The Maryland mom of five found dead on a hiking trail over the weekend was naked and beaten so brutally that the right side of her face “was gone,” the stepfather of the friend who discovered her remains said.
“[Morin] 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,” Michael Gabriszeski told the Daily Mail of the harrowing moment his stepdaughter, Cecilia, found her 37-year-old friend in a drain tunnel on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air Sunday afternoon.
“There was a 15 to 20-foot blood trail. So, it looked like she had been beaten and dragged into that position,” Gabriszeski continued.
“It looked like [the killer] was trying to erase her identity…the right side of her face was gone.”
Gabriszeski’s description was corroborated by another source close to the family, who told the outlet that Morin suffered disfiguring injuries.
“The injuries were so horrific that there won’t be an open casket [at her funeral],” the source lamented.
Gabriszeski, who is a Native American tracker, said that he, Cecilia, and her friend Evan were looking for Morin near the trail’s drainage tunnels after noticing “disturbances” in the ground.
“Cecilia was the first person to see the body. She was hyperventilating really, really bad. And then the police told her to sit down,” he recalled.
“When she sat down, she realized she was sitting in a big pool of blood. I hope they prosecute [the perpetrator] to the fullest extent of the law.”
While police have yet to confirm Morin’s official cause of death, the local sheriff previously said the incident was clearly “not an accidental death.”
“This is foul play on the part of another,” said Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler surmised.
Morin was last seen heading out on the Ma & Pa Trail around 6 p.m. Saturday.
She was reported missing by her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, at 11:30 that evening, and her remains were found less than 24 hours later.
As of Tuesday morning, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said it had received almost 90 tips about the slaying.
As of Thursday morning, no suspects have been publicly identified.
Earlier this week, Gabriszeski told a local news outlet that he had “a feeling” about the tunnels after Morin was reported missing on Saturday night.
He added that he was glad “to bring her home so she can find a final resting place.”
“And for her family, that door can finally be closed, and they can get the investigation on and hopefully catch the person that did this,” he said.
The mom of five was killed just over a week after her four-month-old niece, Lily Beth Morin, died of SIDS.
Tobin – whose lengthy rap sheet includes second-degree assault, violating restraining orders and resisting arrest – on Monday denied that he was involved in Morin’s death.
“I love Rachel, I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve. Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please,” the 27-year-old wrote in a recent Facebook update.