Below is a longish piece sent to me by a reader, who goes elsewhere as "CADwrest," defending Karena Rosario against many of the accusations cast her way (it also summarizes many key aspects of this crime):
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On September 7, 2012 Faith Danielle Hedgepeth was found murdered in her off-campus apartment in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Over the years, the public’s perception of who committed the crime has meandered in different directions. At first, like law enforcement, the public largely believed that Eriq Takoy Jones, who was the violent ex-boyfriend of Faith’s roommate, and a former resident of the apartment, was responsible. However, he was seemingly exonerated because his DNA did not match the DNA evidence found at the scene. The same is true of every other male swabbed, which at this point has reached 750 in number.
With Jones out of the crosshairs, a large segment of the people interested in the case have focused on Hedgepeth’s then-roommate, Karena Rosario, even though she’s also seemingly cleared by the forensics. A perusal of any of the threads dedicated to the murder, on Websleuths or Reddit, or the comments on the remaining pictures of Rosario on Hedgepeth’s Twitter feed, will show many posters accusing her of complicity in the murder.
As background, Rosario and Hedgepeth became close friends in the fall of 2010, during their freshman year at UNC. In 2012, Hedgepeth took the spring semester off, during which time Rosario began a relationship with the aforementioned Jones, with the two of them subsequently moving in together. During the early summer of 2012, Jones and Rosario’s relationship cratered; they broke up and he moved out of the apartment and into another in the same complex, a short walk away. In early July, Jones forced his way back into the apartment and physically assaulted Rosario, then broke in again a few days later after she changed the locks. Hedgepeth then took Rosario to file a protective order against Jones, and later moved into the apartment with her. Jones resented these actions and threatened to kill Hedgepeth if Rosario did not get back together with him.
Against this backdrop, and with the fall semester of 2012 starting at UNC, Hedgepeth and Rosario spent the evening studying at Davis Library on the night of September 6, 2012, beginning around 7:30 PM. One brief departure by Hedgepeth aside, the two of them spent that evening together until about 11:30 PM, at which point they returned to their apartment, changed, and then departed for the Thrill nightclub on Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill.
Hedgepeth and Rosario were seen leaving Thrill at 2:06 AM on video. They apparently lingered outside for an extended period of time, as they did not arrive home until between 2:30 AM and 3:00 AM. Someone logged into Hedgepeth’s Facebook account at 3:00 AM, and her phone was used to send two texts to Brandon Edwards at around 3:40 AM, requesting him to come to the apartment on Rosario’s behalf. Edwards did not respond, and Rosario left with a different man, Jordan McCrary, at 4:27 AM, and has stated that Hedgepeth was in the bedroom sleeping at that point.
Later that morning, around 11:00 AM, Hedgepeth was found in her apartment. She had been bludgeoned to death with a Bacardi rum bottle found at the scene, and was found partially on the bed, nude except for her shirt which was pulled up over her head . Blood was spattered all around the room, and she had either been raped or sexually assaulted. A note reading “I’M NOT STUPID. BITCH. JEALOUS” was found on the bed next to her, written on a takeout bag from Time-Out, a local restaurant. Semen was found on her body, and the DNA from it matched other DNA evidence left on the note, the pen used to write the note, and the Bacardi bottle used to kill her. That DNA was later determined to have come from a male of Hispanic descent.
The suspicion directed against Rosario arises from a combination of the following:
- She appeared to be arguing with the male in her company as she left Thrill.
- She seemed eager to leave her apartment between 3:30 and 4:30 AM, despite having requested to leave Thrill due to a stomach ache earlier.
- She did not lock the apartment door upon leaving.
- Upon returning at 11:00 AM, she had a mutual friend, Marisol Rangel, accompany her into the apartment for no obvious reason.
- On the 9-11 call recording, she was unable to relay her address, and did not mention Rangel’s presence or refer to Hedgepeth by name.
- A variant of her name, “Rosie,” can possibly be heard in the enhancement of the pocket-dial voicemail sent from Hedgepeth’s phone from Thrill.
- After the murder, she completely eliminated her social media presence online.
- She has maintained complete silence regarding the case, only speaking to law enforcement, which has questioned her over ten times and continues to do so.
Taken together, the list can seem incriminating. However, a detailed examination of each of the points, and a critical evaluation of how her possible involvement squares with the known evidence, together, will place her firmly beyond the realm of suspicion. It is apparent that investigators drew the same conclusion before now.
