Today, Sept. 26, is Faith's birthday... no better moment than now to commit to bringing justice to her untimely death.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Justice For Faith
This is a serious effort to use a cyber collaborative approach to connect the dots that, so far, law enforcement has been unable to do.
Commenters are encouraged to post any thoughts/links they wish to share that may prove helpful [or send to me at: delphi4c@gmail.com ] And pass the word of this site on to other interested parties.
Meanwhile, below, in no particular order, are some of the key questions I have that have likely already been answered by law enforcement:
Also, have all personal DNA samples taken been buccal swabs?
11. Who is ETJ's cousin that lives in same complex or was at The Thrill on night-in-question?
If anyone can send along fairly definite answers to any of the above please feel free to.
I have many other questions about various details, but will leave those aside for now.
What pressing questions do YOU still have?
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Commenters are encouraged to post any thoughts/links they wish to share that may prove helpful [or send to me at: delphi4c@gmail.com ] And pass the word of this site on to other interested parties.
Meanwhile, below, in no particular order, are some of the key questions I have that have likely already been answered by law enforcement:
1. Why did KR leave the apt. around 4:30am, and what did she say in her morning calls to BME?10. Are there any remaining persons of interest who have NOT given DNA samples?
2. Which fast-food place did the note-bag left at crime scene come from?
3. What was Faith's approximate time-of-death?
4. Have any fingerprints found at the crime scene been matched to any persons-of-interest?
5. Were the individual apts. below and next to Faith's occupied at the time of her assault?
6. Was handwriting analysis and comparison done on the note-bag left at crime scene, and were handwriting samples gathered from major persons-of-interest?
7. If it is true (as reported from one source) that the apt. door was left unlocked when KR left, did the perpetrator(s) simply walk through an unlocked door (and was Faith asleep?) or did in fact Faith let someone in?
8. Faith worked at a "Red Robin" restaurant near her apt. Did any employee or diner of that workplace ever come under suspicion?
9. Who did DB, BME, and others drive home with when leaving The Thrill?
Also, have all personal DNA samples taken been buccal swabs?
11. Who is ETJ's cousin that lives in same complex or was at The Thrill on night-in-question?
12. Am curious if the DNA on-file from the crime scene is routinely RE-run through a national database every 6-12 months?
If anyone can send along fairly definite answers to any of the above please feel free to.
I have many other questions about various details, but will leave those aside for now.
What pressing questions do YOU still have?
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Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Introduction (long introductory material about the crime):
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To familiarize yourself and keep up with the case you can check out these Webpages pertaining to the investigation (or send me other suggestions):
[...unfortunately, I've not found time to update or correct any info below so not all links may work, and some info may be outdated or off]
1) Journalist/private investigator Tom Gasparoli has a blog devoted to the case here (I recommend reading all his entries, as he has bits of information not available elsewhere):
Another summary of case here:
2) a thread at WebSleuths.com is devoted to the Faith Hedgepeth homicide here:
3) official documents finally released by law enforcement (being forced by court order after an unnecessary two-year delay) are viewable here:
4) The note (on a fast-food bag) presumably left by the killer:
(it reads, "I'm not stupid Bitch Jealous")
5) A Reddit thread with speculation:
6) Some older local coverage of the crime is here:
And this Google search will take you to more press stories:
7) Faith's old Facebook page remains up:
https://www.facebook.com/faith.hedgepeth as does that of her roommate at the time, Karena Rosario:
(several other Facebook pages are potentially pertinent, but I won't put those up at this time)
Faith's Twitter acct. also available:
and her Instagram acct. here:
Finally, please note this video tribute to Faith:
For now, I'll be using initials for most of the individuals mentioned below and in posts, including for Faith, who is FDH, and her roommate, Karena Rosario, KR.
Below is a rough timeline, as best I understand it, of some significant events, that I'll be modifying as needed, as more information becomes available. If anyone knows of corrections, additions, or changes needed please let me know. [email: delphi4c@gmail.com ]
Or, if you can answer any of the questions I ask in the Sept. 21 post please let me know.
Timeline:
4/27/12 -- one-time KR-boyfriend ETJ arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia
7/5/12 -- ETJ breaks into bedroom of KR apt. and threatens KR physically.
7/10/12 -- ETJ breaks into KR apt. again
7/11/12 -- ETJ (who lived in apt. 904 of Hawthorne at the View) given a restraining order from visiting KR's apt. (#1502 at same complex).
