Rachel Morin, who was 37 years old, was missing for most of the weekend. Her body was found near the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland.
Harford County Sheriff’s Office
Rachel Morin, 37, went missing Saturday night near the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. Her body was found near the trail on Sunday afternoon, ending the weekend’s frantic search for her. Now, detectives are trying to figure out who might have killed her.
On social media, Morin’s boyfriend said that he was not guilty.
In a Facebook post, Richard Tobin, age 27, said, “I love Rachel.” “I would never hurt her; let my family and I mourn. Yes, I have a past, but I’ve been clean for 15 months and have grown. Please.”
Tobin talked about his long list of crimes, which includes assault and resisting arrest, among other things. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, though, since 2020.
Tobin told everyone on Facebook that he was dating Morin just a few days before she went missing.
But Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said no one is to blame for Morin’s death and disappearance.
“We are sure that this is Rachel Morin’s body,” Gahler said at a press conference Sunday night after the body of a “clearly dead” woman was found. “But the medical examiner is the one who should make the final call, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
Gahler said that no one was in custody and that no one knew why someone might have killed someone.
“Thank goodness, Harford County doesn’t have a lot of violent crimes,” Gahler said. “But when we do, I’d rather be able to stand here and tell you that the suspect has been caught or that it was a targeted crime.” “I can’t say for sure that’s true.”
Gahler also said that people will be able to use the Ma and Pa trail again, but there will be more police there while the investigation continues. He couldn’t say, though, that there was no threat to the community.
He said, “I can’t do it.”
Not much is known about the apparent murder. Gahler said that investigators still didn’t know when she went missing. He said she could have gone missing “anytime between 6 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday.”
Gahler was asked why a homicide investigation had begun when medical examiners hadn’t even identified the body.
“There’s no doubt in their minds,” he said. “I’m not going to talk about what they saw at the scene with their own eyes. But investigators think it’s a sad case of murder.”
Hours after Morin’s boyfriend reported her missing late Saturday night, police found her car at the Ma and Pa Trail entrance, a 6.5-mile rail trail just south of the Pennsylvania border.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Harford County Sheriff’s Office at 410-836-5430.