail.com that the young mother suffered severe head trauma.
“The injuries were so horrific that there won’t be an open coffin (at her funeral),” the source said.
The witness described seeing “a 15 to 20 foot trail of blood” near Morin’s body and said it looked like her “head had been smashed in with a stone”
No suspects have yet been arrested for Morin’s murder, but a murder investigation is ongoing
During the investigation, local residents were seen participating in a community walk along the Ma and Pa Trail, Bel Air, on Tuesday
A spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the nature of how Morin was killed.
Meanwhile, police have reached out to obtain footage of people out and about over the weekend.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement yesterday: “Detectives are asking for your help.
“If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trailheads and took photos or videos, we ask that you please share them with researchers.
“There may be something useful in one of your photos that can give us another piece of the puzzle.
As of this morning, we have already received nearly 90 tips from concerned members of the community regarding the murder of Rachel Morin.
“Thanks for all the support you’ve given.”
On Monday, it was formally confirmed that the body found was Rachel.
Officials at the Harford County Sheriff’s Office in Bel Air, about 43 miles north of Baltimore, said they still have no leads on possible suspects.
Morin’s new boyfriend, who has a criminal past, took to social media on Sunday to insist he had nothing to do with her murder
Rachel Morin and Richard Tobin started dating “a few weeks ago.” She was found murdered on a hiking trail on Sunday. The pair are shown on an earlier walk together
Local police declined to comment on how Morin died or what kind of injuries she sustained.
Her family says she didn’t go “voluntarily” and that her death was “not accidental.”
It comes after her new boyfriend took to social media on Sunday to insist he had nothing to do with her murder despite his criminal past.
The couple had only made their relationship official on social media four days earlier.
He said, “I love Rachel. I would never hurt her, let the family and I grieve. Yes, I have a past but I’ve also been clean for 15 months and have changed as a person. Please.’
Tobin has been arrested 14 times since 2014 on various charges, including drug trafficking, assault, disorderly conduct, and refusal of arrest.
His long criminal record includes two arrests for second-degree assault, violating restraining orders, possession of drugs and willful destruction of property.
Tobin also has a number of traffic violations, felony misdemeanor, resisting arrest and disorderly drunkenness and conduct marks on his criminal record, documents show.