Who Killed Faith Hedgepeth?

Faith Hedgepeth was a 19-year old college student who was murdered on September 7th, 2012 in her off-campus apartment. Faith was attending the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She wanted to become a doctor and help the members of her tribe, she was a member of the Haiiwa-Saponi Native Americans.

On the night before, Faith was very busy. At 5:45pm she attended a rush event for her sorority Alpha Phi Omega. At 8pm, she went with her roommate Karena Rosario to the library to write a paper. They left the library around 11:30 and went to a nightclub around midnight called Thrill (which is now closed). They stayed for about 2 hours and left at 2:06am because her roommate Karena wanted to go home because she was sick.

By 3am, Faith and Karena were home. There was a woman who said she heard noises coming from a nearby apartment while she was watching TV and that it sounded like “someone was moving furniture.” This is where this case gets tricky because Faith’s Facebook account was activated and someone sent a text message from Faith’s phone to Karena’s ex-boyfriend, Brandon at 3:40am. The text read:

““Hey b. Can you come over here please. Rosario needs you more aha. You know. Please let her know you care.” ”

He responded back and said “who is this.” Karena also called him and another man named Jordan McCrary. Karena said she left the apartment to be with Jordan at 4:25am and that Faith was sleeping. Karena also said she left the door unlocked. (I have a lot of opinions about Karena, but more on that later). Karena and another friend Marisol Rangel arrived back at the apartment the next day at 11am and called out to Faith because they had class. They found her dead in her bedroom and called 911.

To me, the 911 call is the most interesting part of this case. I’ve watched several shows on Investigation Discovery about this case, but I think the one that I liked best was the ID An American Mystery: Who Killed the Co-Ed? They go over parts of this 911 call made by Karena a lot. I’m not going to get super deep into it but I will go over it a little.

The 911 call starts where Karena says “hi, I um just walked into my apartment,” then says again that she walked into the apartment and “my friend is like unconscious”. All investigators that looked into the 911 call pretty much ripped Karena to shreds because she didn’t mention Faith by name and only said “my friend,” and she stated over and over that she was not in the apartment. They also said that she was very calm and didn’t appear to cry or yell and say hurry, almost like she knew Faith was already dead. I couldn’t find an exact clip of the 911 call but I did look at an statement analysis and it goes more into detail of what they think Karena meant in every section of the 911 call. https://statement-analysis.blogspot.com/2015/12/911-call-faith-hedgepeth-murder-2012.html

Next, I want to talk about the infamous note left at the crime scene. The note read: “I’m not stupid bitch. Jealous.” To me, I’ve always thought a female wrote it because being a girl myself, it sounds like something a female especially a jealous girl would say. It also sounds a bit high school to me but that’s my opinion. It was written on a to go bag and left near Faith’s body.

This case is honestly so strange because there’s also a very chilling voicemail. Now, this is where it gets confusing because apparently the voicemail time was when they were still at the club and a few of Faith’s friends said that they got butt dialed by Faith while she was out. The voicemail was time stamped at 1:23am. It starts off with a female voice saying “get off me",” followed by “help help", which is maybe Faith’s if we believe this is when she was being attacked. It’s stated there’s at least two men and two women’s voices in the video and that several names stand out. Rosie is the first name and apparently Karena was called Rosie because of her last name Rosario. The man’s name is also Eriq, which brings us to Karena’s ex Erik Takoy Jones.

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/05/faith-hedgepeth-voicemail-transcript-recording/ - Here is the audio clips of part of the 911 call and the voicemail.

Suspects:

Karena Rosario- It’s stated many times that many many people think Karena’s involved and that maybe she and Faith weren’t as close before Faith was killed.

Eriq Takoy Jones- Eriq was Karena’s ex. Karena filed a restraining order against Eriq for being violent towards her. It’s reported that Faith was the one who said Karena should file the order and went with her to the police. This is a possibility but I think Karena’s more involved than Eriq.

This is a very confusing case and how it’s still unsolved I don’t know but I guess they just don’t have any evidence. I believe Karena or “Rosie” is involved and was maybe jealous of Faith. Faith seemed to be a very studious person, stayed out of drama for the most part and was even trying to move out on her own and away from Karena. Karena seemed like she was more into men than school and was involved with some not so great characters like Eriq. I do believe Eriq could be involved but it doesn’t really explain the “I’m not stupid bitch, jealous” note, that seems more like a girl thing. I think Faith wanted to get away from Karena, Karena was mad or jealous and hurt her with the help of several other people.

It’s been almost 8 years and no charges or suspects have ever been reported.

#JusticeForFaith

Arrest

On Thursday, September 16, 2021, the Chapel Hill police announced they have arrested the person they believe killed Faith. They have arrested 28 year old Miguel Enrique Salguero-Oliveras. He has been charged with first degree murder. His DNA was a match to the crime scene.

Faith’s dad Roland said of the news: “It was an honor to be Faith’s dad.”

https://abc11.com/faith-hedgepeth-update-chapel-hill-police-death/11025184/

https://www.wral.com/man-charged-with-first-degree-murder-in-death-of-faith-hedgepeth/19879688/

I will update this case again when the case goes to trial. At least, a suspect has been charged. This is the first step in the justice that Faith and her family deserve.

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