A central tenet of the Rosario theories is that a simmering conflict between the two women exploded into a homicidal rage later that night, so it is important to note that they spent an extended amount of time together earlier that evening, with no known conflicts. People whose relationships are stressed by incipient conflict often will find reasons to avoid one another. Given that the two already shared a living space, if there were tensions growing between them, it is illogical to believe that they would seek each other’s company for an extended time when it was not required.
We do not have access to the police interviews with any persons of interest in the crime, so we do not know what Rosario (or anyone else) has said about any arguments that may have taken place. The next piece of evidence we have access to, then, is Rosario leaving the club with an unknown male, with whom she seems to be arguing. This is one item, cited above, usually mentioned as evidence that Rosario was at the very least in an angry or argumentative state of mind as the night wore on.
However, close examination of the footage gives reason to doubt this interpretation. As the two exit the Thrill, the male makes a small hand gesture, to which Rosario responds with a similar, though amplified, gesture of her own. However, as the video continues, the male proceeds out the door and stands to the left of it, facing outward, diagonally to the left. Rosario follows him and stands at his left shoulder, facing in the same direction. This is not the position typical for two individuals in an argument of any enthusiasm, and their body language, what we can see of it, seems fairly relaxed. Indeed, a few seconds later, another male approaches, and the two men shake hands and touch shoulders. This interaction would almost certainly not occur if he were in the middle of a heated argument with Rosario.
It has been reported that the two women left the club when they did because Rosario had a stomach ache from drinking too much. This is item two above, and is usually cited in conjunction with her leaving her apartment two hours later as being suspicious, along with the fact that she does not seem at all distressed in the video mentioned above. Again, we do not have a first-hand explanation for many of the actions that were taken that night: We do not know if there was an another reason for Rosario wanting to leave the club, or for her wanting to spend the night somewhere else. Indeed, it’s understandable, given Hedgepeth’s death, that these actions are looked upon with suspicion.
However, there are more reasonable constructions to put on these actions besides one best friend suddenly deciding to kill the other, luring her out of the club on a pretense, and rushing to leave the murder scene later. It is very possible that Rosario simply wished to leave Thrill and claimed illness, not an uncommon excuse when one wishes to leave a situation and not have one’s reasoning questioned. For example, there may be an underlying, unstated reason for wishing to leave, but stating it can lead to unwanted attention and persuasion, whereas feigning illness cannot be reasoned with and may even draw sympathy. However, even if Rosario truly did not feel well at the club, she’s part of an age bracket that is known to “rally,” especially if there is a compelling reason to do so.
As for Rosario’s later departure from the apartment, it is plain that she was trying to obtain male companionship; she was communicating with at least two different men before leaving (possibly even using Hedgepeth’s phone, as Hedgepeth was said to be asleep then). When one did not respond, she contacted the other and had him come pick her up. This perception also explains why she would be able to push past her upset stomach -- sex is a very powerful motivator. It would be nice if we had confirmation that this took place, but we can infer that it did: Lt. Calisa Lehew of the CHPD, alluded to it when she stated that Jordan McCrary, the man who picked up Rosario, was someone she had a “relationship” with.
When leaving, Rosario left the apartment door unlocked. It was long unclear why this was done, and many found it highly suspicious and nonsensical that she did so, especially with Hedgepeth asleep and Jones, her serial abuser, still living not a quarter mile away.
Again, though, new information has answered this question in a way that vindicates Rosario. Journalist Tom Gasparoli, interviewing a source close to the case, was obliquely told that the two women shared a single key to the apartment. Indeed, the house key was found in the bedroom where Faith was murdered during the execution of a search warrant. Rosario apparently expected Hedgepeth to be able to pick her up from McCrary’s later that morning, and therefore left the key in Hedgepeth’s possession. As the type of lock on the door was a deadbolt which could not be locked from the outside without a key, it would have been impossible for Rosario to have locked the door upon her exit; if she had taken the key, Hedgepeth would have had no way of locking the door when she left.
An obvious follow-up question would be “why would they have not gotten a copy of the key made?” It certainly would not have taken much of an effort to do so, true. However, Hedgepeth was only living there temporarily, intending to move out once her financial aid money came through, so they may just not have wanted to bother with making a copy. Alternatively, the key may have been labeled, “do not duplicate,” as is seen in some professionally-managed apartment complexes and many businesses as a way of managing the number of keys not returned at the end of a lease or employment. In any event, investigators are apparently satisfied with the answer they have received on the subject.
Whatever Rosario’s intention, the next morning, she attempted to contact Hedgepeth to retrieve her; failing that, she called Rangel. The two returned to the complex, arriving just prior to 11:00 AM and, seeing Hedgepeth’s car in the parking lot, proceeded into the apartment together.
