College Student Murder Trial: Rum Bottle, Vulgar Note, Missing Evidence

Fourteen years after Faith Hedgepeth was found dead, the 19-year-old University of North Carolina student’s final hours are being revisited in a North Carolina courtroom. The opening days of her murder trial have featured emotional testimony, graphic evidence and renewed scrutiny of physical evidence that investigators say went missing.

Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares, 33, is facing charges of first-degree murder, rape, sexual offense and burglary in Durham County Superior Court. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Hedgepeth, a biology major at UNC-Chapel Hill, in 2012.

The proceedings have entered their second week, with Dr. Heather Waleski, a sexual assault nurse examiner for Atrium Health, taking the stand to discuss the forensic medical findings.

The early testimony has been difficult for those in the courtroom, with witnesses, jurors and spectators visibly crying, according to the 9th Street Journal. A forensic technician displayed the alleged murder weapon, while graphic close-up images of Hedgepeth’s face and body led some spectators to shield their eyes.

Detailed testimony about severe internal brain injuries proved so distressing that the judge recessed court Friday.

At the center of the case is a dispute over DNA evidence. Prosecutors say it helped identify Hedgepeth’s killer, while defense attorneys argue the investigation was compromised and point to the disappearance of crucial physical evidence.

A roommate’s discovery

Hedgepeth’s former roommate, Karena Rosario, 34, broke down Wednesday while describing the moment she discovered Hedgepeth in their bedroom at an off-campus apartment near Old Chapel Hill Road. Hedgepeth was nude from the waist down, Rosario testified.

“I walked around the bed and saw hair. I pulled the comforter down and saw she had a black eye,” Rosario told jurors, according to ABC 11.

Rosario recalled the night of Sept. 6, 2012, when she and Hedgepeth studied at a campus library before returning to their apartment to change clothes. Later, the two friends walked to The Thrill nightclub.

They returned to the apartment at approximately 3:40 a.m. Rosario said she became ill after drinking and left around 4:25 a.m. to stay at a friend’s home.

According to Rosario, Hedgepeth was awake, breathing and responsive when she left.

Rosario later tried calling Hedgepeth to ask for a ride, but Hedgepeth never answered.

Another friend, Marisol Rangel, drove Rosario back to the apartment. When they arrived at about 11 a.m., Rosario said they found Hedgepeth near her bed.

Rosario testified that blood covered parts of the walls, bed and Hedgepeth’s arm. During the 911 call, she told the dispatcher that Hedgepeth’s body felt cold.

When officers arrived, Rosario said she asked whether an ambulance was coming.

“I asked if they were still going to bring the ambulance but they said she was gone,” Rosario testified.

DNA testing

Investigators recovered DNA from the apartment and tested hundreds of samples from people connected to Hedgepeth. None produced a match.

Years later, detectives used genetic genealogy, comparing DNA from the crime scene with profiles in public ancestry databases. That investigation ultimately pointed to Salguero-Olivares, who was not known to Hedgepeth or her family.

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Authorities received a break nearly a decade later. On Sept. 16, 2021, police pulled Salguero-Olivares over during a DUI stop in Wake County, N.C. After obtaining a DNA sample, they charged him with murder.

Prosecutors later added the rape, sexual offense and burglary charges.

The evidence

On Friday, prosecutors presented items recovered from the bedroom, including a Bacardi rum bottle, a wine bottle and a crumpled Time-Out restaurant biscuit bag.

Investigators found a profanity-laced handwritten message on the fast-food bag that read, “I’m not stupid, b—-. Jealous.”

Chapel Hill police forensic technician Tamika Price displayed the 1.75-liter rum bottle to the court, which prosecutors identified as the murder weapon used to deliver blows to Hedgepeth’s head.

“When I put my hands on her head, I could feel where the side of her head was very soft. It was indented,” Price testified, ABC 11 reported.

The jury heard how investigators found the defendant’s DNA on the fast-food bag and the rum bottle.

Questions about the investigation

Under cross-examination, defense attorney James J. Rainsford pressed investigators on how they collected and preserved crime scene evidence.

Price acknowledged under oath that processing mistakes were made. She admitted that she was still in training during the 2012 investigation.

Rainsford questioned why investigators did not photograph the rum bottle before collecting it, and asked why they did not collect additional items from the apartment.

The defense also focused on a missing swab gathered from a reddish stain on a bathroom doorframe. Price testified that an initial test indicated the stain could be blood, but investigators could not find the swab for further laboratory testing.

Retired forensic specialist Sheleathea Quick said she remembered investigators collecting and boxing a swab, but did not know what happened to it.

“We searched the evidence locker,” Quick said. “We searched the truck. We searched the lab.”

The trial continues

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

Salguero-Olivares would face mandatory life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder, along with possible prison sentences on the rape, sexual offense and burglary charges.

Testimony from state forensic and medical experts is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning.