NC NC - Faith Hedgepeth, 19, UNC student, Chapel Hill, 7 Sept 2012 #1

[Whiskers16]

Hi all, wanted to share I'm working on something which was originally suggested by SkiGirl- an informative post which can be pinned to the start of the thread for easy reference. We're overdue for a new thread and I'm hoping to post ahead of the new thread so it can be pinned on the new thread. Please review what I have and share anything I'm missing!!

I have social media links (FH's SM and fb groups for FH).

I have video links from Crime Watch Daily, ABC 20/20, and footage of them exiting The Thrill.

I have a link to the case documents on document cloud which I hope will be allowed because it was provided by a journalist from a local TV station.

I have a timeline with the activities of the night, dates related to the restraining order, etc.

I have the suspect profile and composite image.

I have some details about the reward money, the note, DNA, the crime scene/autopsy, and the voicemail.

I would like to include a few blogs which provide more content/details but to my knowledge blogs are not allowed.

 

[Skigirl]

Hi all, wanted to share I'm working on something which was originally suggested by SkiGirl- an informative post which can be pinned to the start of the thread for easy reference. We're overdue for a new thread and I'm hoping to post ahead of the new thread so it can be pinned on the new thread. Please review what I have and share anything I'm missing!!

I have social media links (FH's SM and fb groups for FH).

I have video links from Crime Watch Daily, ABC 20/20, and footage of them exiting The Thrill.

I have a link to the case documents on document cloud which I hope will be allowed because it was provided by a journalist from a local TV station.

I have a timeline with the activities of the night, dates related to the restraining order, etc.

I have the suspect profile and composite image.

I have some details about the reward money, the note, DNA, the crime scene/autopsy, and the voicemail.

I would like to include a few blogs which provide more content/details but to my knowledge blogs are not allowed.

That's fantastic... a couple suggestions for inclusion:
1) I had taken some screenshots of the apartment and evidence from the 20/20 special, which included the floor plan...those may be useful to include. If helpful, I can give you the post numbers, which will take me a little while to find.
2) I know the case docs were referenced in an article by the same reporter who posted them online, so those really should be OK IMO.
3) The whole 911 was posted by Gasparoli, a card-carrying journalist, so I hope that's OK to post, too. I would think it would be.

Thank you so much for doing this. I feel like a lot of the time a lot of us (myself included) are just spinning theories, but you and the folks that assisted did something.

 

[Skigirl]

Ok, so I know we've been talking about contamination lately. I had forgotten this, but in another case I follow (Suzanne Jovin, the Yale student stabbed to death ~1999), there was DNA under her fingernails that was tested. For eleven years, it was thought that the resulting DNA profile belonged to her killer, until it was discovered that the DNA belonged to a technician.

http://www.courant.com/news/connect...ovin-murder-investigation-20170926-story.html

"For years, police believed that DNA found under Jovin’s fingernails belonged to her killer. It was more than 11 years after the homicide that the forensic laboratory determined the sample was contaminated and that the DNA actually belonged to the lab worker who had initially worked on the case."

 

[youlostone]

One other thought I recently had- are any of the posters on this thread in any way casually friendly with some of the key people of this case(BE, JM, KR). If so, have they ever had conversations about this case and what were those person's theories/thoughts on what happened?

I know some of the people involved and usually the sentiment is we have no idea who did this. I think initially everybody thought it was ETJ just like a lot of people do on here, but now that's kind of fallen out of favor since the DNA and the phenotype didn't match.

 

[Webthrush]

Ok, so I know we've been talking about contamination lately. I had forgotten this, but in another case I follow (Suzanne Jovin, the Yale student stabbed to death ~1999), there was DNA under her fingernails that was tested. For eleven years, it was thought that the resulting DNA profile belonged to her killer, until it was discovered that the DNA belonged to a technician.

http://www.courant.com/news/connect...ovin-murder-investigation-20170926-story.html

"For years, police believed that DNA found under Jovin’s fingernails belonged to her killer. It was more than 11 years after the homicide that the forensic laboratory determined the sample was contaminated and that the DNA actually belonged to the lab worker who had initially worked on the case."

As long as we’re mulling possible problems with DNA testing maybe it’s worth just mentioning chimerism (I don’t recall it ever being tossed out here, though maybe it has, since several dramatic crime shows have used it in plots).
A person is chimeric if, due to various biologic anomalies, they carry two or more genetic cell lines — this means some cells carry one DNA line, while other body cells may carry a different line. Thus DNA analysis from semen could accurately read out differently from DNA taken say from saliva or sweat or skin etc. It’s a very rare situation but has occurred in some criminal cases; I don’t know that there’s any way to 100% rule it out in this case, where the semen and touch DNA match, but DNA samples (which I assume are saliva swabs) from persons-of-interest doesn’t.

 

[youlostone]

A new video up at YouTube (~21 mins.) summarizing the Hedgepeth case:
[video=youtube;w8ArUntqmJY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ArUntqmJY[/video]

Anybody else notice the part at 14:00 where they say the group of potential suspects has been narrowed down to 10 people? Just curious as to where they might have gotten this kind of info. Never had heard that before this video.

 

[Webthrush]

Anybody else notice the part at 14:00 where they say the group of potential suspects has been narrowed down to 10 people? Just curious as to where they might have gotten this kind of info. Never had heard that before this video.

I think there was a police interview at one point where in answer to a question the spokesperson said there were ~10 people who were still persons-of-interest not so much as suspects but as individuals who might know more than they'd divulged, and police were keeping track of their whereabouts in the event they needed to be re-interviewed. [just my vague memory]

 

[youlostone]

I think there was a police interview at one point where in answer to a question the spokesperson said there were ~10 people who were still persons-of-interest not so much as suspects but as individuals who might know more than they'd divulged, and police were keeping track of their whereabouts in the event they needed to be re-interviewed. [just my vague memory]

Oh ok, gotcha. That makes more sense. Thanks.

 

[raiders444]

Ok, so I know we've been talking about contamination lately. I had forgotten this, but in another case I follow (Suzanne Jovin, the Yale student stabbed to death ~1999), there was DNA under her fingernails that was tested. For eleven years, it was thought that the resulting DNA profile belonged to her killer, until it was discovered that the DNA belonged to a technician.

http://www.courant.com/news/connect...ovin-murder-investigation-20170926-story.html

"For years, police believed that DNA found under Jovin’s fingernails belonged to her killer. It was more than 11 years after the homicide that the forensic laboratory determined the sample was contaminated and that the DNA actually belonged to the lab worker who had initially worked on the case."

Interesting! I wonder if it's common practice nowadays to have all lab technicians submit their own DNA into the system to avoid this sort of thing?

 

[raiders444]

Every day I read more of this thread, I think of new things:

1) The murder weapon. I recall seeing a picture of the rum bottle, maybe it was from the 20/20, and it looked smeared, as if it had been wiped with a towel. What I am wondering is- why even leave it there unless that was intentional, to confound LE. Seems strange the killer/killers didn't walk out with it and toss it somewhere.

2) Theories that involve a random stranger or transient who walked in off the main road. I don't buy this because by now, 5 years later, I would think another rape or murder would have occurred that would match up that person's DNA. I don't think a person randomly does something of that nature and then goes back to being a normal citizen. JMO

3) IMHO, unless LE does something of significance- releases interview transcripts, full autopsy, do a familial DNA search, etc- I don't see this case coming to a conclusion. The guilty party or parties have thus far managed to avoid any other arrests and seem firmly entrenched in society. I don't know how we'd get to a situation where someone would rat out another unless a person really slipped up. Maybe they realize this and have been extra careful.
:thinking:

 

[CADwrest]

Every day I read more of this thread, I think of new things:

1) The murder weapon. I recall seeing a picture of the rum bottle, maybe it was from the 20/20, and it looked smeared, as if it had been wiped with a towel. What I am wondering is- why even leave it there unless that was intentional, to confound LE. Seems strange the killer/killers didn't walk out with it and toss it somewhere.

