But there’s still so much he doesn’t know. Although Chapel Hill police released a new timeline for the last hours of Faith Hedgepeth’s last night, Roland Hedgepeth still doesn’t know what would cause someone to take his daughter’s life.
Faith Hedgepeth was found dead in her off-campus apartment on Sept. 7, 2012. Police have spent the last two years searching for the UNC junior’s killer, collecting hundreds of DNA samples and spending thousands of hours on the case .
“Maybe her standing up for what was right for someone else was what led to her death,” Roland Hedgepeth said through tears on the two-year anniversary of his daughter’s death Sunday.
Faith Hedgepeth was found with bruises and cuts on her knuckles, according to an autopsy released Friday. Bruised knuckles suggests she put up a fight, according to a report from the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Dundee in Scotland.
“She was a fighter; she didn’t give up,” Roland Hedgepeth said. “Even after all that happened in college, especially coming from such a small town.”
Faith Hedgepeth, a native of Hollister, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.02 at the time of her autopsy, according to a toxicology report. Police said she spent part of her last night at the The Thrill, a bar on East Rosemary Street that has since closed. She returned to her apartment around 2:38 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2012 with her roommate Karena Rosario. Rosario later left the apartment at 4:27 a.m., according to a timeline of Faith Hedgepeth’s last night released by Chapel Hill police Thursday.
According to Faith Hedgepeth’s autopsy, Rosario was the last person to Faith Hedgepeth alive. Rosario saw her sleeping in their Hawthorne at the View apartment at 4 a.m. Sept. 7, 2012. Rosario did not respond to requests for comment.
Police say Rosario returned around 11 a.m. to find Faith Hedgepeth dead. In the 911 call alerting police to her body, Rosario said she didn’t think Hedgepeth was breathing when she found her. Rosario told the operator several times there were items in the room that were not hers and that it looked like someone else had been there.
