The identity of a body found Sunday on a Maryland hiking trail has been confirmed as mother-of-five Rachel Morin.
A spokesman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said The independent that the medical examiner’s office had identified the body of the 37-year-old on Monday.
The spokesman could not say what the cause of death is, what injuries she sustained or whether any suspects have been identified.
Morin was reported missing after she failed to return Saturday night from a hike on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Her body was found just after 1 p.m. on Sunday by a member of the public along the 6.25-meter (10 km) path.
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said Sunday night that the department had launched a homicide investigation and warned the public to be vigilant while walking in the area.
Morin’s grieving sister Rebekah wrote on a GoFundMe page that her death was not an accident and that she “didn’t go voluntarily.”
Morin was reported missing around 11 p.m. Saturday night by her boyfriend Richard Tobin.
He later expressed his innocence over any part in her death.
“I love Rachel, I would never hurt her, let the family and I grieve,” Mr. Tobin wrote.
“Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please.”
Mr Tobin, 27, has not been named as a suspect or in any way involved in the police death of his girlfriend.
Mr. Tobin has two arrests for second-degree assault and separate arrests for violating restraining orders, willful destruction of property and drug possession dating back to 2014, court records show.
He has also been charged with fugitiveness, resisting arrest and disorderly drunkenness, according to the Maryland judiciary’s investigative records.
Mr Tobin and Ms Morin confirmed they were in a relationship in a Facebook post on August 1, five days before she was reported missing.
Sheriff Gahler on Sunday urged the public to report any information directly to them, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
He asked anyone hiking hiking trails in the area to carry a whistle warning device, watch their surroundings, and let family and friends know of their plans.