August -- FDH moves in with KR to share a 1-bedroom apt. (they have been friends for quite sometime) until FDH has school financial aid restored.
(according to one report ETJ resents FDH's presence as a hindrance to his continuing interest in KR)
9/5/12 -- BME spends night on couch at KR/FDH apt. (leaving residence ~11am, but will see them again at The Thrill that night)
9/6/12 -- ETJ purportedly texts and posts a message, asking "to forgive him for what he was about to do"
9/6/12 ~7:30 FDH & KR go to Davis Library on UNC campus to study; returning to Hawthorne apt. before midnight.
~ 1 am. FDH & KR go to The Thrill nightclub in Chapel Hill; seeing several men there (including BME and DB, and I believe a QB and BW, and likely others)
FDH & KR leave Thrill in FDH's car ~2:30am (KR is purportedly feeling sick at the time), returning home by 3:00 am. (FDH is last seen talking to DB before leaving Thrill).
early morning phone calls:
FDH's phone (presumably FDH herself) was used to text BME at 3:41am and again at 3:43am. The first message read:
"Hey b. Can you come over here please. Karena needs you more aha. You know. Please let her know you care."
followed up shortly thereafter with a second simple text: "Than"
I believe the 2nd call was merely delivering a correction to the first wrongly auto-corrected call, which was intended to read:
"Hey b. Can you come over here please. Karena needs you more than you know. Please let her know you care."
Later BME would message back at 4:16am 4:16PM, NOT AM as I previously stated., "Who is this?," as by then he already had the news of Faith's death (apparently having only received her texts later in the day?).
Meanwhile, 4 brief phone calls (not texts) went from KR's phone to BME at 3:44, 3:52, 3:55, and 4:14 (all less than 40 seconds) -- note, BME is texting back to FDH's phone just two mins. after the call from KR at 4:14. Then, just 15 mins. after that final call to BME, KR is picked up by JM to go to a house in Chapel Hill to stay much of the remainder of morning (according to at least one account she left the apt. door UNLOCKED upon leaving, and FDH may have been sleeping on the bed at that point). The phone of one of the residents of that Chapel Hill house, JB, is later shown to have been in a nearby area around that very time, though no indication what number it made a call to.
Only one individual (so far as I'm aware) heard anything out-of-ordinary from the KR/FDH apt. the rest of morning, and I'm not clear at what time or how loud or 'out-of-the ordinary' that was (despite FDH suffering a major prolonged beating/assault resulting in her death), but close to 11am KR returns to apt. with a friend MR, and discovers her murdered roommate. You can read an unofficial transcript of the call she made to 911 here (or you can contact Chapel Hill Police Dept. public information office to get the audio -- and several who have heard the actual audio believe it is quite odd, even casting suspicion on KR):
The gruesome death scene is described in documents...
Blood was splattered at the crime scene, both around the victim and bed, and on the wall and a closet door. Her body was on the floor but leaning against the bed (one thing that is not clear to me is whether or not KR had moved the body at all while following instructions from the 911 dispatcher), and was naked from the waist down with her shirt pulled up over her head. The victim had been beaten extensively, with blunt force trauma to the head being the cause of death according to the autopsy. Semen collected at the scene is believed to belong to the perpetrator. Police documents give several more details about the scene, but also leave several details out.
9/9/12 -- ETJ changes cover photo of his Facebook page, with statement, "Dear Lord, Forgive me for all of my sins and the sins I may commit today. Protect me from the girls who don't deserve me and the ones who wish me dead today."
9/11/12 -- ETJ's Jeep searched (his apt. as well, though I'm not sure of date) (Despite tremendous focus on, and circumstantial evidence against, ETJ early on, I've heard of no actual physical evidence connecting him to the crime scene; indeed early concentration on him may have simply permitted time for other suspects to clean up their possessions and themselves and coordinate their stories). I've never heard of scratches, bruises, marks, etc. (as might be expected on the perp) being recorded by police on the bodies of any early suspect.
9/12/12 -- BME's Honda vehicle is processed/searched (also his apt.)
December 2012 -- RLJ of Greensboro, who exchanged texts with FDH in days preceding the murder is interviewed by law enforcement. I've seen no indication of whether RLJ was at The Thrill on the night in question?
March 2013 -- DB, last person seen with FDH, when she left The Thrill nightclub, is interviewed by law enforcement (his answers don't totally match answers given by others). I believe a BW and QDB (both also from Thrill) are interviewed as well in March. Also, JB resident at Chapel Hill house where KR spent the morning after leaving apt., is questioned by police. JB had some history of threats and possible other problems in his former home of Ohio. He claims to have been at home all night despite phone records showing his cell phone in the crime scene area ~4:15am.
