14 years after her death, man is convicted of raping and killing UNC student

A man accused of killing a North Carolina college student 14 years ago was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, rape and other charges after prosecutors told jurors that forensic evidence was “screaming his name.”

Faith Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012. Miguel Salguero Olivares was arrested nine years later after being pulled over for driving while intoxicated and providing a DNA sample that prosecutors say matched evidence from the crime scene.

Salguero Olivares, 33, did not testify during the trial, and his attorneys rested their case without calling any witnesses. Jurors deliberated for six hours over two days before convicting him of murder, rape, sexual offense and burglary. He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge plus 45-65 years on the other charges.

Hedgepeth’s mother, Connie Hedgepeth, told the judge that she forgave her daughter’s killer long ago.

“It was just three weeks after her death. It didn’t matter who done it, I knew that I had to forgive, and I do forgive, but my heart aches for his family,”…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health