New charges in Faith Hedgepeth murder case allege man broke into apartment, raped her
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Faith Hedgepeth Murder
Faith Hedgepeth was a UNC sophomore when she was killed on Sept. 7, 2012. Her murder was unsolved until Sept. 16, 2021, when Chapel Hill police made an arrest in her case. Here are stories about Hedgepeth and the case from The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun.
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New charges against a 31-year-old man accused of killing UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth 12 years ago allege he broke into her apartment and raped her.
Police initially charged Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares with murder on Sept. 16, 2021, nine years after 19-year-old Hedgepeth was killed in a Chapel Hill apartment complex that is also in Durham County.
After doing thousands of interviews and testing hundreds of DNA samples, police identified Salguero-Olivares through ancestor technology, according to court documents. Police linked his DNA to a rape kit collected after Hedgepeth was found partially clothed beside a blood-stained bed in September 2012. The coroner ruled she died from blunt-force trauma to her head.
A recent indictment is yet another clue as to what investigators think happened in the killing covered by national media and various television crime series.
The Oct. 21 amended indictment against Salguero-Olivares added first-degree burglary, rape and sexual assault charges. It alleges he broke in and entered Hedgepeth’s apartment and raped her.
Salguero-Olivares remains in the Durham County jail without the option of bail.
No trial set three years after murder charge
It’s unclear why a trial date hasn’t been set. The News & Observer sent questions to the Durham County District Attorney’s Office, whose spokesperson Sarah Willets responded with a statement that murder cases can take several years to resolve. The cases typically involve thousands of pages of documents and images and days of audio and video recordings.
“It may feel like little is happening during the years a homicide case is working its way through the court process, but the DA’s Office is diligently processing evidence, fulfilling our constitutional obligations, and working to reach an appropriate outcome,” the statement said.
Beyond the indictment, other recent court filings show Salguero-Olivares changed his attorney from a public defender to private attorneys Chris Barnes and three others. The N&O reached out to the attorneys, who have not responded. Often when defendants change attorneys, it takes time for the new counsel to familiarize themselves with the case.
A June filing shows that evidence in the case could include investigative files, a State Bureau of Investigation chemical analysis, incriminating statements made by Salguero-Olivares and evidence collected during searches.
After the DNA led police to Salguero-Olivares, investigators covertly obtained a DNA sample from him during a DWI stop.
Police also matched Salguero-Olivares’ palm print to one found on a wine bottle in Hedgepeth’s apartment, court documents said.
Who is Faith Hedgepeth?
Hedgepeth was a native of Hollister, a small community on North Carolina’s Warren-Halifax County border. She was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribal community.
Hedgepeth attended UNC on a scholarship and was also working her way through college, with the dream of becoming a pediatrician and moving back home to serve her community, The N&O previously reported.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 9:58 AM with the headline "New charges in Faith Hedgepeth murder case allege man broke into apartment, raped her."
