Rachel Morin remembered at service
Loved ones celebrate life of woman whose body was found on Harford Co. trail
For the past four weeks, Patty Morin has been trying to figure out which memories to share at her daughter’s celebration of life.
“My heart and my mind won’t let me go there,” she said through tears before an audience of about 100 people Sunday afternoon at Greater Grace Church in East Baltimore’s Pulaski Industrial Area.
Instead, Rachel Morin’s family prepared a slideshow of photos with prerecorded remembrances — memories of sharing laughs together at the dinner table, her older sister’s prayers to have a female sibling, her love for her children.
Morin was found dead Aug. 6 on a section of the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air after going missing the previous evening. The homicide quickly drew the attention of national media and prompted Harford County officials to install cameras on the trail. Authorities say DNA evidence from the scene linked the homicide to a Los Angeles burglary, though police have not yet identified a suspect in either matter.
The scrapbook of memories drew laughs from the audience during Sunday’s otherwise somber service in the church’s dimly lit nave. Many in the audience were the family’s fellow churchgoers. Morin’s family already held a private ceremony earlier this month, according to one of their attorneys.
Morin’s mother said she and other family members were in Kentucky for the death of another relative’s child when she was reported missing on Aug. 5.
“The first thing you think of as a mom is, ‘I wish I could be there to hold her,’ ” Patty Morin said, taking a pause
before describing the pain of the next afternoon, when her daughter’s body was found, as “unbearable.”
“The hardest thing for a mom to do is to plan your child’s funeral,” she said.
Rachel Morin enjoyed traveling, loved fashion and was a fitness enthusiast who lifted weights and participated in marathons, according to a leaflet distributed in the church’s lobby on Sunday. She was devoted to her faith, as is her mother, who described finding solace in recognizing that her daughter is now with God, as well as encouragement over the past several weeks from hearing of the many lives her daughter touched.
At a trail walk in Morin’s honor this month, that sentiment came in the form of hugs from strangers whom Patty said didn’t know her daughter well but had exchanged pleasantries — hellos and smiles — with the 37-year-old.
“We think those are little ordinary things, but they actually mean something to people,” she said. “To have 2,000 people come out because somehow Rachel, in her ordinary life, affected
them, I think that’s really amazing.”
Those who spoke at the ceremony, either on stage or in prerecorded statements, noted that in addition to bringing joy and laughter to others, Morin was passionate about her five children, who range from 8 to 18 years old. The children are being taken care of by their fathers and other relatives, said Joseph Murtha, an attorney representing Morin’s family.
“It was an incredibly moving service, recognizing the joy and the energy that Rachel brought to every community that she was involved in,” Murtha said. “It was moving and very spiritual in nature and comforting for the family.”
No major developments in the homicide case have been announced publicly since the Harford County Sheriff ’s Office reported the DNA link to the LA burglary in hope that people could identify the suspect through surveillance footage.
“They know who it is; they just can’t identify him. They know his genetic makeup,” Murtha said. “Now with the [$10,000] reward and with the national presence, I just hope that someone will stand up and have some humanity and identify the person.”
Those with information on the homicide are asked to reach investigators through a dedicated tip email address at rmtips@harfordsheriff. org.