September 2014 -- after an egregious 2-year delay, various warrants/court documents are finally released to the public/press, having been sealed repeatedly during the active investigation, while law enforcement continues to beg the public for assistance.
The police believe whoever left DNA at the scene (semen) and wrote the bag-note is the killer… despite that likelihood, there ARE other scenarios possible, based on the limited information released (law enforcement has a LOT more information than the details thus far made public -- including extensive interviews with key persons giving answers the public has yet to see; and a lot of physical evidence as well remains undisclosed).
Although I believe I understand some of whom HAVE and HAVE NOT given DNA samples to law enforcement (and LE has found no DNA matches to crime scene thus far), I'm not going to say, since there is some ambiguity involved, and I could be mistaken -- and this is VERY IMPORTANT info (so I won't risk spreading erroneous info on it for now)... but will say that I believe at least two individuals have not, at this writing, given DNA samples… most others have, sometimes being compelled to by court order.
But moreover, I'm NOT confident that the DNA samples have, in all instances, been processed properly or accurately.
I've tried to summarize key events above, but for anyone seriously interested in this case, there is no substitute for pouring over the actual released (and redacted) official documents at: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1283962-hedgepeth-case-files.html
[It is still possible that NONE of the individuals mentioned in those documents, or here, are the guilty parties, and that the scenario as painted by law enforcement may be very misleading.]
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, if you have insights/thoughts/ideas that you think may have bearing on this case feel free to write in a comments section here, or email me at: delphi4c@gmail.com anonymously, or otherwise. I do have my own current hypothesis of how this senseless crime transpired, but it is little more than conjecture at this point. Again though, two years is looong enough for this case to have dragged on! For Faith's friends and family let's bring about some closure. The perps should know that the longer this case goes unsolved, the MORE interested (not less), and the MORE persistent, and the MORE relentless some of us will become. In the long-ago words of John Donne, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
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THEORIES....
People have of course proposed several theories about this crime:
1) The most common hypothesis I see is that KR's ex-bf, ETJ, is the guilty party. A great deal of incriminating evidence certainly surrounds him, and he also had opportunity, motive, and emotion for the crime (I won't spell all that out right now, but those familiar with the case know what it involves). Yet, ETJ was closely looked at early in the case; he was searched/interviewed, his apt. and vehicle searched, and I believe (but haven't verified) that his DNA was run… and, so far as I can tell, law enforcement came up empty… and moved on. In fact, it almost appears that they spent so much time on ETJ early on that they may have missed evidence pointing in other directions 'til too late.
If it should eventually turn out that ETJ is the perp, one has to wonder what took law enforcement so long???
2) Multiple people have cast suspicion on the roommate, KR, as somehow being involved with the crime, due to 3 factors:
a. Her direct connections to several of the persons-of-interest.
b. Her abrupt departure from the apt. at 4:30am, quite possibly shortly before the crime occurred.
c. What some see as odd responses/language during her 911 call, later in the morning, upon finding Faith's body.
I'm not personally a proponent of the roommate-involvement theory, but I understand why others find her suspect (and I don't have answers to questions about her).
[Yet another theory posits that perhaps KR was the actual intended victim, and Faith just a victim of circumstance when the perp found KR absent -- again, I don't put much weight on it, but unwilling to completely discount it.]
3) My own view leans toward there being 2 perpetrators (and perhaps even 3) all coming from the crowd that were at The Thrill on the same night with FDH and her roommate (I have specific reasons and names in mind, but won't pinpoint that for now). I will go out on a further speculative limb though, and say that if it was a single individual, than I'm guessing they were right-handed, at least 6' tall, and at least 220 lbs.
4) I've seen at least one person argue for the probability of this being a "stranger" crime, not committed by any of the persons-of-interest, but by someone who simply followed Faith home that night. This seems wholly unlikely for a slew of reasons, BUT it would help explain possibly the biggest mystery in this case: why, in two years, no DNA or fingerprint match has been made between the crime scene and a person-of-interest.
5) Perhaps I should add that Faith worked part-time at a nearby Red Robin restaurant, and did have ex-boyfriends, but so far as I'm aware, no workmates, customers, boyfriends, classmates, etc. have come under serious suspicion (if someone knows otherwise, it would be interesting to hear).
Any other significant theories out there distinct from the above???
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