Powwow will be held in Faith Hedgepeth’s honor

Attending her tribe’s annual powwows was always close to Faith Hedgepeth’s heart.

Hedgepeth, a UNC junior, was found dead in her apartment the morning of Sept. 7.

Six months later, little light has been shed on the case, and no new information has been released since January, when police announced DNA found at the crime scene suggested a male suspect.

To honor Hedgepeth’s life, students with the Carolina Indian Circle will hold its 26th annual powwow Saturday in her name.

Hedgepeth, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi American Indian Tribe, often danced in her tribe’s powwows growing up, said her father, Roland Hedgepeth.

He said his daughter loved going to the powwows to visit with friends and family.

“It’s like a big Native American family reunion,” he said.

And his daughter loved any opportunity to celebrate her culture with those she cared about.

“Faith was very much into her family, and powwow time is a time of seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time,” he said.

Hedgepeth stopped dancing in the tribe’s annual powwows as she got busier with school, her mother, Connie Hedgepeth, said.

But she always supported the events and her tribe.

“She enjoyed the fellowship and seeing people she knew visit and help celebrate with us,” Connie Hedgepeth said.

Randi Byrd, program assistant for the UNC American Indian Center, said Saturday’s powwow is student-driven.

“The whole day is going to be a celebration of honoring her — celebrating who she was as a student, member of the Carolina family and member of the Indian community on campus,” she said.

Byrd said students in the Carolina Indian Circle decided to honor Hedgepeth in this way because powwow culture was such a big part of her life.

Connie Hedgepeth said she appreciates that students think so much of her daughter to hold the powwow.

She said the reminders can be difficult, but she tries to go to any event for her daughter.

“It’s a way of people letting the public know or letting authorities know that she’s not forgotten, and that we want them to solve this case,” she said.

And Roland Hedgepeth said he is happy to see his daughter remembered this way.

“Her death has gone from everybody talking about it to hardly no one talking about it anymore,” he said.

“I’m glad they are doing it in honor of her and keeping this alive.”

Both Roland and Connie Hedgepeth said they will attend the powwow as long as weather allows them to travel to Chapel Hill.

“It saddens me that we even have to have these events,” Roland Hedgepeth said.

But he said he is thankful for those who remember his daughter and help keep the public aware.

“Faith was a trooper,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.