Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'TRAIL-MOM-OF-5' Rachel Morin, Raped, Murdered: COP SECRETS REVEALED

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

A sketch of a possible suspect in the brutal Maryland murder of Rachel Morin has now been released. DNA collected at the scene linked the suspect to another assault across the country in Los Angeles.�� A doorbell camera captures the suspect as the left the California home, but it didn't show the suspect's face.  Working with a sketch artist,  investigators interviewed the witnesses of the home invasion in Los Angeles, as well as witnesses in Maryland, especially around the Ma and Pa trail.  Some new information has been released about where Rachel Morin's body was found and where investigators believe her killer was hiding. Captain Andy Lane says there are drainage culverts along the trail, but most people wouldn't notice them because they are hidden by shrubbery and trees in the summertime. Standing at the scene, there is a bend in the trail near the hidden culverts. Investigators believe the killer attacked Morin in the bend on the trail, then drug her body through the weeds, trees, and undergrowth to the culverts. That is where Rachel Morin was murdered. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Matthew McMahon -  Father of Rachel Morin’s oldest child     Jessica Garth – Chief, Special Victims & Family Violence Unit, State’s Attorney’s Office, Prince George’s County, MD Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Tim Pappa  - Former FBI BAU Profiler and Supervisory Special Agent, Founder and Behavioral Content Creator for “Storytellers;" X: @storytellerscc (walked the trail and examined Rachel Morin’s crime scene) Dr. Michelle Dupre – Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & “Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide”, Ret. Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Michael Streed - Forensic Facial Imaging Expert, Former Law Enforcement; X: @thesketchcop/ FB & IG: @TheSketchCopOfficial  Vincent Hill – Anchor/Reporter for FOX 45 in Baltimore, Former Police Officer and Private Investigator; Author: “Playbook to A Murder;” X & IG: @VincentHillTV See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young mom, and I mean absolutely stunning. Of course, one victim is no more or less important than another victim, but the fact that Rachel Lauren's killer specifically destroyed her face, I find highly probative. As we say in the courtroom, he destroyed her beauty. Why? Why? In the last hours, bombshell in the search for this beautiful young mother's killer, we now have an incredible composite sketch of her attacker. How did they do it? With us, the composite sketch artist who created it. Not only that, we are now learning

so many more details that law enforcement, LE, admits they had kept secret. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. First of all, one of the facts that have been kept secret till now is the location where Rachel Morin was killed and where her body was dragged. Listen. Off to the, along the side of this trail,

there are two large drainage culverts that run under a local highway. Those drainage culverts are hidden during the summertime by trees and shrubbery and aren't something that most people would see. I myself have been down that trail many times and I wasn't aware that those culverts were there. In this instance, we could see from the scene that Rachel was ultimately attacked on the trail. That area of the trail, there was a bend in the trail that most likely was used by the

individual who committed this crime, who attacked Rachel on the trail, pulled her through the wooded area into this drainage culvert where she ultimately lost her life. You are hearing Captain Andy Lane, commander of criminal investigations in that division. But there's more about what we now realize is a secret location. Up until now, we didn't realize it even existed. Take a listen to Sheriff Jeff Geller. There's a little bit of information we've held close to the chest that we haven't released as far as what the actual location of the homicide was. Looking back at everything that we've done, we've been a little leery about releasing too

many details. So this is something new. A lot of people ask me routinely, is that where this homicide occurred? And the hiking trail that goes underneath of Route 24, these drainage tunnels are north of that a short distance. But as you said, in the summer, particularly, you can't really make them out. What can we deduce from what we are just now learning from law enforcement in the search for the brutal killer of this young mom, Rachel Morin? With me, an all-star panel, including Matt McMahon, who is Rachel Morin's, the father of her oldest child, her daughter. But first, I want to go straight out to Tim Papa, who has walked the trail, former FBI profiler, supervisory special agent and founder of Storytellers. Tim Papa, thank you for being with us. Explain to me the significance of the two facts we've just learned. Number one, that Rachel was attacked

just around a bend. What does that mean to me? That means to me that if you're here on the trail looking forward, she's walking that way. She can't see her attacker waiting just around the curve. And also, people following her will not see her getting attacked and dragged down into this culvert area, an area where you don't even see it during the spring and summertime. Tell me about it. These details are definitely important. They are pieces to the puzzle and a good way to approach this as a former profile of the way we would approach this, of course, is starting with victimology, that relationship between the offender and the victim. So even if we don't know who this offender is, we can approach it from this vantage point that any kind of action is going to involve some element of how vulnerable was

