Global InformationKilling of Faith Hedgepeth information
 Faith Hedgepeth | |
| Date | September 7, 2012 |
|---|---|
| Time | Between 4:25 and 11:00 a.m. |
| Location | Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 35°56′29″N 79°00′10″W / 35.94128°N 79.00266°W |
| Burial | Warrenton, North Carolina |
The body of Faith Hedgepeth (born September 26, 1992), an undergraduate student in her third year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), was found in her apartment by a friend on the morning of September 7, 2012. She had been beaten over the head with a blunt instrument, later found to be an empty liquor bottle, and evidence of semen and male DNA was present at the crime scene. The last time she was known for certain to be alive was much earlier that morning, when she went to bed after returning from a local nightclub with her roommate.[1]
Police have recovered considerable forensic evidence in the case, but so far it has served to eliminate one likely suspect, a former boyfriend of her roommate who reportedly expressed anger and resentment toward Hedgepeth, even supposedly threatening to kill her if he could not reunite with her roommate. His DNA, however, did not match that left at the scene. A note left at the scene, suggesting the writer was jealous, is also believed to have been written by the killer; it was among a large group of documents released by police two years after the crime, following a court action brought by several local media outlets.[2]
Four years after the killing, a Virginia DNA testing company prepared and released, at police's behest, an image showing what the suspect might look like based on his genetic phenotype.[3] A voicemail possibly accidentally recorded by Hedgepeth may also capture some of the events that led to her death.
In September 2021, the Chapel Hill Police Department announced an arrest in the case. The suspect, not initially considered, had been linked to the case through DNA evidence after a drunken-driving arrest the month before.[4]
- ^ Lopez, Ed; Valiente, Alexa (September 22, 2016). "Murdered UNC Student's Final Moments: What Police Say Happened to Faith Hedgepeth". ABC News. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Newly released docs detail police's case in UNC student's murder". WRAL-TV. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ Fuerte, Stephanie; Valiente, Alexa (September 23, 2016). "Police Release Facial Image They Say Could Help Identify Murdered UNC Student's Killer". ABC News. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ Grubb, Tammy; Shen-Berro, Julien; Bajpai, Avi; Bridges, Virginia (September 16, 2021). "9 years after UNC student Faith Hedgepeth was killed, Chapel Hill police make arrest". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. Retrieved September 16, 2021.