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Police have opened a homicide investigation after a dead body, believed to be a woman recently reported as missing, was found near a Bel Air trail Sunday afternoon, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said Sunday evening at a news conference.
Authorities “firmly believe” the body found Sunday afternoon on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail was Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old who went missing after leaving her home Saturday evening to walk the trail, Gahler said, noting the body is being taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for formal identification and for an autopsy to determine the woman’s cause and manner of death.
“That final determination, that final say is with the medical examiner, and that has not happened yet,” he said.
But detectives “have no doubt” the woman whose body was found on the Bel Air section of the trail was killed, and have opened a homicide investigation, said Gahler, a Forest Hill Republican now serving his third term in the county’s top law enforcement role.
“There’s days when I absolutely love being the sheriff of Harford County, and this is not one of those days,” Gahler said.
Police had been searching for Morin since Saturday night, when her boyfriend reported that she went to walk on the trail at 6 p.m. Saturday and did not return, Gahler said.
The sheriff’s office sought information on Morin’s whereabouts in a series of social media posts Sunday morning, noting that her car was found at a trail access point off Williams Street in Bel Air. The posts received a significant amount of attention, and the body was ultimately found by a person who “stepped up to come out because of what they had seen on social media,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff’s office has not identified any possible suspects in the homicide, and have not determined whether the woman was targeted.
“I hope that changes in the coming hours, but at this point in time, there is not a suspect,” Gahler said. “Can I put the comment out there that says, ‘There is no threat to the community?’ I can’t do that.”
Gahler asked those with information on Morin’s travels, as well as those who live close to the trail with surveillance cameras facing the area, to call the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff, whose home backs up to a section of the trail, said the former Ma and Pa Railroad was “always known to be a pretty safe place,” but noted there will be an “increased police presence” on the rail trail in the wake of the homicide. He asked residents planning to walk the trail to be aware of their surroundings, and to consider traveling with others or carry a whistle with them.
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Police have cleared the scene after portions of the trail were closed Sunday for forensics teams to investigate the area where the woman’s body was found.
Another active search for a missing 58-year-old woman in Bel Air is unrelated to the homicide on the trail, Gahler said.
Police were stationed at the Festival at Bel Air shopping center on Sunday to search for Karen Elliott, who was last seen heading into a wooded area behind Cypress Drive on Saturday afternoon.
“It is important to note that this case is completely unrelated to the homicide at the Ma and Pa Trail,” the sheriff’s office said on social media. “We do not believe there is any danger to the community in the Cypress Drive case.”
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