Thursday, September 16, 2021

The Murder of Faith Hedgepeth


19 year old Faith Hedgepeth was a junior at UNC Chapel Hill when she was brutally murdered in her off-campus apartment on September 7th, 2012. Faith was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Native American Tribe and hoped to one day return to her community to work as a doctor. She was working hard to accomplish that goal—in fact, on the night prior to her murder, Faith and her roommate Karena Rosario (pictured below with Faith) spent the evening at the campus library to work on a project. The two returned to their apartment at around 12 AM and then promptly left again at 12:30 AM to go to Thrill nightclub—a spot that was popular amongst Chapel Hill students. 

Karena Rosario and Faith

Faith and Karena returned to their apartment around 3 AM. Around 4:30 AM, Karena left the apartment once more, when she was picked up by another fellow Chapel Hill student, Jordan McCrary. Out of habit, Karena did not lock the door to their apartment when she left. 

Hours later, Karena wanted to return home, but was unable to get ahold of Faith for a ride. She instead called one of their mutual friends, Marisol Rangel, to pick her up. Karena and Marisol returned to Karena and Faith’s apartment around 11 AM. They called out Faith’s name, and when she did not answer, they opened her bedroom door and found Faith’s body partially covered by a bloody comforter on her bedroom floor. Karena immediately called 911 to report that her roommate had been murdered. When police arrived at the grisly scene, they found a paper bag near Faith’s body with words “I’m not stupid bitch jealous” written on it.


Paper bag found at the murder scene

As police investigated Faith’s murder, they pieced together a timeline that revealed interesting circumstances surrounding the events leading up to her death. From this timeline, it became clear that there were many potential suspects in the case.

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A friend of Faith’s told police that Faith had felt threatened by Karena’s ex-boyfriend, 21 year-old Eriq Takoy Jones. Sometime during the spring and summer of 2012, Eriq allegedly told Faith that he hated her and was going to kill her if Karena did not get back together with him. On July 11th, 2012, Karena obtained a restraining order against Eriq. The restraining order was granted after the police responded to a domestic assault incident in which Eriq had kicked two doors in Karena and Faith’s apartment off the frame. The investigators who were involved in the processing of this restraining order also learned that Eriq resented Faith because of the influence she had over Karena.

On September 6th, the day before Faith’s murder, Eriq sent messages to two of his friends, asking them to “forgive him for what he was about to do.” However, in the hours, or even possibly minutes leading up to Faith’s death, other men seemed to be the center of Faith and Karena’s attention. One of those men was another ex-boyfriend of Karena’s—fellow Chapel Hill student Brandon Edwards. 

At 3:40 AM on September 7th, after Faith and Karena returned from Thrill nightclub, Faith sent a text to Brandon asking him to come over because Karena “really needed him.” Karena also called Brandon multiple times between 3:40 AM and 4:15 AM but did not get a response. Finally, Karena gave up on Brandon and contacted Jordan, who subsequently picked her up around 4:30 AM.

Due to all of the people who Faith could have possibly come into contact with at the time of her death, AND the previous incidents involving Eriq, no person was above suspicion. Police have investigated Eriq and the numerous people Faith had contact with in the days and hours before her death. 

Karena faded from the public eye, which lead many to believe that she knew more about what happened to Faith than she was letting on. However, despite the abundance of evidence the police have collected in the years following Faith’s death, it took years to make an arrest. In the late 2010s, police generated a composite image of a possible suspect in the case based on DNA taken from the murder scene.



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FINALLY, in 2021, Faith's case finally made progress.

On September 16th, 2021, authorities announced that a man named Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Police made the arrest after it was confirmed that DNA found in the crime scene matched the DNA of Olivares. Not much has been said about the relationship between Faith and the suspect, but police did say that he was not a person of interest in the beginning of the investigation.


This case is currently unfolding and updates will be provided if and when more information becomes available. 

4 comments:

  1. Does anyone know if Karina Rosario has a younger brother? For some reason I have this hunch / feeling the second male voice was someone very close to her. Someone younger and submissive to her and erik, he did whatever they said. Also siblings have very close dna so if her brother was the one who raped her it could have been confusing at first since she lived there and her dna was everywhere. obviously the sperm was present but anyway I also believe that is is image the dna imaging presented.

    because she was there as well maybe it wasn't accurate. I believe erik orchestrated everything, second male raped her, karina suffocated her and hit her with the bottle. while erik was texting from karinas phone then male 2 went and got faiths phone while karina possibly cleaned herself up and the area. I believe whomever smokes left handed worte the letter, likely erik or a combination of erki and rosario to throw people off. they did a good job of that shockingly.

    faith lied and that was the reason karina filed the order this was revenge

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  2. As a continuance my reasoning behind the possibility of male 2 being related was the nick name used for Karina, it oddly seemed like a family nickname, even though they all could be Rosario maybe she is the only female or he is a first cousin.

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  3. Anyone who would write: I am not stupid bitch jealous...is a WOMAN. That is what a woman would write...no man would write that.

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    1. Never say never, you may wind up eating your words. Painting with a broad brush and dealing only in definitives is the sign not only of a closed mind but one of limited analytical ability.

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