Rachel Morin’s Murder Broke Her Family Apart: Mom of 5’s Kids Now Living in Different Homes (Exclusive)

Rachel Morin was a single mother who worked hard cleaning houses to provide for her five kids and ensure they got the love and support they deserved, her brother says.

But two months after she was found murdered on a popular hiking trail outside Bel Air, Maryland, her family has been split up.

Rachel's loved ones are working to give her kids the best possible lives without their mother, but they can no longer live under the same roof, her brother Michael Morin tells The Messenger.

He says the 37-year-old sometimes worked multiple jobs to provide for her five children.

"She had so much friggin' life, so much energy and potential," Michael says.

Now, her kids live in three different homes, some with their fathers and others with Rachel's relatives.

Michael says two are living at one home, while another two are at another home miles away. Rachel's oldest child lives with their father.

One of the children's fathers, Matthew McMahon, has "stepped up" and taken them on activities like apple picking.

"He has been working extraordinarily hard to keep them together," Michael says.

One of the children is on the autism spectrum and has been taking their mother's loss especially hard.

"The stuff she has said would rip your heart out," says Michael.

With her killer still on the loose, Michael says he feels a "sense of duty" to share her story, in the hopes that someone who comes across it can help lead police to the man suspected of taking her life.

"I can suppress my emotions, I can disassociate," the 39-year-old tells The Messenger of how he's managed his grief since his younger sister's death.

"But my whole objective is to find this killer," he continues.

Rachel was found murdered on the popular Ma & Pa Heritage hiking trail near Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 6, shortly after her boyfriend reported her missing. Her killer has remained on the loose since then.

According to the Harford County Sheriff, the most promising lead in the case so far is DNA at the crime scene pointing to a man wanted in a home invasion earlier this year in Los Angeles, over 2,000 miles away.

While the search for the killer has led authorities to Chicago and Washington, D.C., he is still unidentified, despite home surveillance footage from L.A. that primarily shows him from the side and back.

Authorities have described the suspect as Hispanic and in his early to mid-20s, standing at approximately 5-foot-9 and weighing 160 lbs.

"I believe someone that knows this guy has seen that video and recognized him, but they haven't said something," says Michael.

Recently, Michael changed the background on his phone to a picture of Rachel taken just a few days before her death.

She had visited him and his family, and the picture shows her smiling with a flower in her hair and one of Michael's pit bulls on her lap.

"She was just ridiculously funny," Michael recalls of Rachel. "Honestly, she had so much energy it was like 40 people walked in the house when she walked in... she had so much light, so much light."

Michael says he and Rachel shared a lifelong bond as the middle children of their six siblings.

While a joy to be around, Michael says Rachel also struggled emotionally for much of her life due to a "really bad" stutter.

But she worked hard not to let it be something that defined her.

"She went from being insecure about her stutter to just being like, I'm gonna own this, you know?" Michael recalls.

The family has worked with attorney Randolph Rice to launch a digital campaign to target people who may not speak English as a first language. Over $53,000 has been raised for the family on GoFundMe.

When asked what he wants to happen to his sister's killer once he is caught, Michael says he's thought about it and has "mixed emotions."

"I do believe in God, and I do believe in life after death, not just because of my sister," he explains. "There just has to be more than this, and there has to be some final justice. So, I don't think death is the worst judgment; it's what comes after death — and I can't be that judge."

"I'd like him to have enough time to repent," Michael says. "But, maybe some people don't deserve to live on God's Earth."

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call (410) 836-7788. Tips can also be sent to rmtips@harfrodsheriff.org.