Rachel Morin case: Witness walked past Morin and 'sneaky' man in the woods on day of disappearance

Matt Hubbard, Baltimore Sun on Apr 9, 2025

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BALTIMORE — When Kyle Stacy and his girlfriend took their dog for a walk on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, one Saturday in August 2023 they unknowingly walked past Rachel Morin, who was out jogging, and a man he said was “acting sneaky” in the woods.

Wednesday was the sixth day of a jury trial for Victor Antonio Hernandez-Martinez, 24, a Salvadoran national charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the 2023 killing of Morin, 37, a Bel Air mother of five.

Stacy testified Wednesday in Harford County Circuit Court that as he walked the trail on Aug. 5, 2023, he heard a branch snap and noticed a man in a hoodie and sunglasses in the woods. He described the man as broad-shouldered and muscular with a blond beard, 6 feet tall and wearing sunglasses and a gray sweatshirt with the hood up.

Stacy said the man froze and looked “spooked” when Stacy noticed him. He also testified that the man was holding what appeared to be a black walking stick with an orange-tip handle.

“It was strange to see a walking stick,” Stacy said. “It’s pretty level (on the trail).”

Stacy testified that he tightened his grip on his girlfriend’s hand because he found it odd that someone was in the woods and said he never saw anyone out there on previous hikes.

“Seeing someone off the trail acting sneaky made me feel uncomfortable,” Stacy said. “It was really weird. No one should be over there.”

He and his girlfriend then walked back to the trailhead and passed a woman jogging on the trail alone, looking down at her Apple Watch. Stacy realized the next day that the woman was Rachel Morin when a coworker told him about Morin’s disappearance on the trail.

“When I pulled up the news article and saw Rachel’s picture, my heart sank immediately,” Stacy said. “She had headphones in, going about her life and was alone. … I wish at that time I would have said something to her.”

Detectives had earlier testified that they had recovered a shovel in the woods near where Morin’s body was found. A member of Martinez-Hernandez’s defense team, Sawyer Hicks, asked Stacy if he recalled telling police that the shovel they recovered was “absolutely” the “stick” he saw the man holding.

Stacy responded, “Correct.”

The shovel was recovered by Lt. Brad Underhill of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office days later when he returned to the trail to find a cellphone that was relaying data in the area.

In his testimony Wednesday, Underhill said he did not locate the phone but instead found a shovel that he said looked “relatively unused” off the trail, face down. He collected the shovel as evidence.

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