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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, January 31, 2019

Questions With Answers... that we aren't privy to


If the police really want the public to contribute to this case (as they persistently claim) they need to open up about what is known about this case -- there is so much confusion and uncertainty at this point. A lot of time is squandered in forums/podcasts/videos and the like debating or speculating over matters which the police almost assuredly already have answers to. Here are some of the key things they know that we aren’t privy to, and are thus left babbling in the dark:

1)  What was Karena’s explanation for leaving the apartment door unlocked when she departed early that morning?

2)  What were Eric Jones’ explanations for his incriminating statements on social media prior to Faith’s murder?

3)  What is the estimated time of death of the victim and why has it never been reported?

4)  At times police have talked of being down to no more than 10 persons of interest — how many, if any, of those would be regarded as “suspects”? How many of them are names the public has never heard of in disclosed documents?

5)  Were any pertinent unidentifiable fingerprints collected at the crime scene?

6)  Of the 100s of “new” leads police claimed following ABC’s 20/20 show, are any still being looked at?

7)  Have police lost contact with any of the ‘persons-of-interest’ over the 6+ year interim?

8)  How often is the case’s DNA re-submitted to the appropriate agencies, and what were the results of the fingernail scrapings taken from Faith at autopsy?

9)  Roughly how many men may have overlapped with Faith & KR at the Thrill on the night in question who have never been ID'd or interviewed? (a few, dozens, over 100?)

10)  My understanding is that LE has determined by multiple means that the infamous “butt-dial” occurred while the women were at the Thrill, but does there remain any conceivable way the time-stamp is wrong and it took place much later?

11)  Re: the bag note left at the scene….  Based on their investigation, do police have definite ideas whether the note was written before or after the crime, by one or more than one individual, and by a male or female? (or are they shooting in the dark as much as the rest of us)

So many things the police have answers to and we don’t… if we did, it could sure narrow down our focus.

When LE is so stingy with information and allows 6 long years to pass by, it’s no surprise the public has little to offer back, as the case drags on and on and on, and memories fade.
As I keep repeating, it seems all up to a few lab techs now, the police appear stymied.
    * crickets *....


Sunday, January 27, 2019

Keeping Watch On Parabon…


The latest crime case solved by Parabon NanoLabs was reported in the news recently, a 12+ year-old West Coast cold case:

And back in Sept. 2018, Parabon reported that it had solved 10 cases in the first 100 days of employing its “genetic genealogy” (ave. = 1 case every 10 days):

Although most cases are 10-20+ years-old, a few have been more recent (under 5 yrs. old).

By the end of 2018, Parabon had helped identify suspects in over 30 cases. Speed and efficiency of their techniques are ramping up, as would be expected, and the company writes at one point that they have “come to expect a successful identification nearly every week.” Seems likely we can expect 50 or more suspects (perhaps over 100) to be pinpointed in 2019, from the 100s of unsolved cases they are working on. 

The difficult part of “genetic genealogy” is not the laboratory part of finding relatives to a perpetrator, but the more painstaking, manual detective/search work of deducing, from all possible relatives, which may actually track back to an individual who is a good fit for the known facts of the crime.
Chapel Hill Police have long said they have an abundance of evidence in Faith’s case, they just need a DNA match to tie it all to. It’s increasingly hard to imagine that by the end of this year they won’t have that match… and a lot of rampant speculation can be brought to an end.
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ADDENDUM: another 20-yr-old unsolved case, right up the road from Chapel Hill in Mebane, NC., was recently closed using genetic genealogy when a 10-yr.-old victim was finally identified:
https://abc11.com/family-had-no-idea-10-year-old-boy-mom-had-been-dead-since-1998/5121007/