By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press
The trial of a man accused of killing a UNC-Chapel Hill college student 14 years ago began Wednesday with the prosecution alleging she was killed in a fit of rage by a stranger who left his DNA all over the crime scene. The defense said the evidence doesn’t add up.
Miguel Salguero Olivares is charged with first-degree murder, rape and burglary in the death of Faith Hedgepeth. She was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012.
In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca said the defendant left his DNA on the murder weapon – a bottle of rum found covered in blood – inside Hedgepeth’s body and on a note written on a fast-food bag found at the scene.
“The evidence in this case is louder than the noise around it,” she said.
She described Hedgepeth as a caring friend who was beloved by everyone who knew her and was on track to become the first person in her family to graduate from college.
“You will see from the evidence in this case that the defendant committed these acts against Faith in a fit of rage, not because he knew her,” she said. “He didn’t do this to her because of who she was, he did it because of who he is.”
Garcia-Lamarca said Hedgepeth and her roommate had been at a popular club that night, and that Hedgepeth, the designated driver, drove them home around 2 a.m. The roommate was drunk and sick, she said, but later called a friend to come pick her up around 4 a.m. She returned hours later and found Hedgepeth dead.
“This case is not complicated. It’s devastating, it’s horrifying, it’s a family’s worst nightmare. … but it’s also simple,” the prosecutor said. “The evidence is loud and clear.”
In his opening statement, defense attorney James Rainsford said prosecutors left out key details and urged jurors to ask themselves, “Where’s the rest of the evidence?”
The friend who picked up Hedgepeth’s roommate told police he saw what looked like blood on her hands. A downstairs neighbor reported hearing loud thumps between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. And police later lost evidence related to what appeared to be blood in the apartment’s bathroom.
“Is this just noise or are you starting to hear things that don’t add up?” he said. “Maybe that’s noise to some people; that sounds like forensic evidence to others.”
Salguero Olivares was arrested in 2021, more than nine years after the killing. His arrest came after a DNA sample submitted to the state crime lab by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Chapel Hill Police Department matched a profile found at the original crime scene, authorities said.
“Finding something doesn’t mean a crime occurred. You have to connect them,” Rainsford said of the DNA evidence. “It doesn’t mean what you think.”
The prosecutor said the message on the fast-food bag — “I’m Not Stupid (expletive) Jealous” — called to mind an old adage.
“Men, some men, are terrified women will laugh at them,” she said. “Women are terrified of being killed or raped.”
As one of their first witnesses, prosecutors called Kareena Rosario, who found her roommate’s lifeless, battered body. Rosario sobbed as she described the 911 dispatcher asking her to touch Hedgepeth to see if she was warm.
“And I told them that she felt cold,” she said through tears. As she waited for an ambulance to arrive, Rosario said “it felt like a thousand hours.”
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Ramer reported from Concord, N.H.