2) Theories that involve a random stranger or transient who walked in off the main road. I don't buy this because by now, 5 years later, I would think another rape or murder would have occurred that would match up that person's DNA. I don't think a person randomly does something of that nature and then goes back to being a normal citizen. JMO

3) IMHO, unless LE does something of significance- releases interview transcripts, full autopsy, do a familial DNA search, etc- I don't see this case coming to a conclusion. The guilty party or parties have thus far managed to avoid any other arrests and seem firmly entrenched in society. I don't know how we'd get to a situation where someone would rat out another unless a person really slipped up. Maybe they realize this and have been extra careful.
:thinking:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=117732&d=1496405624
I don't know if I see towel marks- it is cleaner than I would expect, but it's still pretty stained. Maybe the perp just wiped it quickly try to remove fingerprints and DNA (and failed with the latter), then set it back in the crime scene where blood transferred again. As to why the perp left it there, my personal theory is that he realized pretty quickly that clean-up was going to be a lost cause and didn't bother.

 

[Boodles]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=117732&d=1496405624
I don't know if I see towel marks- it is cleaner than I would expect, but it's still pretty stained. Maybe the perp just wiped it quickly try to remove fingerprints and DNA (and failed with the latter), then set it back in the crime scene where blood transferred again. As tco why the perp left it there, my personal theory is that he realized pretty quickly that clean-up was going to be a lost cause and didn't bother.

bbm: But then s/he leaves a note, which has no blood on it. Maybe the note came first and set off an argument. But no, it would have had splatter on it, being in the proximity. I can’t recall exactly where it was located, but iirc it was on the bed.

 

[Simplestarz86]

bbm: But then s/he leaves a note, which has no blood on it. Maybe the note came first and set off an argument. But no, it would have had splatter on it, being in the proximity. I can’t recall exactly where it was located, but iirc it was on the bed.

You are correct...the note was found in the center of the bed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Simplestarz86]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=117732&d=1496405624
I don't know if I see towel marks- it is cleaner than I would expect, but it's still pretty stained. Maybe the perp just wiped it quickly try to remove fingerprints and DNA (and failed with the latter), then set it back in the crime scene where blood transferred again. As to why the perp left it there, my personal theory is that he realized pretty quickly that clean-up was going to be a lost cause and didn't bother.

I have also wondered if there perhaps was another weapon that WAS taken from the scene. MOO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CADwrest]

bbm: But then s/he leaves a note, which has no blood on it. Maybe the note came first and set off an argument. But no, it would have had splatter on it, being in the proximity. I can’t recall exactly where it was located, but iirc it was on the bed.

Let me rephrase: I think the killer did clean themselves up before leaving, for obvious reasons, and probably wrote the note after that was completed. But I think they realized that there was no way they could possibly clean up everything they'd left in the bedroom, and didn't really try. For similar reasons, I think that's why they didn't care about touching the pen and the bag, because by that point they'd realized their DNA was all over the bedroom and they couldn't possibly hope to remove it all. So if the bottle was cleaned, I think it was part of an abortive effort that didn't continue very long.

 

[Webthrush]

Let me rephrase: I think the killer did clean themselves up before leaving, for obvious reasons, and probably wrote the note after that was completed. But I think they realized that there was no way they could possibly clean up everything they'd left in the bedroom, and didn't really try. For similar reasons, I think that's why they didn't care about touching the pen and the bag, because by that point they'd realized their DNA was all over the bedroom and they couldn't possibly hope to remove it all. So if the bottle was cleaned, I think it was part of an abortive effort that didn't continue very long.

