Hedgepeth family searches for answers about Faith Hedgepeth's death

A week ago, Chad Hedgepeth came to Chapel Hill searching for answers about the Sept. 7 death of his little sister, UNC student Faith Danielle Hedgepeth.

Hedgepeth, 19, was found by friends in her off-campus apartment in what police are calling a homicide.

Since that Friday two weeks ago, little information has emerged about her death, which spurred Chad Hedgepeth to make the trip from Virginia last week.

“I was in Chapel Hill poking around just trying to see what I can find out,” he said. “The cops won’t tell us anything.”

On Sept. 10, a Durham County Superior Court judge sealed several documents in the case — including the 911 call and multiple search warrants related to the case — at the request of Chapel Hill police.

Hedgepeth said police have also released little information to his family about the investigation.

No arrests have been made in the case, and a cause of death has yet to be released.

“They’re saying it’s all locked up … that anything they tell us would compromise the investigation,” he said.

As the days drag on with no new information, Hedgepeth is growing worried the case will go cold.

“We call (police) daily and talk to them,” he said. “I don’t know, it bothers me that things could just go stale.”

Sgt. Josh Mecimore, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said the documents were sealed to protect the integrity of the investigation. He said he can’t comment on how many investigators are working on the case.

“There’s information related to the investigation that only someone who was involved or investigators would know,” he said.

“We’re not doing this to keep the details secret from everybody, but to determine someone’s level of involvement.”

Police said they don’t believe the crime was random or that it poses a threat to the community. But Chapel Hill residents and UNC students have begun to worry for their safety.

Michelle Lucas, a senior geography and German major, said she and her housemates have taken more safety precautions since the homicide.

“We were all pretty shocked,” she said.

“We feel like we would be safer knowing some information rather than taking all these precautions and not knowing what for.”
Hedgepeth said the lack of information available in the case is disturbing.

“Something’s wrong, and I know it’s my little sister and I know she’s not here,” he said. “Having all these unanswered questions, that just makes it worse.”

He said he and his family will continue to search for answers in his sister’s death.

“We don’t want it to go cold,” Hedgepeth said. “We don’t want it to be put on the back burner.”

Director of Enterprise Sarah Glen contributed.

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