South L.A. prowler tied by DNA to slaying of mother of five in Maryland

DNA from a South Los Angeles burglary has been tied by investigators to a woman who was killed on a Maryland hiking trail, increasing the chances of solving that slaying, law enforcement officials said.

Investigators in Maryland on Thursday released a video of the shirtless, unidentified prowler leaving a South L.A. home after a break-in last March, and said they believe he is the killer of the woman, Rachel Morin, based on a match made through a DNA database.

Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, disappeared on Aug. 5 after apparently leaving for a run on the Maryland and Pennsylvania Heritage Trail. Searchers found her remains the next day. Her death was ruled a homicide.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Department doesn’t know the suspected killer’s name, but believe him to be 5 feet 9 and 160 pounds, between 20 and 30 years old, based on images captured in the South L.A. home security footage.

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Footage shows suspect in Rachel Morin slaying

Home security footage shows the suspect in a March 2023 break-in and assault in Los Angeles. The same suspect has since been linked to a killing in Maryland. (Courtesy of Harford County [Md.] Sheriff’s Office)

“Based on the DNA evidence, we consider the individual in the video we obtained from the Los Angeles Police Department to be the person that murdered Rachel Morin,” said Col. William Davis of the Hartford County Sheriff’s Office. “We believe this was a person that Rachel didn’t know, potentially a random act of violence.”

LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said the video comes from a March 26 “hot prowler” burglary in South L.A., which means he burglarized an occupied home. Muniz said a person was assaulted in that incident, but it was not a sexual assault. Hartford County sheriff’s officials said the assault victim was a minor. LAPD collected DNA during the burglary investigation.

The video from an exterior camera shows the suspect closing the home’s front door and walking down the steps, away from the house. Davis said investigators released the home security footage hoping someone in L.A. or Maryland would recognize the suspect.

Morin vanished on the evening of Aug. 5 from the scenic trail that cuts through Bel Air, Md. According to the Sheriff’s Department, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, called police that evening to report her missing after finding her car at the trailhead.

A Harford County deputy patrols the trail in Bel Air, Md., where the body of Rachel Morin was found on Aug. 6.

(Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

The Sheriff’s Department launched a search, and a volunteer found Morin’s body around 1 p.m. the next day. The sheriff’s office has not described the nature of her injuries but a relative of the person who found her described her as suffering from blunt force trauma. Coroner’s officials declared Morin’s death a homicide.

Tobin, 27, shared the images of the suspected killer Thursday evening on his Facebook page. “I hope they found this scum of the Earth,” he wrote. “Justice for Rachel Rip love you Rich,” adding heart and prayer emojis.

Morin, a cleaning service owner, had five children, ages 8 to 18.