KR left around 4:30 that morning, and the sun would be coming up by ~ 7am (also people would begin being active getting ready for work by then); so I’ve always thought the crime occurred between around 5 and 6, while still fairly dark out (…but again we don’t know FH’s estimated time of death, so it’s just my guess, to explain no neighbors seeing anything unusual).
Anyway, I’ve always thought the perp(s) most likely left in a hurry in a panic before daybreak (without a lot of cleanup) after bashing FH, though that only makes much sense if the bag note was written BEFORE the crime, and then perhaps tossed on the bed. By examining the sinks, bathroom, paper towels, trash, etc. the police surely know if the perp cleaned up, but have never said.

 

[Whiskers16]

O/T - testing to see if my embedded links, videos, images etc will work.
[FONT=&quot]
Social Media Links:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Facebook: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Faith's Facebook[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Instagram: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Faith's Instagram[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]FB Group - Remembering Faith Hedgepeth: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]https://m.facebook.com/groups/229375833862180[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]FB Group - Justice For Faith: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]https://m.facebook.com/justiceforfaith[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Video Links:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]ABC 20/20 Special "Love, Hope and Faith" (9/23/16)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Crime Watch Daily Part 1:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][video]https://youtu.be/Ebt677COm8k[/video][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Crime Watch Daily Part 2:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][video]https://youtu.be/7KXvNVP7VpA[/video][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Crime Watch Daily Part 3:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][video]https://youtu.be/iTCMjv_XsRg[/video][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Crime Watch Daily Part 4:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][video]https://youtu.be/_NwNpXy9-zI[/video][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Crime Watch Daily Part 5:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][video]https://youtu.be/C6JRMx_0ycI[/video][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Timeline:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]07 Sept 2012 08:00 Activity 1[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]07 Sept 2012 09:00 Activity 2[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[J.M. Bee]

Any chance the FBI could get involved on this case? I feel like the CHPD has botched aspects of the investigation and doesn't know how to move forward. Faith was a member of a Native American tribe; could this somehow allow the FBI to get involved?

 

[youlostone]

Every day I read more of this thread, I think of new things:

1) The murder weapon. I recall seeing a picture of the rum bottle, maybe it was from the 20/20, and it looked smeared, as if it had been wiped with a towel. What I am wondering is- why even leave it there unless that was intentional, to confound LE. Seems strange the killer/killers didn't walk out with it and toss it somewhere.

2) Theories that involve a random stranger or transient who walked in off the main road. I don't buy this because by now, 5 years later, I would think another rape or murder would have occurred that would match up that person's DNA. I don't think a person randomly does something of that nature and then goes back to being a normal citizen. JMO

3) IMHO, unless LE does something of significance- releases interview transcripts, full autopsy, do a familial DNA search, etc- I don't see this case coming to a conclusion. The guilty party or parties have thus far managed to avoid any other arrests and seem firmly entrenched in society. I don't know how we'd get to a situation where someone would rat out another unless a person really slipped up. Maybe they realize this and have been extra careful.
:thinking:

Regarding #2 and #3: I've often wondered if the person who did this is even alive anymore. It's literally the only other reason someone could have not been found by now (that or maybe they're already in jail or a hospital for something that wouldn't require submitting a DNA sample). I remember thinking how surely they would find who did it and it would most likely be after this person hurt someone else. Honestly surprised it hasn't happened by now.

 

[raiders444]

Let me rephrase: I think the killer did clean themselves up before leaving, for obvious reasons, and probably wrote the note after that was completed. But I think they realized that there was no way they could possibly clean up everything they'd left in the bedroom, and didn't really try. For similar reasons, I think that's why they didn't care about touching the pen and the bag, because by that point they'd realized their DNA was all over the bedroom and they couldn't possibly hope to remove it all. So if the bottle was cleaned, I think it was part of an abortive effort that didn't continue very long.

OK, if we go with this line of thinking, then surely they also left some prints behind- on a doorknob, faucet, sink, etc. Yet still nothing, at least nothing LE has mentioned on prints. So that's why I think they did take some measures to cover up after themselves, yet strangely left the bottle. Maybe the bottle itself is of some significance?