A jury in Durham, North Carolina, on Friday, October 23, found Miguel Salguero Olivares guilty of first-degree murder in the 2012 killing of Faith Hedgepeth, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jurors deliberated about six hours over two days before convicting him on all four counts, which also included first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and a first-degree sexual offense, ABC11 reported.
Judge Keith Gregory sentenced Olivares, 33, to life without parole on the murder count. The coverage of the verdict did not say whether the defense plans to appeal.
A cold case solved by a DNA sample
Hedgepeth was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012. Her roommate testified that Hedgepeth, the designated driver that night, drove the two of them home from a club around 2 a.m. The roommate, who was drunk and sick, left with a friend and returned hours later to find her body.
The case went unsolved for nine years. Olivares was arrested in 2021 after a DNA sample submitted to the state crime lab matched a profile from the original scene. ABC reported that the sample was taken after a traffic stop for driving while intoxicated. When Chapel Hill police announced the charge, Assistant Police Chief Celisa Lehew said the investigation was not complete and gave few other details.
At trial, the forensic evidence was the center of the state's case. Experts testified that Olivares's fingerprints and palm print were on a wine bottle at the scene. His DNA was found on Hedgepeth's body, on a note written on a fast-food bag, and on a blood-covered rum bottle that investigators identified as the weapon. According to testimony reported by ABC, the DNA on the rum bottle top was 48.6 tredecillion times more likely to come from Hedgepeth and Olivares than from two unknown, unrelated people.
"We know who did it. The forensic evidence is screaming his name," Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca told the jury in closing, according to ABC. Special prosecutor Lisa Coltrane said Olivares "left his DNA like confetti all over that room."
What the defense argued
The defense never disputed that Olivares's DNA was there. It disputed what the DNA meant. In his opening statement, defense attorney James Rainsford told jurors that "finding something doesn't mean a crime occurred. You have to connect them."
The defense pointed to gaps in the investigation. A friend who picked up the roommate said he saw what looked like blood on her hands. A downstairs neighbor reported loud thumps between 3 and 4 a.m. Police did not search some areas of the apartment and later lost possible blood evidence from the bathroom.
In closing, the defense said investigators had "tunnel vision" and treated Olivares as a monster rather than a 19-year-old who may have had consensual sex with Hedgepeth days earlier. "Maybe he had too much to drink, maybe he forgot about an encounter," defense attorney Jason Murphy said. The defense called no witnesses, and Olivares did not testify.
Prosecutors also offered a theory that Olivares had been at a neighbor's barbecue that night and returned angry. ABC reported that no witness corroborated that theory, and the jury did not need it to convict.
Why the verdict matters
Cold cases built on a database hit often turn on the same question the defense raised here. A DNA match can prove contact. Whether it proves a crime depends on timing, context and how the scene was handled. Lost evidence and unsearched rooms give the defense room to argue doubt, and they are the kind of issues appellate lawyers typically examine after a conviction.
The trial also played out in Durham, where the Duke lacrosse case showed two decades ago what happens when DNA evidence is mishandled. This time the jury found the science left no reasonable doubt. Like the Keefe D verdict in the Tupac case, it shows that old cases can still reach a jury, and that the defense fight in those trials is usually about the gaps the years leave behind.
It is the kind of case the Two Taps legal panel of Daniel Rosenberg, Michael Dye and Lloyd Golburgh takes apart on the show.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
