The suspect linked to the murder of Rachel Morin remains at large and could be a "serial killer," Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler told FOX News Digital on Tuesday (August 28).
The unidentified suspect, who the Harford County Sheriff's Office described as a 5-foot-9, 160 lb Hispanic man, could be anywhere and is feared to possibly strike again.
“The violence associated with Rachel’s case shows he has absolutely no care, no regard for human life. I believe he will continue to do it until he’s captured,” Gahler said via FOX News Digital. “He may be a serial killer.”
Harford County Col. William Davis previously said DNA found at the scene of a home invasion and assault of a young girl in Los Angeles that took place in March matched the scene where Morin, 37, a mother of five, was found brutally beaten to death on August 6.
“Unfortunately that suspect has not been identified, but he did leave behind his DNA,” Davis said. “Based on the DNA evidence, we consider the individual in the video we obtained from the Los Angeles Police Department … to be the person that murdered Rachel Morin.”
Davis said the man isn't believed to have known Morin prior to what is being described as "a random act of violence" and that the department doesn't "have any clue" of his whereabouts. Surveillance video shared by the department shows the suspect closing the front door and walking down the steps of a Los Angeles home during a home invasion.
"This is not a current photo (within the last six months), and the subject’s hairstyle may have changed," the department wrote. "This individual is believed to have ties to the Los Angeles area and may have been involved in violent crimes in other states."
Morin was reported to have been found naked and beaten so brutally that the right side of her face "was gone," Michael Gabriszeski, the stepfather of a friend, Cecilia, who discovered her remains in a drain tunnel on the Ma & Pa Hermitage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, told DailyMail.com on August 10.
“She was laying on her back, fully naked, and she had brutal head trauma…it looked like her head had been smashed in with a rock," Gabriszeski said.
“There was a 15 to 20-foot blood trail. So, it looked like she had been beaten and dragged into that position,” he added. "It looked like [the killer] was trying to erase her identity…the right side of her face was gone.”
Gabriszeski's description corroborated with information provided by a previous source close to the Morin family, who also said the 37-year-old suffered disfiguring injuries.
“The injuries were so horrific that there won’t be an open casket [at her funeral],” the source said via DailyMail.com.
Morin didn't have life insurance, according to her sister, Rebekah, who claimed she "did not go willingly" in the initial GoFundMe page launched to help her family pay for funeral expenses.