It is not immediately clear why Rangel accompanied Rosario into the apartment, and some look askance at her doing so. However, once again, a fair viewing of the situation provides a reasonable explanation.
The explanation the two women have given is that, seeing Hedgepeth’s car in the lot, they thought she may have overslept, and so entered together. This is perfectly believable. We do not know Hedgepeth’s expected schedule that morning, beyond that it potentially allowed her to pick up Rosario around 10:30 AM, but apparently, Rangel and Rosario did not expect to find her still at the apartment at 11:00 AM. Seeing an anomaly like this, it would not be at all unusual for Rangel to choose to investigate with Rosario. In the face of the unexpected, it is quite normal for one friend to lend support to another; in the best-case scenario, having a second person there would harm nothing, and in the worst (a true emergency, which is what the situation turned out to be), it is always preferable to have a second, trusted person available.
Finding a horrific, bloody scene, Rosario called 9-11, with the call being received at 11:01 AM. The 9-11 recording is publicly available, and again, many find aspects of it highly suspicious. The complaints regarding it vary, but most center on Rosario not knowing her own address, not mentioning Rangel’s presence, and never saying Hedgepeth’s name.
The counter-point that the questioners should consider is “Why are those questions relevant, and even answering them in the worst possible ways, what exactly is proven?”
Rosario did not know the address of the complex, but did give the complex name “Hawthorne at the View”, which is probably how she was accustomed to describing her location to others. Upon being pressed by the operator, she found the actual address within a few seconds. The very slight delay was inconsequential, as Hedgepeth was beyond anyone’s aid at that point. This is an example of Rosario’s accusers trying to have things both ways: If Rosario had prior knowledge that Hedgepeth was dead, she would have also known there was no need to stall for time, which is what her accusers seem to believe she was doing.
The two other issues with the 9-11 call can be attributed to them not being relevant to Rosario’s conversation with the operator. While attention has been called to Rosario not mentioning Rangel’s presence or saying Hedgepeth’s name, it usually is not pointed out that the operator never asked questions pertaining to those facts. The operator was trying to ascertain if the victim could be helped, and did not feel she needed further information about the victim’s identity or relationship to Rosario, which was not relevant at that moment in time (the police would obviously gather that information later). She did ask Rosario’s name, but only to establish a connection in order to comfort her.
Furthermore, the presence of another person was also not germane to their conversation. Rosario starts the phone conversation by saying “I just came into my apartment” instead of using the pronoun “we,” which is defensible: She’s speaking for herself and perhaps not wanting to invite additional questions from the operator about who’s with her, which isn’t pertinent. The topic is never revisited in the conversation until the operator states that she doesn’t want Rosario “to be alone.” Rosario could have corrected her then but chose not to, which is again defensible: She may simply have not processed the statement. It’s also possible that she did, but again did not want to engage the operator on an irrelevant topic, and so just let it pass (given the fact that there was a brief pause – perhaps while she considered whether it was worth the effort to set the record straight with the 911 operator -- before Rosario replied “OK,” I believe the latter is more likely). In any event, police officers arrived on the scene moments later, and Rangel’s presence was duly noted at that time. The fact that the operator was unaware of it for the eight minutes of the 9-11 did not change the the investigation in any way.
Much of the above was known a short time after Hedgepeth’s murder, and for the first few years, Rosario seemed to escape major suspicion from the public. That changed after the airing of a Crime Watch Daily episode in February of 2016. That episode featured one Arlo West, a forensic audio expert who analyzed a pocket-dial voicemail that had been sent from Hedgepeth’s phone to that of her friend, Euna Chavis, on the night of her murder. West played “enhanced” clips purporting to capture a violent and very profane encounter between Hedgepeth and multiple individuals, and stated that he heard the names “Rosie” and “Eriq” being said in various snippets of dialogue. The show also featured comments from the women’s downstairs neighbor, who spoke disparagingly of Rosario’s texting after the police arrived on the scene, and mentioned that Rosario had refused to be interviewed.
The voicemail enhancement has a number of serious problems, to put it mildly. Even “enhanced,” much of it sounds like garbled gibberish. Likewise, while much is made of the name “Rosie” supposedly being heard, less attention is given to the fact that “Eriq” was as well. For the record, investigators have definitively stated Eriq Takoy Jones was not at Thrill that night. But the biggest problem is that the transcript portrays Hedgepeth as being bound with duct tape, verbally abused, and said to be dying at one point, but the Chapel Hill police department has confirmed beyond question that the call occurred while Hedgepeth was still at Thrill (West initially attempted to rectify this glaring problem by appealing to an error with the call’s time stamp, but subsequent investigation has debunked that claim). As people generally will intervene to stop a kidnapping or murder happening in full view of the public, and Hedgepeth was later seen on video leaving Thrill alive and stress-free, the events purported to have occurred in the transcript clearly did not transpire.
