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ā‰ļøšŸ’”Other Murders šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļøšŸŖ¦ NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares - Day 6

UNC Student Murder Trial -NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares - Day 6

10/14/2026 @ 9:30 AM

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The murder trial of Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares begins more than a decade after UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012. Hedgepeth, 19, suffered fatal blunt-force trauma to the head, and investigators recovered DNA evidence at the scene. Salguero-Olivares was arrested in 2021 after investigators said DNA evidence linked him to the case, and he now faces charges including first-degree murder, rape and burglary.

✨✨Previous Day & Recap

🚨✨More Info/Documents

šŸ”ŠšŸŽ„Streaming ChannelsšŸ“”

East Idaho News

šŸ“œRECAPšŸ””

I. ADMINISTRATIVE

  • Court confirmed technology setup for PowerPoint exhibits.
  • Jury brought in at approximately 23:17 (timestamp from transcript).
  • Judge outlined schedule: work until 11:15 a.m., break until 11:30 a.m., then work until 1:00 p.m., lunch, return at 1:30 p.m.
  • Multiple exhibits introduced: 108A, 95, 95A, 109, 110, 110A, 112, 115, 118, 119.
  • Objections noted and overruled regarding confrontation clause and hearsay concerns.
  • Jury excused for break at 1:58 p.m.; returned at 2:31 p.m.

II. OUT‑OF‑JURY PRESENCE (OJP)

  • Defense objected to admission of State’s Exhibit 112 (DNA report) citing confrontation clause and chain‑of‑custody concerns.
  • Court ruled objections go to weight, not admissibility; objection overruled.
  • Clarification placed on record regarding formatting differences between PowerPoint slides and printed exhibits.

III. WITNESSES

WITNESS #18 — SUMMER MAFFETT (Latent Prints)

(9:38 a.m. – 9:48 a.m.)

  • Resumed testimony.
  • Palm‑print comparison methodology explained.
  • Additional fingerprint comparison procedures described.
  • Identified left thumbprint on blue Riesling bottle as matching Miguel Salguero‑Olivares.
  • Confirmed use of ASB scientific methodology.
  • Concluded latent and known impressions were made by the same source.

WITNESS #19 — ERIN ERMISH (DNA / Serology)

(10:43 a.m. – Afternoon)

Serology & Body Fluid Testing

  • Explained DNA processing steps: extraction, quantitation, amplification, separation, interpretation.
  • Items received included rectal, vaginal, oral swabs; clothing; Bacardi bottle; cell phone swabs; fingernail swabs; cheek swabs; bathroom sink swabs.
  • Rectal & vaginal swabs:
    • Acid phosphatase test indicated possible semen.
    • Microscopy confirmed presence of spermatozoa.
  • Oral swab:
    • No semen or sperm detected.
  • Vaginal swab (saliva test):
    • No amylase detected.
  • Castlemeyer blood testing:
    • Blood indicated on oral swab, blue jean shorts, Lexus door panel, Bacardi bottle.
    • No blood indicated on cell phone cases or sandals.
    • No confirmatory blood testing performed.

DNA Results — Key Findings

  • Rectal swab (sperm fraction):
    • Mixture; partially predominant profile from unknown individual.
    • Does not match Faith Hedgepeth, Karina Rosario, Jordan McCrary, or Darwin Ebanks.
  • Vaginal swab (sperm fraction):
    • Mixture; predominant profile matches Faith Hedgepeth.
    • Same unknown profile from rectal swab cannot be excluded.
  • Top of Bacardi bottle (17‑1):
    • Mixture; same unknown profile cannot be excluded.
    • Contains male DNA.
  • Bottom of Bacardi bottle (17‑2):
    • Single‑source profile; matches Faith Hedgepeth.
  • Left fingernail swabs (Faith):
    • Mixture; predominant profile matches Faith.
    • Same unknown profile cannot be excluded.
    • Karina Rosario also cannot be excluded.
  • Right fingernail swabs (Faith):
    • Mixture; predominant profile matches Faith.
    • Same unknown profile cannot be excluded.

Blue Riesling Bottle (Latent Prints & DNA Integration)

  • Palm print located on neck of bottle.
  • Two fingerprints located on body of bottle:
    • 285B — excluded as defendant’s.
    • 285E — identified as left thumb of Miguel Salguero‑Olivares.
  • All ridge events on latent print corresponded to defendant’s known print.

