A suspect in the murder of a college student was arrested Thursday, 9 years after the student’s death.
Twenty-eight-year-old Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares was arrested for the murder of University of North Carolina (UNC) student Faith Hedgepeth, Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said in an announcement Thursday, Fox 8 reported. (RELATED: ‘Never Too Late’: 37 Years After College Student Was Brutally Killed, Police Arrest A Convicted Sex Offender)
BREAKING: 9 years after she was found brutally murdered in her Chapel Hill apartment, police announce an arrest in the death of UNC student Faith Hedgepeth. #abc11 https://t.co/Bjk5O2HfMd
— Joel Brown (@JoelBrownABC11) September 16, 2021
Hedgepeth and her roommate Karena Rosario were at Davis Library on UNC’s campus on Sept. 6, 2012. They returned to their apartment a little after midnight and went back out to a local bar called The Thrill, ABC 11 reported.
They both left the bar at 2:38 a.m. and came back to their apartment on Old Durham Road. Police said that Rosario went back out around 4:27 a.m., and came back with a friend around 11 a.m., when she discovered Hedgepeth dead in their apartment, according to ABC 11.
Hedgepeth’s body was found propped up against a bed in a pool of her blood, according to Fox 8.
The autopsy report shows that the killer raped and beat her. The cause of death was severe trauma to the head, CBS 17 reported.
Attorney General Josh Stein said that investigators have discovered a significant amount of DNA evidence, having to work through 53 submissions and analyze 229 different samples to narrow down to one suspect, Fox 8 reported.
With the samples collected, Parabon Labs was able to create a sketch of the suspect based on DNA and the sketch matched up with Olivares, according to CBS 17.
Olivares was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, Assistant Police Chief Celisa Lehew said, CBS 17 reported.
“This investigation is not complete. Our work is not done,” Lehew said.
Hedgepeth’s mother came out to speak Thursday soon after Olivares’ arrest.
“When I got the news this morning, I didn’t do anything but cry and thank God and praise God,” Connie Hedgepeth said.