Trial over the murder of a college student with a wine bottle, a obscene note and missing evidence comes to a close
Miguel Enrique Salgueiro-Alvarez faces murder, sexual assault and robbery charges in the Faith Hedgepeth case, as missing DNA and evidence become central to the trial.
Accused killer Faith Hedgepeth goes on trial for killing UNC student
Miguel Enrique Salguero Olivares, 33, is on trial in Durham County Superior Court on charges of first-degree murder, rape, sexual assault and robbery in the 2012 slaying of Hagepett, a senior biology major at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Fourteen years after authorities found Faith Hedgepeth dead, the 19-year-old's final hours are unfolding in a North Carolina courtroom, where tearful testimony and questions about missing evidence marked the opening days of the murder trial.
Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares, 33, is on trial in Durham County Superior Court on charges of first-degree murder, rape, sexual assault and robbery in the 2012 slaying of Hagepett, a senior biology major at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
The trial is in its second week, and Dr. Heather Walski, a rape nurse investigator at Atrium Health, is testifying about the forensic evidence.
Mother of slain UNC student hopes new documentary sheds light on unsolved murder: 'I have to keep looking for him'
Faith Hedgepeth, a student at the University of North Carolina, was murdered in 2012.
Graphic descriptions of internal brain damage overwhelmed the jury and prompted the judge to dismiss Friday.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys have clashed over whether DNA evidence reveals the killer or an unreliable investigation in which key physical evidence has disappeared.
Hedgepeth's roommate, Carna Rosario, now 34, cried Wednesday when she recalled finding Hedgepeth, naked from the waist down, in their shared bedroom in an off-campus apartment off Chapel Hill Avenue.
"I walked around the bed and I saw the hair. I pulled the comforter down and I saw he had a black eye," Rosario said, according to ABC 11.
Rosario took jurors back to Sept. 6, 2012, when she and Hedgepeth studied in a university library before returning to their apartment to change. The couple then went to The Thrill nightclub.
Murder suspect arrested nine years after killing North Carolina college student Faith Hedgpet.
Karna Rosario and Faith Hedgepeth are pictured together. (by Ronald Hedgepeth)
They returned to the apartment around 3:40 am. Rosario said she became ill from drinking before leaving at 4:25 a.m. to stay with a friend.
Rosario said Hedgepet was conscious and breathing when he left.
He later called Hedgepeth for a ride. Hedgepet did not return calls.
Another friend, Marisol Rangel, took Rosario home. Rosario said they entered the apartment around 11 a.m. and found Hedgepet by her bed.
Rosario described the blood on the walls, the bed, and Hedgepeth's arm. He told a 911 dispatcher that Hedgepet felt cold to the touch.
Rosario said he asked about an ambulance when police arrived.
"I asked him if they were still bringing the ambulance, but they said it was gone," he testified.
Police collected and tested DNA at the scene from hundreds of samples from people connected to Hedgepeth. None matched.
DNA discovery leads to arrest in chilling 33-year-old cold case Investigators never gave up
Investigators eventually turned to genetic genealogy, a technique that compares crime scene DNA with profiles in public ancestry databases. This information led to Salguero-Olivares, a stranger to Hedgepeth's loved ones.
Miguel Enrique Salguero Olivares was charged in 2012 with the murder of Faith Hedgepeth. (Raleigh/Wake City-County Identification Bureau)
Officials rested nearly a decade later. On September 16, 2021, police arrested Salguero-Olivares during a DUI stop in Wake County, N.C. After obtaining a DNA sample, they charged him with murder.
Prosecutors later added charges of rape, sexual assault and theft.
On Friday, prosecutors presented items recovered from the bedroom, including a bottle of Bacardi rum, a bottle of wine and a bag of crumpled Time-Out restaurant biscuits.
Investigators found an offensive handwritten message on the fast food bag that read: "I'm not stupid, b----. Jealous."
Chapel Hill Police Forensic Technician Tamika Price showed the court the 1.75 liter bottle of rum, which prosecutors said was the murder weapon used to hit Hedgepeth in the head.
"When I put my hands on his head, I could feel the side of his head was very soft. It was indented," Price testified, ABC 11 reported.
Jurors heard how investigators found the accused's DNA on a bag of fast food and a bottle of rum.
Under cross-examination, defense attorney James J. Rainsford pressed investigators on how they collected and preserved crime scene evidence.
Price admitted under oath that processing errors had been made. He admitted that he was still practicing during the 2012 investigation.
The defense also focused on a missing swab that was collected from a reddish stain in the bathroom. Price testified that initial testing indicated the stain might be blood, but investigators were unable to locate the swab for further lab testing.
Retired forensic pathologist Sheleathea Quick said she remembers investigators collecting and boxing up a swab, but didn't know what happened to it.
"We searched the evidence locker," Quick said. We searched the truck. We searched the laboratory."
Listen to the new Crime and Justice with Donna Rotono podcast
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Salguero-Olivares faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder, along with possible prison terms for the rape, sexual assault and robbery charges.