the victim, how available was the victim, and how desirable was the victim. So we don't know, of course, if this offender stalked her, but it's very possible if he was in that kind of location. Okay, hold on. I'm trying to determine the significance of this particular location on the trail. And again, and I'm sure that Jessica Garth, a veteran trial lawyer, is going to agree with me. You want to win a case? You go to the scene and you walk it and you find out about it. This is telling me that this perp was either watching her or knew the trail, had staked it out before, and had selected a prime location specifically to attack women. So what does it all mean? Listen to Captain Andy Lane.

This person obviously took the time to be familiar with the area because he was familiar with the culverts we spoke of. And he was also most likely or potentially familiar with Rachel, who had a time of day she liked to run. And this individual took an opportunity when Rachel, unfortunately, from the witnesses we spoke to, was briefly out of view of anyone else for a short period of time. Okay. Joining me, an all-star panel, to make sense of what we know right now, but I want to go to a person very close and very dear to Rachel Morin.

This is the father of her eldest daughter, Matt McMahon. Matthew, thank you for being with us. And as you know, when I first saw this story, of course, I was captivated by her beauty, by her story, by the fact that she's a devoted mom. But I'm really focused on justice for her children so they don't grow up thinking, what happened to mommy? Nobody ever found out.

They're just children. They can't do it. We've got to do it for them, Matt. Let me ask you this, Matt. What can you tell me about this trail? Have you seen the trail? Oh, yeah. I've been on this trail going back decades.

Rachel and I used to take our daughter on walks and bike rides down this trail when she was an infant and a toddler. Hey, right there, you're telling me something I didn't already know. I think long and hard before I take the twins anywhere, and if it's camping or on a trail, I know that it's safe, as safe as it can be, before I take them there. So this is the kind of trail, I mean, it's named the Ma and Pa Trail, that you'd think would be safe. Families go there. Yes, absolutely.

It was a safe trail, and hopefully it will be considered a safe trail sometime in the future. There are spots in the trail where it feels like you're in the middle of nowhere, but there is really no time where you're really too far from homes or businesses. But in speaking to that one turn, it absolutely was, in my opinion, a place that was preselected by the suspect to attack somebody. There's no doubt in my mind. You know, another thing, and this reminds me, wait for it, of Brian Koberger. I flew to Idaho with the freezing cold and walked the area over and over and over to try to understand what happened. And I figured out, along with others who think the same thing, how Koberger watched above the tree line. Now that house was on a slope. So you could be standing above it at a parking lot and look 30 feet into their third floor window through the trees. So easy to see

straight. I mean, I could look in and tell what kind of dishwashing liquid was on a kitchen windowsill. That's how well you could see in. Now, listen to what we think Rachel Morin's killer did. Listen to Captain Andy Lane. In interviewing witnesses and speaking to people on the trail at that time, it would appear that there was an individual who was standing within the wood line in an area that's slightly elevated immediately around the time of this assault. And I would agree with you, sir, that I don't know that Rachel was specifically targeted, but I do believe that that area was chosen as an area that they wanted to assault someone. To Jessica Garth, chief of the Special Victims Family Violence Unit in this jurisdiction of Maryland.

Jessica, thank you for being with us. I've investigated, prosecuted, and covered a lot of cases. But there's a whole other element of intent, malice, for lack of a better word, I'll use street vernacular, creepiness, with a perp that stands in the dark, in the shadows, like I think Brian Koberger did, and watches his prey in the light. There's something, I'm not a shrink, of course, but there's, I've noticed in all the cases, it's certainly not a statistic, it's more anecdotal. I've noticed another layer of complexity in that perp. And that's what we've got here. And when I get to the LA attack, that he absolutely attacked a whole family in the dark of the night. It's a whole nother layer because we know in that case he was watching that house too

before he broke in so what do you make of this jessica garth you've prosecuted a lot of violent crimes well i agree with you nancy i i mean without a doubt this man is extremely dangerous and he's extremely brazen um if we're talking about the la case where he broke into a home where there were multiple people in the home and attacked adults, attacked a child, it sounds like, broke into the home, not coming into the front door, but by some other means that police haven't released. You know, that's one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a family. And I think that you're right. I think he probably did watch that home. I think he probably knew exactly how he was going to get in and what he was going to do. I just wish I could get my hands around his neck, Jessica, just imagining him at the end of that trail watching. And I don't know if he had been stalking her specifically,

