The grieving family of Rachel Morin, the Maryland woman who was murdered by an illegal El Salvadoran immigrant in 2023, shared powerful words ahead of and after the perpetrator’s Monday sentencing.

Hours before the hearing, mom Patty Morin told Fox News that she was not sure if she would be able to believe an apology from 24-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez, who is also accused of murdering a woman in his native country before crossing the southern U.S. border.

“To be honest, I don’t know, because even if he spoke, would I believe what he said? If he said he was sorry, could I believe that he actually is or if he’s just saying that to you know, to hope for a lesser sentence,” Patty told the Fox & Friends anchors when asked if she wanted an apology.

Rachel, a 37-year-old mother of five, was found brutally raped, bludgeoned, and strangled to death on the side of the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Harford County in August 2023. Martinez-Hernandez was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, nearly a year later, in June 2024. 

The MS-13-affiliated criminal was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping in Rachel’s death in April of this year. 

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole later on Monday after the court heard emotional impact statements from Patty, Rachel’s siblings, and four of her children, who are now 9, 12, 15, and 20 years old.

The youngest three children made their statements via audio recordings, WBAL noted.

“She was a good mom,” said Rachel’s son. “Every time I see a picture of her, I think about the life I had with her and my four sisters. I miss her.”

Rachel’s eldest daughter, Faye McMahon, had planned to deliver her statement in person but opted to have Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey read it aloud instead.

“I had to relive the worst two days of my life in order to write this,” McMahon, who is a mother herself, wrote. 

She went on to call her mom “kind, strong, honest, determined and funny.”

Addressing the judge directly, McMahon wrote, “You can help protect other mothers and daughters by giving him the maximum sentence. He is evil and he should never be free.”

Patty told the court that she now suffers from nightmares, anxiety, and insomnia. 

“The depths of grief are equivalent to the depths of love felt. This will impact generations to come,” she said.

Michael Morin, Rachel’s older brother, said, “We have felt broken, despondent, we have cried, we have screamed, we have suffered.”

He went on to cite his faith for his ability to forgive Martinez-Hernandez for his vicious attack. 

“I stand here and I say I forgive you,” Michael said, looking at the defendant. 

Rebekah Morin, Rachel’s sister, wrote in a statement: “I am exhausted — two years of complete and utter exhaustion.”

The family’s request for the maximum sentence was answered, with Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin telling Martinez-Hernandez: “You are not a candidate for rehabilitation. There is simply no hope to rehabilitate you.”

“You took a life that was not yours to take. Your acts not only brutalized a young woman but also terrorized a community. The Ma & Pa Trail is a place of beauty … your acts turned that into a place of terror,” Curtin added as she handed down the life sentence. 

While Patty addressed a hypothetical apology from her daughter’s killer before the sentencing, none was offered. 

In fact, Healey revealed that a doctor who evaluated Martinez-Hernandez found that he expressed zero remorse for his crimes by “laughing and joking” during the evaluation, the Washington Post reported.

Investigators said they also found child pornography during a search of his phone, the outlet noted.

“Hopefully, knowing this monster will spend every single day of the rest of his life behind bars will give them some peace as they move forward into the next chapter,” Healey said outside the court following the hearing.

Patty said she was “grateful” to the judge for handing down the maximum sentence. 

“I felt relieved that he’s never going to see the light of day outside of prison and that another person is not going to feel this grief,” she added.

Another sister of Rachel’s, Erin Layman, also reacted positively to the sentence.

“Life, plus life, plus 40, we couldn’t ask for anything better. So, that does give us some closure. It doesn’t bring Rachel back. There’ll always be an empty void in our lives and in the children’s lives,” she said. 

“I don’t think justice was possible because justice is Rachel being with her kids and Victor not being here anymore, and that’s not possible,” Matt McMahon, the father of Rachel’s oldest child, said after the hearing. “But I think we got the best thing that we could possibly get.”

Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem also reacted to the sentencing, saying, “This criminal illegal alien should have never been in our country in the first place. Rachel should still be here watching her 5 children grow up.”

“We hear far too much in the mainstream media about sob stories of gang members and criminal illegals and not enough about their victims. God bless Rachel and her family,” she added in a statement obtained by Breitbart News. 

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons also said the illegal alien “never should have been in this country in the first place”:

“While the justice system has provided some measure of closure, nothing can offset the pain of losing a mother; a daughter; a friend,” he said in a social media post. “Rachel Morin was stolen from her family by a reprehensible criminal alien who never should have been in this country in the first place.”

Lyons added, “Our hearts are with the Morin family and all families of those who have lost a loved one to illegal alien crime. Because of them, we will never lose sight of our responsibility to protect and serve the American public.”

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.