College student’s 2012 murder went unsolved 9 years. A NC jury has convicted her killer

Jurors found Miguel Salguero Olivares guilty Friday of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree burglary in connection with the 2012 killing of Faith Hedgepeth in North Carolina.

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“We’ve been waiting a long time,” Connie Hedgepeth, Faith Hedgepeth’s mother, said during the sentencing that followed the verdict.

Judge Keith Gregory sentenced Salguero Olivares, 33, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. He also sentenced him to:

• 20 to 29 years for first-degree rape
• 20 to 29 years for first-degree sexual assault
• 5 years and 4 months to 7 years and 5 months for first-degree burglary

Each sentence will run consecutively.

Friday’s verdict came after nearly two weeks of testimony and over six hours of deliberation. Salguero Olivares did not testify, and the defense called no witnesses and presented no evidence during the trial.

As the court clerk confirmed with each juror that they agreed with the verdict, Salguero Olivares shook his head.

Hedgepeth’s family held hands with each other, the State Bureau of Investigation investigator and the district attorney’s legal assistant. At least one juror wiped away tears with a tissue.

The faces of Salguero Olivares’ family showed no emotion. Salguero Olivares spoke to his attorneys as three deputies surrounded him, watching him closely.

Arrest came 9 years after Faith Hedgepeth’s death

Salguero Olivares was arrested in September 2021, nine years after Hedgepeth, a 19-year-old sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill, was found dead in the off-campus apartment she shared with a roommate on Sept. 7, 2012.

Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry, who ran for office on a platform that opposed capital punishment, announced soon after his arrest that she would not seek the death penalty in the case.

After the sentencing, defense attorney James Rainsford notified the court that Salguero Olivares would appeal the decision and said he had advised him against addressing the courtroom.

‘I knew I had to forgive,’ Connie Hedgepeth says

Hedgepeth’s parents said they forgave Salguero Olivares — at least as a person.

Roland Hedgepeth said he raised his daughter while he was going through drug addiction. Still, Faith loved him unconditionally.

“I thought she was a joy to everybody she met,” he said before the sentencing. “But apparently not.”

Connie Hedgepeth said she was glad her family had closure but that, as early as three weeks after her daughter was killed, she knew she had to forgive her killer.

“It didn’t matter who done it,” Connie Hedgepeth said. “I knew I had to forgive.”

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Gregory, the judge, said he admired her capacity to forgive and shared that his son was a sophomore at UNC-CH when Faith Hedgepeth was killed.

“We’re not supposed to bury our children,” the judge told Roland Hedgepeth.

Two of Faith Hedgepeth’s nieces, Alexis Evans and Schylar Steverson, also spoke.

Before Gregory sentenced Salguero Olivares, he emphasized how diverse the jury was and how seriously the jurors took their job. The jury consisted of five Black women, four white women, two Black men and one white man.

“I will never understand this world — why people think it’s OK to kill somebody,” Gregory said.

Prosecutors: Hedgepeth’s roommate ‘vindicated’

As the last person beside her killer to see Hedgepeth alive, her roommate Karena Rosario was closely scrutinized.

Defense attorneys questioned whether she was still in the apartment when Hedgepeth was killed, pointing to a friend’s account of seeing blood on Rosario’s finger and inconsistencies in her recollections of that morning.

But on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca said from the first time prosecutors met Rosario, it was clear she missed Hedgepeth and wanted justice for her. Garcia-Lamarca said she hoped the verdict “vindicated” Rosario and cleared a “cloud” that had hung over her for years.

Deberry, the district attorney, said the case brought scrutiny to Rosario because her reaction to finding Hedgepeth’s body veered from expectations. All the social media buzz made onlookers forget that Rosario was also 19 when Hedgepeth was killed, she said.

“We 100% trusted Karena Rosario,” Deberry said.

Background of the Faith Hedgepeth trial

Prosecutors contended that Salguero Olivares entered the apartment after Rosario left early that morning, sexually assaulted Hedgepeth and beat her to death with a glass rum bottle.

Their case centered on DNA evidence they said linked Salguero Olivares to Hedgepeth’s body and items found at the crime scene, along with fingerprint evidence on a wine bottle.

Defense attorneys challenged what that evidence proved about when Salguero Olivares might have been in the apartment and what happened there. They also questioned the investigation, pointing to missing evidence and items that were never tested.

The trial left several questions unanswered, including how Salguero Olivares allegedly found Hedgepeth’s apartment and the meaning of a handwritten message left on a paper bag on her bed.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors said Salguero Olivares’ motive was revenge: Hedgepeth took her roommate home from the club after Rosario became sick from drinking. Salguero Olivares made a romantic advance toward Rosario, and Hedgepeth rebuffed him, they suggested. Embarrassed in front of his friends, prosecutors say Salguero Olivares took his anger out on Hedgepeth.

But it wasn’t until their closing arguments that prosecutors revealed Salguero Olivares’ alleged motive. Prosecutors did not present direct evidence during the trial to establish a motive.

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This story was originally published October 23, 2026 at 7:38 PM.