but watching for either her or a woman to come around that bend, just waiting, just waiting for the right moment. I think it is likely that he had seen her there before. It sounds like that she had seen her there before. It sounds like that she had a pretty regular routine of running that trail around the same time and maybe he didn't know it was going to be her on that day, but I'm almost certain that he had seen her there before. And it certainly is creepy. It's a level of premeditation that we don't often see in cases,

even cases as violent as this one. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Matt McMahon, this is a person so dear and near to Rachel. He is the father of her eldest child, a daughter, who is now left to go through her remaining teen years without a mom. And I got to tell you, Matt McMahon, I've got two teenagers. Yeah, I don't have to change their diapers anymore.

I don't have to spoon feed them or give them a baby bottle. But the teen years so far in my mind are the times they need mom and dad the most. I really, really believe that. And I'm just sick that Rachel is not going to be there. How many children does Rachel have, Matt? She has five children that are now aged 8 to 18. At the time of the killing, it was 7 to 18. I mean, Karen Stark, my longtime friend and colleague who just happens to be a renowned TV radio trauma expert. Karen, I mean, you've been with me since I was pregnant and you know the teens need mom and dad now more than ever. She got five children, Karen Stark, and I think about this POC

hiding around the bend, waiting for her to innocently walk along and then attack her, rape her, kill her, smash her face in with a rock. Who in the hell is this guy? Think about it, Nancy. The image that you're describing is of a hunter, right? Trey. And whether he was waiting there for her or another woman, he was waiting to hunt. He wanted to hunt. He wanted to kill. And this person was an animal to him. And there's tremendous anger. The fact that he would smash her face, he didn't want to be able to look into that space again. This is somebody who maybe feels that beautiful women don't want him or he can't have them. He has terrible feelings of inadequacy. And he actually was out there hunting, even with the people in the home. He really sussed it out and decided what he was going to do and they were all animals not humans to him you know karen stark you know i typically don't care why a perp does what he does but i do

care in this case because everything that you just said gives me a window into his identity and when we get a hold of this guy, Jessica Garth, is there a death penalty in Maryland? No, there's not. So basically you can just kill as many people as you want to. And then I got to give you three hots in a cot for the rest of your life, right? Okay. Hey, oh, darn. No, I don't know that he killed anyone in any other jurisdiction. The attacks in California do not rise to the death penalty because the victims lived. But hold on. I'm putting the cart before the horse here.

We're talking about was she specifically stalked? And I want you to listen to Sheriff Jeff Gawler, Harford County Sheriff. My gut tells me she was stalked. Until we catch this person, I also have been putting out there, you know, the fact that it could have just been a crime of opportunity. He could have laid in wait on that trail for Rachel or whichever female decided to come down that trail at a time when there were no other people in sight,

you know, more or less a crime of opportunity. We don't have information. We developed no information to say she was specifically targeted. So his gut is, and I respect this guy, he's veteran LA law enforcement. He says he thinks Rachel Mornan was stalked. I don't know that I agree with that, but see, he knows facts we don't know. So he may very well be right, but it sounds to me like this is a guy much like the perp in the Silver Comet hiking trail. Remember that, Jackie, where the victim, Jennifer, was biking and he was at the tree line watching and waiting for a woman, any woman, to come along. So the reason this matters, wouldn't you agree, Tim Papa, former FBI, the reason it matters was she stalked or was this a random attack on any woman that walked by? Because if she was stalked, then maybe we can place him at other locations.

Maybe her yoga studio. Maybe her aerobic studio, maybe where she ate lunch. I don't know. But that is a window into solving this case if she was specifically stalked. Yes, no. Tim Papa. No, it's definitely a window. I think the significance, too, of what happened in L.A. is more than likely he learned from that experience that that was probably too risky. It was too brazen. And perhaps being in the woods where people can't see him and he can get familiar with the area, that that was probably a higher chance of success for him to take advantage of someone. So I think that speaks to a functionality of, say, a killer and their behaviors, their learning behaviors.

