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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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Thursday, February 9, 2017

FYI... DNA Familial Analysis



Over at the Websleuths site someone had asked about the possibility of DNA familial searches being employed to help solve Faith’s murder — the basic idea is that you look for matches to DNA from a crime scene, NOT just from criminal databases, but also from less direct familial matching in the many private databases that now collect DNA for genetic or ancestry study (i.e., you find someone who may be a blood relative to the actual perpetrator of an unsolved crime, thus narrowing your search).
Constitutional and privacy rights make this a highly controversial method in the U.S., though Britain has used it more extensively. Nine states (last I read) in the U.S. currently use the procedure on occasion. North Carolina is not one of them. But, as I understand it, only one state outright bans it, so more may well be employing it in the future, with techniques constantly improving, and population databases becoming evermore widespread.
I understand there are some very difficult issues/concerns involved in its use, but Faith's case certainly seems of the sort where it might be considered.

Anyway, here are a few sites you can read more about the subject:





...And there's much more if you search Google under "DNA familial forensics".