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19-year-old University of North Carolina student Faith Hedgepeth was brutally murdered on the morning of Sept. 7, 2012, in an off-campus apt. To this day, despite LOTS of evidence and suspicions, the case remains unsolved. It is my hope that a collaborative Web effort ("hivemind") may accomplish what law enforcement has been unable to do in two long years… solve this vicious, senseless crime. In recent years Web collaboration of 100s, has been the tool allowing many decades-old problems in science to be solved in a matter of months; it can work for solving crimes as well. On behalf of Faith, her friends, and loved ones... let's DO IT!

Here are links to several of the podcasts/sites that have covered the case in recent years (and of course you can google for many more news reports) -- I would caution though that virtually all podcasts and extended treatments of this case (including this blog!) have some facts wrong, and are highly speculative:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np8a4FoGE20 [20/20 broadcast]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz8mBob9aPs ["Trace Evidence"]


https://truenoirstories.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/faith-hedgepeth/


http://twistedpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-50-the-murder-of-faith-hedgepeth


https://crimewatchdaily.com/2016/02/16/crime-watch-daily-investigates-the-murder-of-faith-hedgepeth/


https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/breaking-homicide/full-episodes/who-killed-faith (2018 episode)


ALSO, because of the heavy suspicion usually directed toward Karena Rosario, I'll leave a permanent link to this longish "Defense" of Karena that has been offered by a reader:

https://faithhedgepeth.blogspot.com/p/on-september-7-2012-faith-danielle.html


==> [Finally, I have moved the long introductory material to the bottom so newest posts will now appear closer to the top (but you can click as needed if you want to review, or read for the first time, the basics about this crime).]
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Friday, November 25, 2016

Pondering....


In large part, since law enforcement has indicated it had “100s” of new leads generated by the earlier 20/20 broadcast, I was content to wait and see what new info, if any, might come from those leads. On the other hand, unless there’s a major breakthrough, I suspect we won’t hear from the police again until next fall when they tell us for the 5th year in a row that they are asking for any new info the public can provide. :-(

So in meantime, I’ll throw out one thing I’ve grappled with:
By all indications Faith’s death was very violent; one might expect a lot of noise/commotion. Yet, other than a downstairs neighbor mentioning some unusual sounds around 3am (before roommate Karena had even departed), there’s been no auditory indication of a major struggle later in morning. This would seem to imply that Faith was either drugged or completely overpowered/controlled. The autopsy gives no indication of any drugs (beyond a small amount of alcohol) being in Faith’s system. I find it hard to imagine one individual being able to subdue another so quietly amidst such violence, which is why I’ve thought it likely that 2-3 individuals would be required to overpower Faith while maintaining relative quiet in that room. But still, I’m merely speculating… [the other possibility is that she was with individuals, she knew and trusted (and not strangers), and somehow had little time to react before realizing what was happening, by which time it was too late?].

I’ll add that the whole crime certainly appears to be one of impulse, not a premeditated killing. Was it a robbery, rape, drug deal, lovers-quarrel, or something else gone bad, turned into vicious, unspeakable murder? When will we know? Someone out there... perhaps someone reading these very words... knows the answers. . . .