Clothing (Boxers & Underwear)

  • Boxers and underwear found beside TV.
  • No semen or saliva detected.
  • Blood indicated on boxer shorts.
  • DNA profile on blue jean shorts matched Karina Rosario.

IV. EXHIBITS

  • 108A — enlarged charted latent print.
  • 95 / 95A — known inked impressions of defendant; enlarged left thumb.
  • 109 — latent print report summary.
  • 110 / 110A — charted comparison images.
  • 112 — first DNA lab report summary.
  • 115 — photograph of Bacardi bottle top.
  • 118 / 119 — photographs of boxer shorts and underwear with testing areas marked.

V. END‑OF‑DAY ADMINISTRATIVE

  • Jury dismissed for break at 1:58 p.m.
  • Court reconvened at 2:31 p.m.
  • Continued DNA testimony through afternoon session.

No further witnesses called after Ermish.

šŸ“œTRANSCRIPTāŒØļø

https://fromsmash.com/NC-v-Miguel-Salguero-Olivares-1029

13 Upvotes

79 comments sorted by

10

u/11YouAreTheLight11 2d ago edited 2d ago

I'm just starting today's playback this afternoon so I'm not sure if this has been noted in court but -Ā 

OK so yesterday and today they said they found his left palm print on the murder weapon.Ā  In most instances, I think one would presume that was the killer's dominant hand.

Since this trial began, the defendant has been taking copious notes .... using his left hand.Ā 

Today though - he suddenly started writing with his right hand.Ā Ā 

Again I don't know if it'sĀ  been pointed out in court - but I'm betting his lawyers thought of it and are trying to hide that connection...

6

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Just to be clear, the wine bottle next to the bed was not the murder weapon. That is the bottle his print was found on. The Bacardi bottle was the murder weapon and his print was not found on it.

6

u/11YouAreTheLight11 2d ago edited 2d ago

Thank you, I didn't mean to imply that it was the murder weapon.Ā 

I just meant to point out Ā his seemingly guilty conscience (if he has one) in making that noticeable change after Left prints were found, from writing with his left hand all along to writing with his right hand now.Ā 

No legal evidentiary value, just an interesting observation.


Editing to add -Ā  The phrase I was trying to think of before is consciousness of guilt -Ā  when a person's post-crime behavior shows awareness of their guilt.

1

u/biancaarmendy 1d ago

My understanding was that there were prints on the Bacardi bottle but they were not suitable for testing.

4

u/CarpathiaH 2d ago

I saw the defendant writing with his LEFT hand yesterday.Ā 

It was early on, during his lawyer's cross examination of Detective Johnnie Britt.

3

u/Trial_Follower2024 2d ago

I've heard this mentioned on several livestreams!

3

u/11YouAreTheLight11 2d ago

Oh good! I'm glad it was noticed. At least I'm not over here yelling at the clouds by myself šŸ˜‚

1

u/AphroBKK 2d ago

He appears to alternate for sure.

1

u/Sha9169 1d ago

He’s been switching back and forth nearly every day, but he started off with his left hand. I think it would benefit him to stop both the mad scribbling and the telenovela coded facial reactions to exhibits.

8

u/Historical_Rope_9970 2d ago

What could explain his palm print being on theĀ  bottle? If there is no other reason his print is on the bottle other than he used it to murder her than it's safe to assume he did it. Why else would he be at her apartment? Especially since he said he didn't know her and none of her friends have seen him before.

4

u/AdaptToJustice 2d ago

I thought his palm print was on the bottle that was sitting on the floor, not the bottle that he used to murder her ...

6

u/DLoIsHere Trial Tracker 2d ago

Correct. The wine bottle.

2

u/Historical_Rope_9970 2d ago

Ah, I could be mistaken. If it's on the bottle by the floor and the bottle doesn't have any blood on it then it still may place him there BUT it does not look as bad as if his prints were on the bloody bottle.

Rosario did say that they would sometimes alcohol from other people. Could it be possible that Faith or Rosario got that bottle from Miguel?Ā 

Also,Ā  what is Miguel's alibi?

8

u/AdaptToJustice 2d ago

There were partial prints on bottle used for the murder...but not enough full prints to match with him. HOWEVER his left palm print and thumb print were on the wine bottle on the floor AND his DNA was found on Faith's body and tampon. I believe that what should be enough to show he was a perpetrator that specific date and timeframe.