They've got law enforcement stating that they believe she was stalked. Now, we know the L.A. crime. We know that house had to be staked out. So that's his M.O. He stakes out the victim. He stakes out the location. And then he acts. I'm going to circle back to whether she was being stalked and the new information about the LA attack that this guy performed, it was very violent.

We're finding out that he attacked a whole family, assaulting two of the people in the middle of the night. A lot of people have been wondering, look, we only have ring doorbell of him leaving the LA crime scene. What about coming in? Because then I could see his face on camera. We now know he broke in another way. He didn't come in through the front door. So we don't have his face. I've been questioning that over and over and over. Now I know some of the answers, but I don't want to bury the lead. With us today, the sketch artist that created this incredible composite. But first to Vincent Hill, anchor reporter, Fox 45 in Baltimore, this jurisdiction of Maryland, and interesting, former police officer and private investigator. So he sees reporting in a completely different way. He's also author of

Playbook to a Murderer. Joining us from Fox 45 Baltimore, Vincent Hill. Vincent, before I get into the composite, just bring me up to date. There has been so many revelations in the last hours in the hunt for Rachel Morin's killer. And this is as her family, her five children, standing by wondering what happened to mommy. I want to give them that answer, Vincent Hill. Yeah, Nancy. Well, the revelations have certainly been huge. But I will go back to what Sheriff Gaylor said. I do believe Rachel may have been

stalked. And here's why. You have a trail that not a lot of people know about. I didn't know about it until I heard about Rachel. You have this curve in the trail that, again, if you are not familiar with it, you're not going to know about. Have you seen it, Vincent? Yes, I've seen it. Is it the way that Matt McMahoncmahon describes it absolutely and explain to me about those culverts how she was dragged down into this niche area that most people wouldn't know about people could have actually walked by vincent hill as she was being raped or killed and not even know what was happening and not know exactly exactly Nancy, because I didn't know about these culverts. And again, it was 82 degrees that day.

The sunset was at 814 that night. This person had a very, very small window to grab Rachel and do what he did. Why do you say that? Because of other people coming along the trail, potentially? Other people along the trail. It's 82 degrees, Nancy. Everybody was out hiking. You know what? You're kind of awesome. You know the time. You along the trail. It's 82 degrees, Nancy. Everybody was out hiking. You

know what? You're kind of awesome. You know the time. You know the location. You even know the temp. That's great because it matters. It matters as to how many people will be on that trail. If it's, you know, 36 degrees outside, nobody's going to be on the trail. But you're right. It's in the 80s. Okay, go ahead. Exactly. And again, how does this guy know the details of that trail unless he had been to that trail before? You're talking about a guy that came from Los Angeles, California to wherever in between to end up in Bel Air, Maryland of all places. Nobody thinks of Bel Air when you think of Maryland. You think of Baltimore. You think of Annapolis. This guy was doing his homework. Well, don't you think he had. You think of Baltimore. You think of Annapolis. This guy was doing his homework. Well, don't you think he had to know somebody there?

Why would you go to, to many, a little known area unless you had a contact there? Unless you live in the area, your family lives in the area, someone that this guy knows lives close or he may live close or he may have worked in that area. Why are you telling me that?

Because there's a $35,000 reward and nobody's giving him up. Yeah. They may not even know, unfortunately, that it could be something as simple as, oh, he did construction in the area. So he's familiar with it. He spent a few months working in the area. Oh, he went to the trail. Oh, he's seen Rachel there before. Oh,

he knows. Oh, this is an easy spot to grab a victim. It can be something that easy, Nancy. And unfortunately, there may be someone out there that may know something and not even realize that they know it. Vincent Hill, you are so right. And that leads me perfectly to this. A composite. You know how happy I am right now? So far, all we have seen is this killer's back of the head and a slight part of the side of his face as he leaves the LA crime scene. He's been linked to that by DNA, which I'm going to get into in a moment. This took a great composite sketch artist. And joining me is Michael Streed, S-T-R-E-E-D. Look him up. He's at sketchcop.com. Now, we do not want to jeopardize the investigation. What that means is if and when, God willing, Michael Streed is put up on the stand on direct examination to describe how he made this sketch, he's going to be

cross-examined. We don't want to impinge upon that cross-examination at all. Michael Streed, let me just say, this is an incredible composite sketch. I've used composite sketches many, many times at trial, including the recreation of the deceased's face when the face was unidentifiable. And it helped me win a case against a serial killer. Because the victim that I had the best evidence on, Michael Streed, once my sketch artist sketched her face as it would have been in life, I realized, I showed it to the jury in closing arguments, she looked almost identical to his former girlfriend that kicked him out, the mother

of his child. And he hated her for that. So he sought out this woman who looked almost identical to her and strangled her dead. Think about it. I put the two of those sketches up in front of the jury and there was dead quiet. And because of you, Streed, you. Remember, did you hear what Vincent Hill just said? He said, people may not even realize that they know the guy because we have never seen his face. And guess what? Now we can. Now, tell me what you can. I can already deduce, Michael Streed, that you got a lot of this composite sketch from the side angle of the perp's face that we see in the ring camera in the L.A. brutal assault. He attacks two people, I think are females, I guess sexually. Had to get that DNA from somewhere.

It wakes up the whole house. A little child wanders in. It's like, what's happening? The whole house wakes up and they get him out. That's what I know right now. That could change. But you've got that side view of his face in that ring camera. But let me ask you this. Did you speak to any of the L.A. victims?

Yeah, I spoke to witnesses that were provided. And although I can't reveal where they were from in terms of Maryland or L.A. I would be mad if you did. So you spoke to witnesses that could help you feel in the composite. Is that correct? I did. I did. I spoke to multiple witnesses. And, of course, you know, the sheriff's department in their podcast recently talked about myself using the part of the ring video footage to help assemble the sketch as well.

Hold on. You know what I see you did? This would be on his left upper lip. You know how there's the heart shape of the lip in most people, not everybody, but I notice it goes up on the left side of his lip. It's a little higher than the one on the right. You had to get that from somewhere that didn't just fall on your head. His ears are positioned a little bit higher on his head.

I can see it more in the sketch without the hat. You're showing me the hat. Did that, let me look at that ring video. Jackie, did the hat come from the LA scene? Oh, wait. Yeah. They found the hat at the scene. That's how we got the DNA.

Wow. Okay. So you have him sketched with his night red Nike hat and without, and I see the haircut, Michael Street, and it is amazing the way you have extrapolated the haircut from that ring video. It's amazing. I'm just looking at your details. He has a very distinct nose, shape of his nose. So you don't have to tell me. I understand you say a witness. It had to be a witness that saw the guy.

So how do you go about doing something like this? To me, this is a Van Gogh, my friend. Well, you know, the thing is, Nancy, it's not always about the art. I mean, it helps if you have strong drawing skills. That way you're not going to wind up on the evening news as drawing one of the ten worst composites. Oh, my goodness. Do you hear what they say about the federal court sketch artists?

They never look anything like the people, ever. You don't want that on the 6 o'clock news. And this is and this is what's so great about you know composites and so great about what i do is because it's more of um i think you're better artists out there have really great communication skills because you're dealing with people who have been traumatized and you deal with sometimes people that don't realize what they've seen and who they've seen. So you're using two different methods to coax information out of people, you know, people that don't want to remember and people that can't remember because they don't realize

what they've seen. So, you know, you try to go in with some sort of plan depending upon the eyewitness and the victim that you're talking to in terms of like an interview strategy. And at times that's going to change and you have to be able to be flexible enough to change your communication style. You know, the words you use, you know, street phrases, depending upon who comes in. I've talked to, you know, in the Samantha Runyon case back in 2002, my eyewitness of that kidnapping was a five-year-old girl. Wow.

Hold on. Samantha Runyon was a three-year-old little girl who was playing in her grandmother's front yard. Grandma at the kitchen sink. The perp comes up in the front yard and takes Samantha, takes off with her. I believe they even went through like a McDonald's drive-thru before he raped and murdered her mother, Erin Runyon, who instead of letting it ruin her life, as it easily could have, went on to become an amazing victim's rights advocate. So Samantha Runyon was playing with little friends in the front yard.

