The El Salvadoran migrant accused of brutally killing a Maryland mother of five on a running trail before leading police on an interstate investigation is expected to argue for a change of venue Friday to have his case moved out of the town that received national attention after the murder.

Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree rape after police allege he beat, raped and killed Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland in August 2023.

Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was reported missing after failing to return from her daily jog. Police said her remains were discovered stuffed in a drain pipe near the trail.

She suffered savage injuries that her mother told House members during a congressional hearing were so severe she was unrecognizable even after morticians tried to make her up for the funeral.

Martinez-Hernandez made his first in-person court appearance in October, coming face to face with Morin’s mother for the first time after repeatedly attending court dates virtually.

Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin’s death on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Getty Images)

There was an Interpol warrant out for his arrest at the time he came to the U.S. Border Patrol agents had blocked his entry to the country three times before he finally snuck in.

Police captured him in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June 2024, 10 months after Morin’s murder. He was extradited to Maryland days later and is also the subject of an ICE detainer.

Martinez-Hernandez remains in the Harford County Jail pending trial. He faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment without parole.