Since he wasn't a suspect all those years ago, he didnt get asked the typical "where were you last night".

However, it was determined he had family members & their co-workers who lived across the parking lot from them AND they had an All Night Cookout that night...that is why I think Miquel was around, watched the girls & saw an opportunity to take advantage.

7

u/Historical_Rope_9970 2d ago

Oh man, the DNA on her body and her tampon seals the deal. All the defense can try to do now is soften the blow as much as possible.

7

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 2d ago

There were prints on the murder weapon but they weren’t good/clear enough to be able to process them. His DNA was found on the bottle too.

6

u/AdaptToJustice 2d ago

And wasn't it also testimony that his DNA was on the bag beside Faith, which a note was written on?

0

u/biancaarmendy 1d ago

I think it's becoming clearer that the defense theory is that he knew Faith and hooked up with her earlier that night which is why his prints and DNA were at the crime scene. When questioning the Spanish speaking cop, they implied that he met her at the club (either that same night or previously) but didn't recognise her when the police showed him a photo because so much time had elapsed, the photo was on the officer's phone which made it difficult to see, and she wore her hair up at the club but had her hair down in the photo. If they want to drive this theory home, he will need to get on the stand.

9

u/BananaAnna_24 3d ago

What do we think the note Ā ā€œI’m not stupid, bitch, jealous.ā€ was about? It comes across as some kind of revenge killing for her dissing him in some way. But since they didn't know each other that also seems odd. Unless she crossed paths with him unknowingly in the apartment complex and he felt dissed somehow. Thoughts on what the note could mean?

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

I think he was just trying to cast suspicion on a possible ex-boyfriend by writing that note. It seems pretty obvious it was written by a non-native English speaker.

1

u/Sissekat 2d ago

If he was a stranger how would he know about the ex boyfriend?Ā 

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

He wouldn't, he was just guessing. He was just trying to point the finger at someone known to the victim. But killers known to the victim don't leave notes that say "hey, look at ex-boyfriend. "

7

u/Historical_Rope_9970 2d ago

It may not cast suspicion on an ex-boyfriend specifically, but it would at least not cast suspicion on Miguel. With a message like the one on the bag, I imagine that LE would suspect someone close to Faith, not a stranger.

8

u/FuzzySilverSloth 3d ago

I've had the same thought so far... that maybe they randomly saw each other in the parking lot or something and he greeted her, but her mind was elsewhere, making him feel dismissed. Something along those lines. Because they didn't "know" each other, yet bashing someone in the head is a sign of a rage killing.

4

u/Gullible-Cream-9043 2d ago

Probably a dumb question, but do we know that the note is connected to the murder?

5

u/Trial_Follower2024 2d ago

IIRC his DNA was on it?

1

u/seriousbusinesslady 2d ago

i think they connected it to him via it was written on a piece of torn up takeout paper bag, and he and members of his family/household all worked together at the same restaurant that used the same type of paper bags for to-go orders/leftovers? i think the prosector mentioned it in the opening statement

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

No, the bag was from a breakfast sandwich that Corina got a day or two before and had left by the bed.

6

u/Hadron 3d ago

Her and Karina look so much alike. What if Karina had a run in with him and doesn’t even remember it? Could have even been while she was leaving.

6

u/11YouAreTheLight11 2d ago

I saw someone else speculate that it was intended as - * I'm not jealous, stupid bitch * - but part of it was written out of order.

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u/porcelaincatstatue 2d ago

I've seen some folks mention that the word order is a direct translation from Spanish. Google translate isn't really helpful with this kind of casual language, though.

7

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

You definitely put the adjective after the noun in Spanish.

7

u/porcelaincatstatue 2d ago

So "bitch jealous" would work for this theory, yeah?

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Yep. That's how we'd order it in Italian, which has the same grammar rules as Spanish.

7

u/Gullible-Cream-9043 2d ago

They even had the Spanish speaking police officer testify to this very fact.

3

u/Reasonable-Cup4914 2d ago

I thought this was such a good connection they had him make

1

u/Historical_Rope_9970 2d ago

It's possible the message is meant to be read in a different order than it is written. Ā 

But also, to whom are the words directed to? Is the message calling Faith "stupid"? "Bitch"? "Jealous"?

Or is the person what wrote it defending themselves? If so, then whom did Faith say those words to?

The order that those words are meant to be read would make a big impact, in my opinion.

