A man accused of killing a North Carolina college student 14 years ago was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, rape and other charges after prosecutors told jurors that forensic evidence was “screaming his name.”
asserted
evidence → accuse → name
Faith Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012.
asserted
she → beat → September
Miguel Salguero Olivares was arrested nine years later after being pulled over for driving while intoxicated and providing a DNA sample that prosecutors say matched evidence from the crime scene.
asserted
prosecutors → arrest → scene
Salguero Olivares, 33, did not testify during the trial, and his attorneys rested their case without calling any witnesses.
asserted
attorneys → testify → witnesses
Jurors deliberated for six hours over two days before convicting him of murder, rape, sexual offense and burglary.
asserted
Jurors → deliberate → murder
He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge plus 45-65 years on the other charges.
asserted
He → sentence → charges
Hedgepeth’s mother, Connie Hedgepeth, told the judge that she forgave her daughter’s killer long ago.
asserted
she → tell → killer
It didn’t matter who done it, I knew that I had to forgive, and I do forgive, but my heart aches for his family,” she said.
asserted
she → matter → family
“It was just such a senseless and cruel act, but we have to go on, and we just have to trust God and go on with our lives.”
asserted
we → have → lives
Roland Hedgepeth, Faith’s father, said losing his daughter was like having his heart ripped out.
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heart → say → daughter
He called her a beacon of hope who was born at a low point in his life and admitted it had been easier over the past 5,158 days to say he forgave someone he didn’t know.
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he → call → someone
“Today it got very real,” he said.
asserted
he → get → ?
“Nevertheless, I say it without reservation, I forgive Miguel for what he did.”
asserted
he → say → what
Calling those statements “powerful and kind,” defense attorney James Rainsford said he also could speak about his client and his client’s family but decided not to.
uncertain
he → call → client
“For me to try to blend the two things, I don’t think that’s what everybody needs at this point.”
asserted
everybody → try → point
Defense argued the client was falsely accused
asserted
client → argue → ?
In closing arguments Thursday, defense attorneys accused investigators of having “tunnel vision” in assuming that their client was a monster and not a “19-year-old boy” who had consensual sex with the victim days before her death.
asserted
who → accuse → death
Prosecutors, meanwhile, urged jurors to rely on DNA evidence instead of distractions from the defense team.
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Prosecutors → urge → team
“We know who did it.
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who → know → it
The forensic evidence is screaming his name,” said prosecutor Angela Garcia-Lamarca, who described the “uncurable agony” Hedgepeth’s family has endured.
asserted
family → scream → agony
“When the defendant brought that bottle down on her head and she started to bleed, that was the start of a bleeding that still hasn’t stopped,” she said.
asserted
she → bring → bleeding
“He sentenced her to death.
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He → sentence → death
He sentenced everybody else who loved her to life.
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who → sentence → life
You’re here now, and you can stop him.”
asserted
you → ’re → him
Prosecution suggests victim spurned defendant’s advances
Nearly two dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution, including crime scene technicians, state and local law enforcement, a DNA expert and Hedgepeth’s friends.
Hedgepeth’s roommate, Karena Rosario, testified that she was drunk and sick when Hedgepeth drove them home from a club around 2 a.m. that Sept. 7.
uncertain
Hedgepeth → suggest → a.m.
She said she later called a friend to pick her up, leaving Hedgepeth in the apartment alone.
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she → say → apartment
She returned hours later to find her roommate’s body.
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She → return → body
Though no witnesses corroborated the theory, prosecutors suggested Salguero Olivares may have attended a barbecue hosted by Hedgepeth’s neighbor that night, unsuccessfully hit on the young women in the parking lot and then returned, embarrassed and angry, after Rosario left.
uncertain
Rosario → corroborate → lot
Forensic evidence was a focus
Experts testified that the defendant’s fingerprints and palm print were found on a wine bottle at the scene and that his DNA was found in Hedgepeth’s body, on a note written on a fast-food bag found at the scene and on a rum bottle covered in blood that investigators identified as the weapon in the killing.
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investigators → testify → killing
Defense attorneys questioned Rosario’s account of that night, the processing of the crime scene and the reliability of some DNA evidence.
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attorneys → question → evidence
They pointed out that police failed to search some areas of the apartment and later lost some possible blood evidence and emphasized that DNA from sexual intercourse can remain for days afterward.
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DNA → point → days
“Maybe he was living the same life as other 19- and 20-year-old children that we’ve heard about in this case,” defense attorney Jason Murphy said.
asserted
Murphy → live → case
“Maybe he had too much to drink, maybe he forgot about an encounter.”
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he → have → encounter
But special prosecutor Lisa Coltrane dismissed that as “noise.”
asserted
Coltrane → dismiss → noise
“No matter what kind of mistakes were made or things that were missed, it doesn’t erase the palm print; it doesn’t somehow lift the DNA out of Faith,” she said.
asserted
she → make → Faith
“They didn’t talk to every single person in Chapel Hill, and it doesn’t matter.
asserted
it → talk → Hill
They still got the guy because he left his DNA like confetti all over that room.”
asserted
he → get → room
The Aporia
