Ten investigators are working “around the clock” on the case of Rachel Morin, the 37-year-old mother of five whose body was found near a Bel Air nature trail Sunday, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said Wednesday.
Investigators are “scouring every detail of the days, hours, minutes and seconds before Rachel died in order to put together the pieces of a comprehensive timeline,” Gahler said in a video address.
More than 100 tips have been sent to investigators, including some that have been “promising and tremendous in advancing the investigation,” Gahler said.
Investigators have spoken to Morin’s boyfriend, Richard Tobin, as well as “many other people who are close to Rachel,” Gahler said.
Morin disappeared Saturday evening after apparently leaving for a walk on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail, a bucolic walking path that winds through Bel Air. Tobin called police that evening and said that he had found her car at the Williams Street trailhead in the heart of Bel Air, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff’s deputies fanned out across the trail Saturday evening and Sunday morning. A resident who volunteered to help with the search found Morin’s body around 1 p.m. on Sunday. The sheriff’s office has declined to say exactly where Morin’s body was found or what sort of injuries she had sustained, but said that her death was clearly a homicide.
“This was an intentional taking of a person’s life,” Gahler said Wednesday. “We are holding details close to help ensure a suspect is brought to justice.”
Morin ran a house-cleaning business and loved to read, dance and exercise, according to a friend, Becca Dill. Morin had recently announced on Facebook that she was in a relationship with Tobin.
Morin’s killing drew international attention, with media outlets around the world sharing her story. After numerous people on social media expressed their suspicions of Tobin, he took to Facebook to declare his innocence.
Tobin wrote that he loved Morin and “would never do anything to her.”
Tobin acknowledged that he had a criminal record, which he attributed to a past drug problem. “I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person,” he wrote.
Morin’s sister, Rebekah Morin, created a GoFundMe page, which had taken in more than $40,000 in donations as of Wednesday afternoon. She wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that the family appreciates “the outpouring of love and compassion from so many people all over the world,” and that her mother was preparing to share an open letter later in the day.
In his video address, Gahler assured Harford County residents that his office was taking steps to ensure the trail is safe, including maintaining a “heavy presence of deputies” patrolling by foot and ATV. He also urged the public to continue sharing tips with his office, even those that might seem inconsequential.
“Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends,” Gahler said.