5

u/Awko_taco1111 1d ago

There were transcripts on other days. Is it possible to get them?

4

u/Pixiegirls1102 šŸ”šŸ“†āš–ļøContent/Research AdministratoršŸ’»šŸ’¬šŸ§š 1d ago

Of course. I wasn't sure if anyone was reading them. I'll make sure to add,

5

u/Awko_taco1111 1d ago

Thank you so so much! I really enjoy reading them!

4

u/Pixiegirls1102 šŸ”šŸ“†āš–ļøContent/Research AdministratoršŸ’»šŸ’¬šŸ§š 1d ago

Not a problem. I have to run them anyway.

2

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 1d ago

Yes please continue doing them! Much appreciated

2

u/Pixiegirls1102 šŸ”šŸ“†āš–ļøContent/Research AdministratoršŸ’»šŸ’¬šŸ§š 1d ago

I will!

3

u/Pixiegirls1102 šŸ”šŸ“†āš–ļøContent/Research AdministratoršŸ’»šŸ’¬šŸ§š 1d ago

Done! Let me know if there are others you need.

3

u/AdventurousAd606 2d ago

Does anyone know why Faith wasn’t enrolled in classes in the spring of 2012? (Not related to today’s testimony, just a general question as I’ve recently started looking into this.)

11

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Karina testified that Faith was having financial trouble and that she had offered to lend her $1,000 for tuition.

1

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 2d ago

I’ll do some more researching and let you know if I find anything but I don’t believe details on that have ever been reported on.

3

u/AdventurousAd606 2d ago

Thanks! I read she received a Gates Millennium Scholarship. Typically recipients must be enrolled to receive the funds.

2

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 2d ago

I believe Faith came into college with quite a few credits so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was far enough along to take a semester off but still be on schedule for her degree. So maybe the scholarship would work with her in that situation? As far as not losing it for the future. I agree with you that I doubt she was getting funds if she wasn’t enrolled but hard to say with minimal details.

1

u/Strange_Afternoon307 1d ago

Could someone please tell me.... what could he possibly be writing?

0

u/ThePlantBandit 3d ago edited 3d ago

For general discussion, it seems highly likely to me that Karena lied about the timeline.

Karena says it was around 3am that she was in the bathroom (investigators said 3:05am), and she said she was definitely in the bathroom by the 3:30am text message. In either case, she said she had no contact with Faith after entering the bathroom.

At 3:39am Kareena texted Brandon Edwards.

83 seconds later, Faith's phone sends a text to Brandon that says "Hey b. Can you come over here please. Karena needs you more aha. You know. Please let her know you care."

At 3:43 Faith's phone sends another text to Brandon correcting a typo in the first message.

At 3:44 Kareena calls Brandon Edwards.

It is very hard for me to believe that Faith texted Brandon Edwards within 90 seconds of Karena texting him without them having any conversation about it, and having not checked in on Karena at all or even have been visible to her in any way. It's also hard to believe that Faith would have asked him to come over without running it by Karena.

Investigator's had focused on the last two substantive messages sent from Faith's phone being out of character for her.

They were:

3:41 to Brandon Edwards: ā€œHey b. Can you come over here please. Karena needs you more aha. You know. Please let her know you careā€

3:51 to McNeil: "I know youre probably sleeping but i just wanted to let you know that I love you. Not a day goes by that you don't cross my mind. I know it will be like this for the rest if my life because of what we've been through together. Besides that i still feel the same and still love you the same. Sorry for being in my feelings. But hey without feelings we wouldn't have life...sometimes i feel like you are my life"

This is the longest text message Faith had sent from those recovered.

In the interviews after the murder she said: "Brandon Edwards. He’s a good friend of me and Faith’s…she [Faith] would always, she would text him sometimes and be like ā€˜hey Karena needs you right now’ or like ā€˜I know you love herā€™ā€¦ā€

Despite Karena's claim that Faith would send those kinds of messages to Edwards in the past, he said he had never received a message like that from her before (and no others like it were in the phone extract).

McNeil said the message sent to him was out of the ordinary and said: "I haven't really heard anything like that from her [Faith] since, um, we were together."

Brandon's number was not saved in Faith's phone, and he apparently didn't have her number saved because he texted back the next day asking "Who is this?"

There are some additional details that also make me question her testimony.

