The Murder of Faith Hedgepeth
Faith Hedgepeth was described as a vibrant and smart young woman. As a Native American rights activist, Faith was heavily involved in her native culture. In the fall of 2012, Faith was continuing her third year at UNC, although she took the previous semester off in spring of 2012. That fall, Faith was living with her best friend, Karena Rosario, in an off-campus apartment. The night of September 6th, 2012 began with Faith attending a sorority event at 5:45 P.M. At 7:15 P.M. Faith left to go with Karena to the library to work on a paper she was writing about her tribe that she cared so deeply for. Around midnight, the girls arrived back at their apartment. Shortly after, they decided to head to a local club called The Thrill, arriving at 12:40 A.M. Both girls are seen on camera, nothing seemingly eventful occurs at the club. Around 3 that morning, a downstairs neighbor says they heard noises in their apartment that sounded like a loud thud and furniture being overturned. About 40 minutes later, Faith’s phone sent a text to her ex-boyfriend, Brandon Edwards, saying, “"Hey b. Can you come over here please. Rosario needs you more aha. You know. Please let her know you care" minutes later he received another text saying, “than”. It is believed that she sent the second text to replace the “aha” she sent in the previous text. But, that has never been proven. Karena was also trying to call Brandon around the same time. When he didn’t answer, she called Jordan McCrary, who picked Karena up around 4:25 A.M. from their apartment. Karena says she thought Faith was asleep and left the door unlocked when she left. The next morning, Karena was trying to get ahold of Faith to bring her a paper she needed to submit in class. When she could not get ahold of Faith, she asked a friend, Marisol Rangel, to drive her back to her apartment. Shortly before 11:00 that morning, they found Faith’s body in her room, partially naked and wrapped in a sheet. Karena called 911 after the discovery. While there has never been evidence connecting Karena to the crime, her 911 call has been scrutinized by the public for years. Faith had been beaten to death with an empty liquor bottle. While police never confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted, semen was found on her body and she was not fully dressed. A cryptic note written on a take out bag was also found next to Faith’s body. It read, “I’M NOT STUPID BITCH JEALOUS”. The letter had no blood, indicating it had been written in a different room or before the crime. The sloppy nature of the letter can also mean the killer was attempting to disguise their actual handwriting. DNA from the semen was able to eliminate a few people, but it did not match anybody in the DNA database when they ran it.
That was until September 2021 when Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares was arrested for drunk driving. When he was booked in jail, his DNA was taken and entered into the database. It matched the DNA found on Faith Hedgepeth. He was subsequently arrested for her murder. His arrest came as a complete surprise to everyone. He was not a suspect before his DNA was matched and nobody knows the nature of his relationship with Faith, or if he even knew her at all before her murder.
My Theory (Disclaimer: This is strictly my theory based on my knowledge of the case, true crime and criminal psychology. This is not the opinion of anybody else than me.):
I believe on the night of the murder, Faith ran into Salguero-Oliveras, who was attracted to Faith. Faith then rejected his advances, causing him to become enraged. I think after Faith left the club, he followed her to where she lived. The take-out bag the note was written on came from a restaurant called Time-Out, a two minute walk from the club Faith had been at with Karena before her murder. I believe he either got food from there while he was at the club, or went there after he followed Faith home then returned to her apartment where he wrote the note outside. Once he realized Faith was alone, he entered the apartment and began to beat her with the liquor bottle out of rage, then raped her.
There are a few different reasons I believe this. The first being the crime scene demonstrated the work of a mixed offender . He left DNA which shows his lack of knowledge of forensics and possibly a low IQ. But, if he had written the note beforehand, it can show some level of an organized offense. However, all other evidence would lean towards a disorganized attack. The cause of Faith’s death, blunt force trauma to the head, also says something about the murderer. It shows that whoever killed her was enraged. People who murder someone by violently beating them are usually in a state of extreme anger when they do so. Therefore, they choose to assault their victim in a violent, hands-on way. I theorize that he targeted her face in the beating to steal her beauty away from her. This was because in his head, he believed Faith to be a beautiful and unattainable woman. By damaging what makes her attractive, she is no longer better than him. This also makes me believe that if she was raped, it was a power reassurance rape. These sub-categories of rape are usually a blitz attack, though the victim could be targeted beforehand. Offenders who commit this type of rape are usually trying to reassure themselves that they are adequate and manly. I think this is what the note was meant to accomplish. Maybe Faith had called him stupid, or implied that she thought such. Hence why he left it with her, it was his final step to prove himself. Based on the fact he left semen behind, I believe that this was probably his first attack, but not his only one. I would not be surprised if there were other victims of his that he did not leave DNA with because he “improved” his skills after he murdered Faith. But his level of rage makes me believe that she might not be his only victim. However, I could fathom if Faith was his only attack, he might not be a serial offender. It’s possible that he had external stressors at the time she rejected him that caused him to explode that night. Such as being on drugs or dealing with issues in his personal life. Either way, I would not be shocked if he had a history of abusing prior girlfriends, if he ever had any.
If he did not actually rape Faith, I think he masturbated over her body and ejaculated on her. This was his attempt to defile and disrespect her. His ejaculation on her body could have also been his way of showing that he has power over her and proving that he is in fact, sexually adequate. If this was the case, I think that maybe he tried to rape Faith when he entered her apartment. But, he was not able to achieve or maintain an erection. This “embarrassment” made him feel inadequate and enraged him to the point that he started to beat Faith.
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