Victor Martinez-Hernandez was carrying out a planned attack when he grabbed Rachel Morin off a popular Maryland hiking trail, bashed her head against nearby rocks and concealed her body in a drainage culvert, prosecutors alleged as his trial began Friday.
The state’s case hinges on DNA evidence that linked Morin’s death to Martinez-Hernandez, a fugitive from El Salvador accused of entering the United States illegally after allegedly killing another woman in his home country.