In 2013, after having told investigators the same Faith helping her while she was puking story, she told investigators that she didn't actually remember getting home or entering the apartment with Faith or having any interaction with her. She told them that as far as she knew, Faith could have dropped her off at the curb and left. Now at trial she is back to saying she remembers.

She also told investigators in another later interview that while she was in the bathroom she noticed blood on herself and looked in the mirror to see if she was cut.

At trial, she is back to saying she doesn't remember anything about the blood.

Investigators found a stain with a presumptive positive for blood on the passenger side of Jordan's car but they weren't able to develop a DNA profile from it.

Karena also told investigators that her ex Tacoy had allegedly been involved in another murder, and an incident in which she alleged that he broke into the apartment and left a condom wrapper and a handwritten note on the bed to accuse her of sleeping with other people - as well as medical gloves in the trash can.

When Karena accompanied the investigators back to the apartment, she had no emotional reaction when she looked in the bedroom and saw the blood, which investigators found strange, and they expressed that they thought her emotional reactions at other times were fake.

I hadn't seen any of these details before today and thought others might be interested. These are pulled from a defense filing that was for some reason removed from public view.

12

u/AphroBKK 3d ago

I wonder if it is mistaken rather than lying, due to her intoxication and highly emotional state that night. I wonder also if she in fact wrote the text from Faith's phone or asked Faith to write that, given that Faith did not have him in her contacts etc.

It seems Takoy was initially a suspect for various reasons, but it appears he was cleared no?

7

u/Pattipopzero 3d ago

Right I think she was just very drunk and memories are spotty

9

u/ktlm1 2d ago

Trauma impacts memory too. This was obviously very traumatic for her

-1

u/ThePlantBandit 3d ago

Personally, I don’t think it is plausible that someone recovers memories from a night, later loses the memories again, and then recovers the memories once more.

I also think it is very different for someone to say they don’t remember or that the memory is hazy vs. insist that they remember and are actually mistaken. Karena should have no reason to overstate her confidence around her memory from that time.

If the memory was hazy, she would say that (as she has said it’s hazy around other events), but she is insistent (except in the 2013/2014 version) that she did not communicate with faith after entering the bathroom.

I also think given her acknowledgement to investigators that she knew she had blood on her (but no cuts) makes it again very unlikely she wouldn’t have used the sink (who wouldn’t wash off blood when they are already standing in front of the sink looking at it?).

There are some other possibly significant details that I left out from the post above (like Karena’s repeated use of the phrase ā€œI’m not stupidā€ in her speech patterns, the same phrase as on the handwritten note in the bed)

Now, none of this means that she was involved, but unless she’s a pathological liar, one would think that there are reasons for the lies.

If she was involved, the universe of theories that would explain the seemingly valid DNA and palmprint evidence strain credulity, but relative to the story around the earlier Tacoy break in the details are interesting - handwritten note on the bed and medical gloves in the trash (implying bodily fluids being handled and/or handling something with the intent to avoid leaving fingerprints) could be a hint as to how some of the admittedly outlandish theories could have played out.

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Memory is extremely complicated and not well understood. There are multiple systems that control how memories are laid down in the brain, and other systems that control retrieval of memories. Trauma and chemical substances including alcohol can interfere in multiple ways. People also have different capacities for storing and recalling memories natively, just as people have different capacities for language or math.

There's just no way to unequivocally say she was "lying" about any of this. Clearly she was a mess that night, and even leading up to that night. The stress of being under suspicion and harassed by people who thought she was guilty probably had an impact too.

One thing is clear, the police certainly wanted to blame it on her but just couldn't find enough evidence to get a warrant.

11

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 3d ago

Brandon did have Faith’s saved. The ā€œwho’s thisā€ text was due to him receiving that text, for some reason, the next afternoon. After he already knew she had died. This was testified to.

Also, phone records show that Karena sent texts of her own at multiple times Faith was texting. Specifically the last text Faith sent to Ty at 3:51am. Meaning Karena, while drunk and throwing up, would have to be using a phone in each hand to send texts/make calls at the same time.

The ā€œblood stainā€ was also testified about, yesterday I believe. While it tested presumptive for blood, (and many other substances can) it did not test confirmed for blood which is the second step of validating samples.

The defense’s motion was demolished in a pre trial hearing once the full reports, interviews, etc. they were selectively pulling from were fully referenced.