That was your witness? That's amazing. That was your witness? That's amazing. That was my witness. And in that case, whereas in this case, they've got DNA they were able to link to the LA case in CODIS. In Samantha's case, there was no DNA, nothing left at the crime scene. In that case, the sketch led to the identity of the killer, in which case there was a collected DNA from him, and then matched it to the DNA found at the crime scene so this is different the fact that they've got the DNA but they don't he's the person is not in CODIS at this point there's no way to identify him at this point so they got the DNA so now it's time for the sketch to go to work how do you do a sketch just tell me how do you just

you sketch a little bit like the person says okay he had dark hair and his ears were up high. So you start and then they say, no, they weren't that high. And then what do you do? Do you start it and then show it to them and then they go, no, no, no, no. Or yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the process? This whole process starts with trying to build rapport quickly, try to build a relationship with them quickly, get them to relax and trust you.

When we start talking and I take them through the crime and I get them to focus on the face. So they tell you about the actual crime. Yes. I like to talk to them about the crime minus the gory details, especially in sexual assault cases. So I can get some context in terms of how long they saw the person what angle of observation what the lighting was like all things that can influence the final sketch in terms of how it shapes their memory you know for example you know parking lot lights depending upon the bulb that's in there will oftentimes affect the color of a suspect vehicle it may not always be correct a person who's you know laying down and looking up

at the suspect the foreshortening in the face may cause the forehead to look higher and the chin to look lower so all these things are important in terms of how i develop the sketch and then after they've described the face then we go through and look at some reference pictures, pictures of previously arrested people having nothing to do with the case. And they pick out the most similar looking facial features. And from that, we assemble the sketch and go through the refining process. And all that time we're talking, we're talking about what they saw. We're talking about their children. We're talking about their careers, their life and, you know, things that just kind of keep them relaxed, you know, so they can keep that mind open and keep that information flowing.

And right up until the end, you know, it takes maybe a couple hours, you know, door to door. And we come up with something that we hope that they're happy with. And at the end, do you say, is this him? And you ask them, is the nose right or the eyes right or the eyebrows right? Is the chin right? Because I noticed he's got a square chin. That's significant. I ask them if they believe that this sketch that we worked hard, that they provide information

for, is a sketch that they believe will be helpful to detectives in their investigation. Because I want to get some honest feedback from them. And we work until they're happy because besides being a piece of evidence, it's also a psychological first aid tool for eyewitness and victims who are traumatized. They feel like they're doing something affirmative to help the case. They're not sitting on the sidelines. You know, they're helping work on the case. And, you know, you talk about people looking at the sketch and knowing the person. You know, about three decades ago, when the Night Stalker was ravaging LA, his roommate actually saw the sketch and he commented,

said, hey, do you think the sketch looks like me? And she said, yeah, but I don't think it's you because you don't have the guts to do what they're saying that you allegedly did. And she dismissed it. And he went on to continue raping and killing. So now. These composite sketches, especially in cases like Rachel Morin's's become the signature image. You know, one thing I noticed, Michael, is that in the ring video, he's wearing a gold chain. That's not in the sketch. Also, I've looked and looked and looked at it. As is reflected in your sketch, I don't see him wearing an earring or a ring or anything on his hands. I don't see any tattoos and there's no evidence that we've heard that he had his tattoo, which would have really helped us locate him. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Guys, you're hearing Michael Streed, the sketch artist in this case, who went through an exhaustive interview and sketch process. He can't reveal who he spoke with. But did you hear him say it's a witness? He didn't say a victim. He said a witness. And that witness had the opportunity to view the perp. This perp is the killer of Rachel Morin.

Him. Now you see him with his Jordan hat on. That's significant. If he's wearing it then, I guarantee you he's wearing a similar hat now. Right? Think about it. People do the same thing over and over. Karen Stark, I wear athletic tights every day and tennis shoes, a certain kind of tennis shoes, Brooks. And for reasons. And this guy, I guarantee you, is somewhere right now with an athletic logo hat on his head, laughing because he hasn't been caught. He's a creature of habit, Karen Stark.

Oh, I definitely agree, Nancy, and he's organized. He knows exactly what he wants to do. Somebody who understood that he could take Rachel and put her in a place where nobody would know where she was. This is somebody who really researched what he was about to do, entering that home. And the sketch is just incredible. I hope everybody gets to see it. You know what? I don't think we're really doing it justice about what happened to Rachel Morin. And I don't like going into this kind of detail in front of a family member, Matt McMahon. But he knows this.