Next, many are skeptical of Rosario’s deletion of virtually her entire online presence in the years following the murder. She went from a frequent user of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to a social media refugee. It is natural to look at such actions and wonder why: Is this a guilty conscience manifesting itself?
Of course, we can’t know for certain why Rosario has done this, but a better explanation is the mountain of accusations and sheer vitriol directed at her anywhere some remnant of her presence remains online. For example, in the comments on one of the pictures of her remaining on Hedgepeth’s Twitter feed (@iamnopocahontas) from August 2, 2012, one can find the following:
“Ugly bitch knew what happen…”
“Its crazy, I don’t know if anyone can see it, but Karena just has an evil feeling about her…”
“I agree Karena knows what happened that night and possibly set it up.”
“…nonetheless, LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCK AFTER 4am,. Like really b*tch?...”
One can see similar sentiments expressed under the other picture of Hedgepeth and Rosario from July 7, 2012, and they seep in regularly even on sites dedicated to investigating the case, such as Websleuths and Reddit (though the former at least will moderate them if they get too strident). In the face of such relentless and malicious cyberbullying, it would be unsurprising for her to bid a complete retreat, or at very least, form a new online identity.
Finally, it is easy to contrast Rosario’s behavior in the aftermath of the murder with that of some of Hedgepeth’s other friends. Rangel and Chavis have both provided comment and interviews to some of the news shows covering the murder, and have been involved to one extent or another in the events honoring Hedgepeth that have been held in the community, whereas Rosario has not. Furthermore, it has been reported, both on ABC’s 20/20 special, and in the September 6th, 2017 entry on gaspowrites.com (Tom Gasparoli’s blog dedicated to the murder), that law enforcement has been in extensive contact with Rosario, interviewing her for over ten hours at one point and continuing to reach out to her over the five years following the investigation. Again, at first blush, it is easy to look at that combination of factors and see a suspect with a guilty conscience who is of great interest to investigators.
Once again, however, a clear look at the entirety of the circumstances provides other, more likely explanations. To the first point above, Rosario’s silence to the public and the press, it should be noted that large segments of both groups sort her squarely into the list of “suspects,” rather than “friends of the victim.” None of Hedgepeth’s other female friends are seriously considered to have contributed to her death, and are not treated accordingly either online or in interviews. The group of suspects, on the other hand, with very limited exceptions, has been uniformly silent.
Addressing the second part of this final issue provides a good transition point into an analysis of law enforcement’s position on Rosario, and what we as the public can glean from their statements and actions. It was a matter of course that the initial investigation would involve a very close look at Rosario, both because of her behavior on the night in question (as addressed above), and because she was Hedgepeth’s roommate. As roommates in a single-bedroom apartment, the two women had extensive and intimate insight into every aspect of each other’s lives, which police would wish to utilize. Even if the night had unfolded in such a way that put Rosario completely beyond suspicion (for instance, if she had driven back to her home in New Jersey earlier that evening, or left directly from the club with one of the men there), investigators would still have questioned her at great length. This is undoubtedly why she was interviewed for ten hours early on.
However, as the years have gone on with the case still unsolved, investigators have intimated on multiple occasions that they do not believe Rosario was involved in Hedgepeth’s murder. In ABC’s 20/20 special, after an extensive segment casting doubt on Rosario, it was finally admitted that police had “made clear” that she was not a suspect. The same program featured an interview with Lt. Lehew, in which she described Rosario as “cooperative.” She did say that that Rosario’s testimony and truthfulness “remain under investigation,” but that is just another way of saying that the investigation remains open with no aspect of it taken for granted. That is completely appropriate, given that the murderer remains at large, and his potential relationships to any person connected with the case unknown.
One year later, Tom Gasparoli posted the results of his interview with a law enforcement source, whom he named “S.” In an interview replete with refusals, evasions, and equivocal answers, “S” gave the most direct and concrete answers when asked about Rosario. “S” immediately shot down the suggestion that Rangel and not Rosario was the voice on the 9-11 call (while this is a theory of some of Rosario’s accusers, the purpose behind such a subterfuge is not apparent), and heavily implied that the reason Rosario left her door unlocked was because she and Hedgepeth shared a key (as detailed above). Furthermore, “S” revealed that Rosario is consulted by investigators with some frequency, and willingly provides answers to them without the benefit of an attorney (it is hinted that the other suspects refuse to do this).
