Maryland police show video of potential suspect in Rachel Morin’s killing

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday they have used DNA evidence to identify a potential suspect in the murder of Maryland woman Rachel Morin earlier this month.

Colonel William Davis said DNA found at the scene of Morin’s death was analysed by state police, turning up a match with DNA found at the scene of a March home invasion in Los Angeles where a young girl was attacked.

“Unfortunately that suspect has not been positively identified, but he did leave behind his DNA,” Colonel Davis said. “Based on the DNA evidence, we consider the individual in the video we received from the Los Angeles Police Department to be the person that murdered Rachel Morin on August 5.”

The individual, a shirtless man thought to be in his 20s, was recorded leaving the LA crime scene on a home security camera.

The deputy added that despite the match, police still “don’t have a clue where he could be.”

“In March he was in California, and here in August he was in Maryland,” the officer said.

Read our full story for more details.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday they have used DNA evidence to identify a potential suspect in the murder of Maryland woman Rachel Morin earlier this month.

Colonel William Davis said DNA found at the scene of Morin’s death was analysed by state police, turning up a match with DNA found at the scene of a March home invasion in Los Angeles where a young girl was attacked.

“Unfortunately that suspect has not been positively identified, but he did leave behind his DNA,” Colonel Davis said. “Based on the DNA evidence, we consider the individual in the video we received from the Los Angeles Police Department to be the person that murdered Rachel Morin on August 5.”

A press conference will begin shortly.

The law enforcement agency said that information about a potential suspect will be released.

Mr Gabriszeski, 49, claimed to multiple news outlets that he and his stepdaughter came across Morin’s body on Sunday when they joined the search for the missing mother-of-five, who had vanished after going for a jog on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.

Mr Gabriszeski said that his stepdaughter, who he said was a friend of Morin’s, was the first to discover the body in a tunnel near the trail before they alerted police.

But a spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Independent that Mr Gabriszeski “did not find Rachel’s body” and that he did not “view her body.”

6pm – Rachel Morin is last seen heading out to run on the Ma & Pa Trail in northern Maryland.

11.23pm – The boyfriend of Rachel reports her missing after she does not return home.

Police begin searching for Rachel on the trail and surrounding areas.

1pm – Body of female victim located off of the Ma & Pa Trail is reported to police.

Police confirm the body found on the rail is Rachel Morin.

Investigators identified a group of potential witnesses who may have seen Morin on the trail before she was killed. The witnesses – either three men, two women and two dogs or two men, three women and two dogs – have been contacted by law enforcement.

Press conference announced.

Ms Morin was originally from Dover, New Hampshire, and was a long-term resident of Bel Air. She was one of five siblings.

Her sister Rebekah, herself a mother of seven children, revealed on a GoFundMe page that the family had been grieving the death of their niece Lily Beth to sudden infant death syndrome just a week earlier.

On social media, Rachel Morin posted touching photos with her children, selfies at the gym and spending time with friends.

“Rachel was so unabashedly herself: witty and genuine, brilliant, daring, and headstrong. Her spirit would light up the room and her smile was contagious,” her best friend Claudia Brown wrote in a Facebook post after her death.

“Her faith was so strong,”

Ms Brown wrote that Ms Morin had been divorced, and was a “fierce protector of her children and loved them with all of her heart”.

Ms Morin had worked as a model, and appeared on the cover of Owl Magazine, Harford Community College’s student publication, where her brother John Morin worked as a technical director.

In 2018, she shared photographs from a trip to New Zealand to visit John, who was working as a photographer in the town of Whakatane.

A GoFundMe launched to help with funeral expenses for Rachel Morin has now topped $46,000.

“It is with devastating sadness and a broken heart that our family has been hit with yet another heartbreak. My sister, Rachel Morin went missing on Saturday August 5 2023 around 6pm. In less then 24 hours her body was found by local law enforcement. I have made a gofundme to help my mother, Patty Morin with funeral costs. There was no life insurance in place,” the GoFundMe read.

“This was not an accidentally death, and she did not go willingly and she deserves a funeral worthy of her her beauty. If there are any remaining funds they will go towards things her 5 children may need. Please share, donate, comment and keep this going.

“Once we have made the arrangements I will update with service dates and times. If you wish to donate directly please message me on Facebook.”

As of Thursday, it had reached $46, 902.

Rachel Morin, 37, disappeared after reportedly heading out for a hike on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Hartford County, at around 6pm on 5 August.

Her boyfriend Richard Tobin, 27, reported her missing at around 11pm that night after she failed to return, Hartford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told a press conference on Sunday.

Authorities launched a missing person investigation and Ms Morin’s car was found at the Williams St entrance to the trail on 6 August.

A member of the public found a woman’s body near the trail at 1.07pm, and authorities launched a homicide investigation as they await formal confirmation of the deceased’s identity and cause of death from the medical examiner’s office.

Updates in the Rachel Morin case are expected to be delivered at 7.30pm.

When contacted by The Independent, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said that information about a potential suspect would be discussed.