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The man who found the body of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman reported missing at the weekend, has told reporters he had a feeling that tunnels near a local hiking trail should be searched.
Michael Gabriszeski told ABC affiliate WMAR 2 that he had joined the search party along with his daughter, who had been a friend of Morin's. "I got out and searched the tunnels because I had a feeling about these tunnels," he said.
Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was reported missing by her boyfriend on Saturday when she did not return from a walk at the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, according to Harford County Sheriff's Office.
The body was discovered on Sunday and has since been formally identified as Morin. The sheriff's office has launched a homicide investigation.
On Wednesday the sheriff's office told Newsweek it would likely issue "an updated statement later today."
Gabriszeski told WMAR 2: "Something like this should not happen in Harford County."
He added that he hoped Morin could "find a final resting place in her family, that door can be finally closed and they can get the investigation on and hopefully catch the person that did this trifling act. I hope they prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."
On Tuesday the sheriff's office said it had already received 90 tips from community members, but was still looking for information.
"Detectives are asking for your help. If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators," the office wrote in a Facebook post.
"There could be something helpful in one of your photos that might bring us one more piece of the puzzle."
The images should be emailed to Sgt. Chris Maddox at maddoxc@harfordsheriff.org, the sheriff's office said.
Sheriff Jeff Gahler has urged the people of Harford County to remain vigilant.
"We do not have a solid suspect. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event," he told NBC affiliate WBAL-TV.
"Part of the investigation is going to be tracing back her steps from the last time she was seen to when she arrived at the trail head, that's where her car was discovered."
Update 08/09/23, 7:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add a response from Harford County Sheriff's Office.
About the writer
Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more