Faith Hedgepeth murder trial live updates: Defense scrutinizes roommate’s account
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Faith Hedgepeth was a UNC sophomore when she was killed on Sept. 7, 2012. Her murder was unsolved until Sept. 16, 2021, when Chapel Hill police made an arrest in her case. The murder trial begins Sept. 28, 2026. Here’s ongoing coverage about Hedgepeth and the case.
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Faith Hedgepeth’s former roommate continues her testimony Thursday, Oct. 8, after speaking publicly Wednesday for the first time about what unfolded the morning the UNC-Chapel Hill student was killed.
Karena Rosario’s testimony is among the most anticipated in the murder trial of Miguel Salguero Olivares, who is charged with murdering Hedgepeth in her office-campus apartment on Sept, 7, 2012.
The News & Observer is in the Durham County courtroom providing live updates during the day. Follow through the day for the latest from the trial.
Salguero Olivares’ attorney James Rainsford asked Rosario about Jordan McCrary telling police that when he picked her up around 4:20 a.m. on the morning of Hedgepeth’s death she said she had blood on her finger.
Rosario said she doesn’t recall saying that. She said she likely thought it was from the red slushy tequila drinks that she had consumed at The Thrill.
Rainsford also questioned why Rosario told police that she had left a polka dot tube top at McCrary’s on the morning of the killing. Police found the top in the bed in her and Hedgepeth’s apartment.
After waking up in the morning, Rosario said, she changed into a purple top she had previously left at McCrary’s previously. “I honestly thought I left it,” Rosario said.
Rainsford begins his cross-examination of Rosario. He asks Rosario about what happened after they returned from The Thrill around 3 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2012.
Rosario said she threw up in a trashcan in the bedroom and then moved to the bathroom and started texting people. Rosario said she didn’t communicate with Hedgepeth after that, and Rainsford questioned whether she thought it was odd Hedgepeth didn’t check on her. Rosario said she was drunk and focused on texting one of her ex-boyfriends and talking to McCrary, with whom she had previously spent the night.
Rainsford also asked why Rosario left the apartment at 4:20 a.m. and did not wash her face, brush her teeth, or take anything besides her phone. Rainsford also asked why she didn’t bring her backpack if she had class the next morning. Rosario said she wasn’t thinking that far ahead and was focused on connecting with and spending time with McCrary.
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As Rainsford prepares to cross-examination of Rosario, he checks with Judge Keith O. Gregory about his order limiting statements implicating Rosario, ensuring that he understood correctly that he could introduce certain evidence that the prosecutors and the defense agreed on.
The account Rosario gave police in 2012 has been scrutinized for years by investigators, defense attorneys and the public, and Thursday’s questioning could bring some of those lingering questions into the courtroom.
In the summer of 2025, the three-member defense team for Salguero Olivares started filing motions, seeking evidence and raising questions about whether Rosario was in the apartment when Hedgepeth died.
Prosecutors, including Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry, called the information misleading and unsuccessfully sought to have all future pretrial filings and hearings closed to the public. Prosecutors, however, were successful in asking the judge to limit statements and evidence about Rosario that the defense team sought to use to allege that she was involved in the killing.
Prosecutors described Salguero Olivares, now 33, as a stranger to Hedgepeth who broke into the apartment after Rosario left around 4:20 a.m., beat Hedgepeth with a rum bottle, raped her and left her to die. They say DNA evidence connects him to the crime.
Defense attorneys have questioned Rosario’s account of that night, pointing to a witness who said he saw blood on her finger and raising questions about whether she was still in the apartment when Hedgepeth was killed.
Once scrutinized in UNC student Faith Hedgepeth’s death, roommate takes the stand
This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 8:30 AM with the headline “Faith Hedgepeth murder trial live updates: Defense scrutinizes roommate’s account.”
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