And he is here with us today to help find her killer. Dr. Michelle Dupree is with us, renowned forensic pathologist who shot to fame during the Alex Murdoch trial, author of Money, Mischief, and Murder, the Murdoch Saga, the rest of the story. I have her here today because she literally wrote the book, Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Dr. Dupree, let's get down to what this case is really about. What happened? What did this guy, this guy right here, Michael Street has drawn for us in incredible detail. What did he do to Rachel? Nancy, he did horrific things. He obviously dragged her into this culvert against her will. He beat her.

He hit her head with a rock. And he killed her right there. You know what? You're certainly sugarcoating it, airbrushing it. Beat her. You know what? You're certainly sugarcoating it, airbrushing it. Beat her. Her face was caved in, Dr. Dupree, with a rock. He is an animal. He is a savage. But she didn't just beat her. Like, no. He beat her face in with a rock, Dr. Dupree.

Yes, Nancy, he did. And that is a horrific way to die. It is horrific crime. Unimaginable that somebody can do that to another person. Vincent Hill, what is her actual COD cause of death? Is it strangulation? Is it stabbing? What is it? Nancy, the Hartford County Sheriff's Office has not released that information. So we don't know exactly what her cause of death is. Well, it seems to me, Dr. Michelle Dupree, you're the medical examiner, that if the orbital bones and the side of your skull are literally caved in, it would be to massive brain injury and bleeding.

Yes, Nancy, it would probably be blunt force trauma due to traumatic brain injury. Mac McMahon, I'm sorry, because you're going through so much and having to hear the details over and over. How has that been explained to her children, or has it been? Well, the details to my daughter were relayed directly to her from the Harvard County Sheriff's Department. My daughter and I went in and sat at a table with three of the investigators. One of them was Mr. Lane. And they explained everything to me. She actually refused to leave the room to avoid any details because I did ask some pretty direct and pointed

questions. So my daughter has heard all of the details. I'm not sure about how this was explained to the other children just because they're not my children and they were discussions that they had with their father. And they're so young too. The other children are so young, Matt. They are. They're, you know, 8, 10, 12, and 13. I don't know that I'm not a shrink, but I don't know that I would tell them all of that. I mean, Matt, even

now, do you know I have never gone back to the scene where my fiance was murdered because I think it would just be an emotional and mental overload for me because it was so devastating to me when he was murdered that I don't want to go back to that place.

I mean, I've got children to raise. It's the emotional toll. My daughter Faye has not gone back to that trail since this has happened. Once she did, it was Memorial Walk where flowers were laid along the trail. That's the only time that she's gone back. Guys, the law enforcement, they've been holding a lot close to the vest. I don't fault them for that. There are reasons that they've done that.

Reasons that directly relate to the investigation and the integrity of the investigation. How did we get the DNA? Listen to Captain Lane. In processing the scene, we recovered genetic material. That genetic material ultimately was entered into a system called CODIS, which is a national DNA database. CODIS contains not only known offenders, but it also contains DNA samples from other unsolved crimes with unknown suspects. CODIS was a huge break for us. And what we were able to do was link this crime to another unsolved crime in Los Angeles, which was a home invasion. And in that instance, that suspect left behind a hat. And that hat was collected by the Los Angeles Police Department.

And DNA was located on that hat. And that DNA was entered into CODIS. When we entered our sample in from our crime scene, those two matched. So that allowed us ultimately to be able to recover video evidence that showed us who our suspect was and allowed us to link two crimes that occurred on opposite sides of the country. Vincent Hill with me, Fox 45 there in Maryland. Vincent Hill on TV and in big movies. The perps are always so smart. This guy is not that smart. He left behind a hat and they are perfect vehicles for DNA.

Yeah, it wasn't too smart, Nancy. I think he was trying to get out of that location there in Los Angeles in a hurry and not realizing, oh my God, I left my hat. They can figure out who I may be based on this hat. But on the flip side, Nancy, when you think about it, he mentioned CODIS and unknown suspects. This guy has not been arrested for a felony, whereas DNA would have been collected. So until he does that, he, like you said earlier, is watching and laughing and just going on about his life because he knows his name is not anywhere in the system until he gets caught for a felony. Tim Papa, do you agree, former FBI? I mean, he's not that smart. And it may be he's eluded us because he's left the country. I mean, I partially agree.

