Band includes tribute to Hedgepeth in music video

Unanswered questions continue to plague the family of slain UNC junior Faith Danielle Hedgepeth. But on Sunday, her family and friends gathered to do something she loved — sing.

Dark Water Rising, a band from southeastern North Carolina, is honoring Hedgepeth by focusing the music video for its song “Hometown Hero” around her.

To help keep Hedgepeth’s memory alive, about 200 family members and friends gathered at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal Powwow Grounds in Hollister to participate in the making of the video Sunday.

The music video will be released in two to three months, said Charly Lowry, lead singer for Dark Water Rising.

Chad Hedgepeth, Faith Hedgepeth’s brother, said their father, Roland Hedgepeth, reached out to the group after hearing “Hometown Hero.”

“We all heard the song, and we talked about it a lot — about how it reminded us of Faith,” said Chad Hedgepeth.

He said his father asked Dark Water Rising to perform and dedicate a live performance of the song to Hedgepeth, but the group decided to take it a step further.

“They wanted to honor the request my dad had made, but at the same time they felt they wanted to do it justice,” he said.

Chad Hedgepeth said he hopes the video will keep the case in the spotlight.

“Maybe somebody might just remember something,” he said. “Maybe somebody will speak up.”

Hedgepeth was found dead in her off-campus apartment in September, and police have remained tight-lipped about the investigation.

No new information has been released since January, when police announced DNA found at the crime scene pointed to a male suspect.

“The hardest part about moving forward is all the unanswered questions,” Chad Hedgepeth said. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

Victoria Chavis, a UNC junior and friend of Hedgepeth, said she tries not to think about her death.

“I think it’s a good thing to still honor, to raise awareness, to not let people forget,” she said.

Lowry, who is also a UNC alumna, helped found UNC’s first all-girls American Indian a cappella group, One Voice.

The group has since become Unheard Voices, which Hedgepeth joined her freshman year.

“We lit the candle, and they carried the flame, and Faith just happened to be part of the beginning of a tradition that could carry on,” Lowry said.

Wearing matching T-shirts, Hedgepeth’s relatives and friends sang a segment of the chorus in the video.

“For anyone to repeat those words and allow them to resonate, it can have a healing effect,” Lowry said.

In addition to including family members in the video, Lowry also changed a line in the song to better remember Hedgepeth.

“It’s just like the song says — ‘stripped away from a mother’s arms,’” she said. “They didn’t have a chance to say goodbye.”

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.