Guilty: Faith Hedgepeth’s killer sentenced to life in prison without parole :: WRAL.com

A jury found Miguel Salguero-Olivares guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and first-degree burglary in the 2012 killing of UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth.

The verdict, delivered Friday in a Durham County courtroom, comes more than 14 years after Hedgepeth, 19, was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in Chapel Hill on Sept. 7, 2012.

Salguero-Olivares was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder. He also received sentences of 64 to 89 months for burglary, 240 to 348 months for first-degree rape and 240 to 348 months for first-degree sex offense. The judge ordered the sentences to be consecutive rather than concurrent.

Salguero-Olivares is appealing his convictions and sentences.

As the verdict was read, Salguero-Olivares could be heard saying, “It’s not fair.” Her mother was seen crying and Salguero-Olivares sometimes shook her head.

Hedgepeth’s mother, Connie Hedgepeth, filed a victim impact statement.

“I guess I was really overwhelmed,” Connie Hedgepeth said. “Here we’ve been waiting a long time, over 14 years. And I’m just happy that we have the closure that we need, that we have peace.”

Connie Hedgepeth also said she has forgiven what happened.

Faith’s father, Roland Hedgepeth, said Friday’s verdict brought long-awaited closure.

“It’s been 14 years, six weeks and four days or 169 months and 18 days and 5,158 days…that’s how long it’s been,” Roland Hedgepeth said, noting the time between the murder and Friday’s verdict.

Judge Keith Gregory told Connie Hedgepeth that her son, who is a year younger than Faith, was also a student at UNC-Chapel Hill at the time of the killing. Gregory hugged Faith’s mother and father once the procedure was complete.

Salguero-Olivares was arrested on September 16, 2021, nine years after Hedgepeth’s death. He was linked to the murder through DNA evidence collected during a drunk-driving stop the month before his arrest.

During the trial, prosecutors presented DNA and fingerprint evidence that they said linked Salguero-Olivares to the crime scene. Defense lawyers questioned the reliability of the investigation and argued that prosecutors failed to prove their case.

On Thursday, prosecutor Lisa Coltrain highlighted the fact that Salguero-Olivares’ DNA was spread throughout a room in Hedgepeth’s apartment. Prosecutors alleged Salguero-Olivares was a stranger who killed Hedgepeth in a fit of rage.

“They still caught the guy because he left his DNA like confetti all over that room,” Coltrain said.

Near the end of his argument, Coltrain showed the jury a photo of Faith, contrasted with a photo of the crime scene, saying, “he turned this beautiful woman into this corpse.”

Forensic pathologist Erin Ermish said the DNA collected from Hedgepeth’s body was 170 seven billion times more likely to be a mixture of DNA from Hedgepeth and Salguero-Olivares than that from Hedgepeth and an unknown individual.

Jurors began deliberating Thursday and requested additional evidence late in the afternoon before court proceedings ended for the day. They requested summaries of lab reports and fingerprint scans.

Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old biology major at UNC-Chapel Hill. A member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of Warren County, she grew up in the Hollister community.

Friends found Hedgepeth dead in her Hawthorne apartment at the View Apartments on Old Chapel Hill Road. An autopsy showed that Hedgepeth suffered significant skull fractures and cuts to her face and head, and that she had also been severely beaten on her arms and legs. Several jurors became emotional after seeing Hedgepeth’s autopsy photos.

Friday marked the 19th day of the trial, including jury selection. More than 25 SBI special agents worked on this case and more than 400 DNA samples were collected, according to the SBI.

On Wednesday, the defense rested without calling any witnesses. Salguero-Olivares told Gregory he would not testify in his own defense.