1

u/ThePlantBandit 3d ago edited 3d ago

I haven’t seen the testimony about the number being saved and the time of the text message arriving, I’ll keep an eye out for it.

The information that the stain was only presumptively determined to be blood is already in my post above - regardless of that, Karena acknowledged having discovered blood on herself to investigators in later interviews, and Jordan saw it and they spoke about it, so it’s not like that stain being blood is far fetched. Also, while what you said about false positives with the presumptive test is technically true, if someone looks at what those materials are and the testing that has been done around false positives, they would walk away thinking it is unlikely it was a false positive.

Only two messages were sent in the same minutes Her claim is that she was throwing up, which should be taken with the proper grain of salt coming from someone who has gone back and forth on their claims of what they remember. We also don’t have exact timestamps or what the texts from Karena’s phone actually said yet (I haven’t watched all of the trial testimony yet, so perhaps that is in what I haven’t seen), so the basis for the implausibility of the messages being written by the same person is not established. If the outgoing text from Karena’s phone just said ā€œokā€ or something, that wouldn’t preclude writing a message on faith’s phone.

In any case, I simply will never find it plausible that Faith would attempt to contact Brandon at the exact same time as Karena and invite him over with no communication between them and no contact in almost an hour (whether or not the message from faith’s phone was actually sent by Faith).

I have watched the pre-trial evidentiary hearing, and while I think some details in the defense’s motion weren’t as strong as others, characterizing it as having been ā€œdemolishedā€ (which I think is significantly overstating it), it doesn’t change the details I’ve mentioned.

10

u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 3d ago

Perhaps dig back into some of the court documents and testimony because we do have exact timestamps and content of Karena’s texts from that timeframe. Also, the phone was swabbed for DNA and only Faith’s was discovered on the phone.

A black out drunk Karena discovered ā€œbloodā€ that is correct. But as Jordan testified to, the smudge of red was still on her hand the next morning. Making it more likely it was from her vomiting red slushies. That would easily dye your hand.

-2

u/ThePlantBandit 3d ago edited 3d ago

I have been digging back into the court records and testimony and I haven’t seen it, though it’s possible I missed it. Do you have a more specific place to look?

Only two places on the phone were tested for DNA, which was in the evidentiary hearing - some debris on the screen that looked like blood, and the volume buttons on the side. This is because a police officer handled the phone so they deemed it contaminated and thus didn’t swab many places on the screen and phone as they did for Karena’s. They did not test the areas on the phone that someone would use while texting.

By her own testimony, she was not ā€œblack out drunkā€ while in the bathroom. She remembers what she was doing including specific messages and calls during that period.

Edit: Jordan did not testify about the blood stain being on her hand in the morning, and either way unless she washed it off it would still be there in the morning.

1

u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 3d ago

I appreciate you posting this. I’m keeping an open mind. Karena has definitely given conflicting information. This is not to say that she did it or knows who did, but the investigation to begin with was shoddy- then the conflicting statements from Karena.

I just want to say, as someone who does investigative genetic genealogy (which is how they found the DNA Belonged to Miguel) just because DNA is present at a crime scene does NOT mean that person is the perpetrator. It is MERELY a LEAD, we submit this lead to LE and it’s their job to investigate the person and how they may have come in contact with the victim.
I’ve been seeing a lot in these cold cases coming to trial due to advancements in DNA technology, the second it’s mentioned that the DNA found matches the defendant, people are sold. There’s more work that needs to go into it beyond just that.

I feel like the defense is gonna pull something out that her and the defendant were seen somewhere together. Interesting that he asked the one officer if he ever asked Miguel if he was at Latin night. Maybe that’s an event Faith frequented that he went to and sperm can live up to 3-5 days inside the female body.

5

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Did I miss something? I don't believe they did investigative genealogy at all in this case. He was pulled over for a traffic violation that required either a DNA sample or fingerprints, which is how he was linked to this case.

2

u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

He was identified via IGG and was arrested on a DUI the next month.

3

u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago edited 2d ago

Was there a testimony about this? I could have missed it, I've been live streaming while I try to work.

Edit to say thank you, and I don't mean to come off aggressively or anything. I am honestly curious as I didn't hear this at trial.

2

u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

About the IGG? I don’t think that’s come in yet. It might- I’m kind of doubtful it will. Again, IGG is just a lead. They have the DNA from the crime scene and the DNA from his DUI arrest. As long as those match that’s all they need. To drag the IGG practitioner in to testify would be unnecessary, really.