I think part of it is we might just have a pretty young and experienced defender. Maybe the plausible storyline is he committed this act in L.A., learned from it, fled to the other side of the country. And so him being active in the woods and looking for a victim might be his response to breaking into a house doesn't work. Look what happens. There's cameras. There's ways traces of me can be left. I mean, even looking at what he did to her, we don't know, again, if he's somebody who's panicking and thinks I need to take her life as quickly and aggressively as I can. Or maybe he realized he left witnesses behind

and he's not going to leave witnesses to testify again in this case and therefore murdered Rachel Morin. But we're getting also a view, a little more of a view of what exactly happened in L.A. and it is violent. Listen to Captain Lane. This case is actively investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department. That was also a violent attack. There's nothing that would point us to the belief that it was anything other than a random attack. There were multiple people within that home who were injured, and there were minor children who were injured as well. I think that case, along with this case, highlight how dangerous this individual is and how important it is to locate him for public safety.

Matt McMahon is joining us, someone very near and dear to Rachel Lauren, a mother of five. He's the dad of her oldest daughter. Matt, I'm learning more about the attack in LA. Have police shared with you that knowledge? I knew that it was an attack and that the suspect was forced from the home. I do understand that they're not only witnesses, but they're also victims as well. Two family members were assaulted. We haven't been told it was a sex attack, but I believe that it was. A child wakes up, hears something horrible going on. As a matter of fact, take a listen to Captain Andy Lane, Commander, Criminal Investigation Division.

The suspect, when he's in the home, winds up assaulting two family members who were unable to defend themselves. A third family member, who is a younger person, enters that room and manages to surprise that person, manages to surprise the suspect and begin to force him out of the home. As the suspect flees the home, this individual who is frightened and is scared and is a younger person and doesn't understand why someone's in his home attacking his family members, the suspect, other people in the home begin to wake up. And he realizes now that there's multiple people in the home. They're yelling at him. He's trying to just exit the home. So as soon as he leaves the door, that younger person who actually interrupted the crime scene slams the

door shut and locks it and then immediately calls the police. Karen Starkey even left without a shirt on. Yeah, Nancy. And that makes you wonder, like, was there seems to be something under his arm? Was he wearing a jacket and they pulled it off? But if you look at that video, Nancy, this guy has ice in his veins, not blood, because he's not even running away from the house. He's kind of sauntering off. He has no feelings. It's like, OK, I got caught this time, but, you know, I'll do it again.

Yeah, he's not in a hurry at all, which is an incredible observation and gives me another window into his identity. Jessica Garth, chief of the Special Victims Family Violence Unit in Prince George County there in Maryland, this jurisdiction. Can you compare and contrast what we know about the LA attack, brazen, what we know about the attack on Rachel Morin, brazen, to add to his identity? What does it tell us? 100% brazen is the first thing I think that we can land on here. The attack in L.A. is on, he breaks into a home in the night where, you know, people are home and they're sleeping. And I agree with you, Nancy. I don't think they've released what kind of attack it was, but there are only so many reasons why you break into somebody's home at night.

Certainly a sexual assault is at the top of that list. If he did attack women in the home and he attacked Rachel Moore in here, you know, we can compare that he's attacking vulnerable victims. In our society, women are still more vulnerable than men when it comes to physical attacks, certainly when we're talking about a male attacker. By breaking into that home in the middle of the night, he picked a time when there were unlikely to be people on the street, unlikely to see him breaking into the home. Looking at the attack here in Maryland, you know, he picked a spot on the trail where he'd be able to surprise Rachel and get her quickly off the trail, where even if there were other people around, he'd be able to get her to that private area without them being able to see what he was doing. And some of the other commenters have mentioned that he seems to be evolving.

And I also agree with that 100%. Leaving his hat behind at the first scene was a huge mistake. Leaving his DNA behind with Rachel is another huge mistake. And it's the only reason why we have any idea who he is. But I fear what he might do if there is a third attack or another victim, because we might not be as lucky getting the evidence that we have in these two cases. My experience with random attackers, they can't stop. They cannot stop themselves.

Until he's caught, he is a threat. If you have information or think you have information on this man as drawn by Michael Streed, beautifully drawn, I might add, there is a $35,000 reward. This guy was in and about Hartford. He ate there. He shopped there. He went to the gas station. Who is he? Somebody knows him. $35,000 reward. Tip line, toll free, 1-888-540-8477. Repeat, 888-540-8477.

Rachel Morin's children need justice so they can live their lives. Goodbye. This is an iHeart Podcast.