It should go without saying that this sort of casual, cooperative back and forth would not take place if either party were unsure of the other. As usual, though, bad connotations are placed on it (see below), those being that Rosario continues to be questioned due to her stonewalling and holding out information crucial to solving the case. This view is defeated in the very description provided by law enforcement: Rosario is “cooperative”; Investigators ask questions, she “provides replies.” These descriptors are not synonymous with “obstructive” or “unhelpful.”
To highlight one source of the animus against Rosario:
Journalist Tom Gasparoli is obviously highly distrustful of Rosario, and allows his theory of the case to color his reporting to a large degree. In his recent blog post on September 6, 2017, the insinuations and speculations about Rosario are rampant. We see the following quotes there:
“It’s not really a complete secret who did this, and who else may have been involved or knows the details. It’s not a secret to them.”
Regarding the emotion evident in Faith’s slaying: “You could also deduce that it emanated from the person or persons involved somehow (actual witnesses, conspirators, associates) — who did know Faith.”
“I learned police have also done DNA tests on samples from some females, too - not just men. Does that mean they think a woman may have been there during the murder?” This particular insinuation is especially uninformed and unfair. One reason to take samples from females known to have visited the apartment, or known to have touched items in the apartment, is because, in cases where there are mixed samples, an unknown DNA sequence can be separated from a known sequence. In other words, known household members and visitors’ DNA can be used to help sequence DNA from a potential perpetrator.
In addition, almost the entirety of sections two, five, and six are explorations of theories regarding Rosario’s possible involvement.
This is unfortunate, as Gasparoli has access that most followers of the case do not, and rather than following leads or asking questions that might be productive, he spends much of his time on what police have obviously concluded is a dead end.
While exploring alternative interpretations of Rosario’s “suspicious” behavior from the night of the murder is instructive, and an attempt to glean information from a less-than-forthcoming police department informative, no evaluation of this case would be complete without a hard look at the publicly known evidence, which will show, to any objective party, that Rosario is an ill fit for this crime.
To start, as mentioned earlier, semen is present at the crime scene. Rosario is a female and could not have left it, so to account for this problem, we immediately need to bring a male into the equation. This has been attempted in a variety of ways:
- Rosario somehow obtained the semen beforehand to stage the scene.
- Rosario contacted a male friend or family member to help her kill Hedgepeth.
- Rosario killed Hedgepeth herself, then contacted a male friend to help her stage the scene later.
- Hedgepeth had consensual sex with an unknown male earlier and the semen is unrelated to her murder.
Each of these ideas collapses under any kind of scrutiny. To point out only the most obvious problems with each of them:
- This scenario requires extensive planning on Rosario’s part, which is highly unlikely given the normal evening the two women had together beforehand, and the seemingly impulsive, rage-driven nature of the crime.
- Police took both Rosario’s phone and computer as part of their investigation, and know who she contacted that night, and when. Any males implicated have doubtless been swabbed. Also, Rosario’s family is in New Jersey, a multi-hour trip away, and could not have come to her aid in time.
- This hypothetical male did not merely stage the scene to clear Rosario, but staged it in such a way as to completely frame himself for the murder. Only someone incredibly close to Rosario would possibly be willing to do so, yet everyone of that description has been spoken to by police and cleared. Also, the same issues of contacting this person described in #2 above come into play.
- DNA evidence on the pen, note, and bottle match the semen, and there’s no logical reason why a consensual partner of Hedgepeth’s would have written the note. Also, this encounter would had to have taken place prior to Hedgepeth’s leaving for Thrill; almost without fail, women will clean such leavings off of themselves before going on to other engagements
Taken together, the body of evidence points away from Rosario. There’s no indication she was angry with Hedgepeth at all; certainly nothing to indicate she was in the grips of a homicidal rage. She has cooperated with law enforcement to a great extent throughout the investigation. The publicly released evidence strongly tends to exonerate her, and while we cannot say for sure what we do not know, law enforcement’s perceived lack of interest in her sends an even more powerful signal of innocence.
Karena Rosario did not commit this crime. She found her good friend brutally murdered, and lived through that trauma only to enter a protracted new nightmare, in which she’s looked at with hateful suspicion everywhere she turns. She was a victim of this crime, too, and laying ill-considered accusations and vicious slander at the feet of one of Hedgepeth’s best friends is a horrible way to honor her memory.
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