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- UNC college student Faith Hedgepeth was raped and found dead in her off-campus apartment in 2012.
- Police said they have arrested a 28-year-old man on first-degree murder charges in connection to Hedgepeth's death.
- His DNA matches the DNA profile from the scene of the crime, police said.
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Chapel Hill police said on Thursday they have arrested a man on first-degree murder charges in connection to the 2012 murder of University of North Carolina college student Faith Hedgepeth.
The suspect, 28-year-old Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares, is in police custody and the investigation is ongoing. He is being held without bond at the Durham County Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in court at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, according to local news outlet WNCN.
"Nine years and nine days ago tragedy struck our community," Chapel Hill Chief of Police Chris Blue said at a news conference on Thursday.
Hedgepeth, who was 19 at the time, was found dead in her apartment by her roommate Karena Rosario on September 7, 2012. Police said her autopsy indicated she was beaten and raped, per local news outlet WTVD.
After a night out, Rosario and Hedgepeth went back to their off-campus apartment at 2:38 a.m., court documents show. Rosario left again at approximately 4:27 a.m. and returned with a friend to find her roommate's body. The released 911 call from the evening captures Rosario saying, "She's unconscious. I just walked in. There's blood everywhere."
A note written on a fast-food bag found next to Hedgepeth's body read, "I'm not stupid bitch. Jealous," according to court documents.
Authorities said Salguero-Olivares was not an initial suspect in the case, per WTVD.
"Yesterday, with a sample provided by law enforcement of the suspect, the state crime lab generated a match to a DNA profile derived from the original crime scene. As a result, an arrest nearly a decade in the making has been made," Josh Stein, the Attorney General said.
The Chapel Hill police department declined at the press conference to say what Salguero-Olivares' relationship was to Hedgepeth, or if there was a relationship at all.
"When I got the news this morning I didn't do anything but cry. And thank God and praise God because I put it in his hands and it was his timing," Faith's mother, Connie Hedgepeth, said at the press conference.
The Chapel Hill police department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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