Man convicted in 2012 UNC student murder gets life without parole

Miguel Salguero Olivares was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, sexual offense and burglary in the 2012 killing of 19-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth. Prosecutors pointed to DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene; the sample was obtained after his arrest in 2021, nine years after Hedgepeth was found dead in her off-campus apartment. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder, plus 45 to 65 years for the other charges, which were ordered to run consecutively; his attorney said he would appeal. The defense challenged investigators’ focus on Olivares and argued that he and Hedgepeth had consensual sex days before her death, while Hedgepeth’s parents told the court they forgave him.