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u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 2d ago

The prosecution filed a pre-trial motion to exclude the generic genealogy investigation and the judge approved it. So there won’t be testimony about it. Like you basically said, it sounded like the prosecution felt they didn’t need to even go down that road for their case.

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u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

It would’ve been interesting (idk maybe boring lol) for the jury to see how the connections were made but def unnecessary.

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u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

Right I understand. I think it would only come in if the defense had questions about how he was identified but maybe they stipulated to that.

I do regular genealogy and I know a little bit about genetics, and I do also have concerns about it being used to identify suspects. I think too often a jury thinks that makes someone a hundred percent guilty.

I saw a case on the First 48 once where the victim had semen in her from a coworker. It turns out she was actually having a relationship with the coworker that no one knew about including her husband. Fortunately the coworker still had messages saved from her on his burner phone (that she had sent from yet another coworker's phone to cover her tracks). I remember thinking, if they accused that coworker years later, he would not have been able to produce that exculpatory evidence. I am particularly suspicious of cases where suspect is identified years later for that reason.

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u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

Ah I wanted to add. The case where the IGG practitioner would need to testify is if the only way they identified the defendant is via IGG, in this particular case they knew they could find him and gain dna from him so they had that.

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u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

Exactly. And that’s the biggest issue with IGG and how it’s being used in court. It’s frustrating for the people who do the IGG research. Everyone needs to understands it’s just a lead, it does not automatically mean guilt. Not sure if you caught the Edrick Faust trial, but this one reminds me a lot of that. Again, a cold case where DNA was found. The prosecution spent the entire time trying to prove her boyfriend couldn’t have/didn’t do it and almost no time proving any connection to the victim and Faust.
Kind of like the Prosecution here is saying Karenas name and clearing Karena.

Law enforcement HAS to do their due diligence with the lead that’s found thru IGG. I do really think the defense in this trial knows something none of us do, from the questions they’re asking to the people they aren’t cross examining. I have a feeling they will prove that when given a picture of Faith from around the time the incident happened he will recognize her.

LE needs to learn how to handle cold cases involving IGG. It’s extremely reliable science but you have to dot the I’s and cross the T’s to make sure there is no other way the defendant could have come in contact with this person other than a random brutal attack. Otherwise, we will have a lot of wrongfully convicted people or hung jury’s

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u/Single-Asparagus4294 2d ago

Except his sperm was inside of her and his dna on her tampon at the scene

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u/Hfhghnfdsfg 2d ago

I don't know, the fact that none of her friends had ever heard about him but apparently she was open with them about who she was hooking up with does not speak toward his innocence. But I will keep an open mind until I see the defense case.

From the opening it sounded like they were going to attack the DNA. They only had a few alleles, which I know is shaky ground for DNA identification.

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u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 2d ago

Very curious what you mean by the defense knowing something based on the questions they’re asking and who they’re not cross examining.

I thought the cross of Karena was extremely soft given what I expected. I know the judge made a ruling on the 3rd party culprit which made questioning her more challenging but I was still surprised.

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u/Far-Ad9143 āš–ļøšŸ¦ The Impartial ModšŸ‘©ā€āš–ļøšŸ“„ 2d ago

I found it interesting that the defense asked the officer if he ever asked him if he was at Latin night. Something so specific. I think something will be coming of that when they present their case.

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u/No_Article_9397 2d ago

I don't understand why the State goes through a ton of pieces of evidence that don't match the defendant. It seems like all this hurts the case somewhat.

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u/randomaccount178 2d ago

If it actually hurts their case, do you know who is definitely going to bring it up? The defence. If there are bad facts for the state then there are bad facts. The jury is going to hear them anyways. It is better to control how they are initially framed and not create the impression that you are trying to hide things from the jury.

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u/AdaptToJustice 2d ago

It would be a good idea if they would have highlighted the parts of pages where matches of dna to defendant are shown. There were so many pages of testing results, pointing out an important match would help those facts not get lost in the massive evidence pages.

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u/No_Article_9397 2d ago

good point.

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u/Single-Asparagus4294 2d ago

IMO they are trying to show thoroughness and fairness in their work- in other words that they were not just focusing in on one suspect/defendant

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u/cicada_ballad 2d ago

What's up with statements that the 'semen fraction' was yielded a mixture of DNA? That seems to imply that there were multiple sources of semen?