The man charged with killing University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sophomore Faith Hedgepeth in 2012 was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday on new drug-related charges.
Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares was scheduled to appear in court on new drug-related offenses, including possession of a controlled substance on prison/jail premises, possession of methamphetamine and possession with the intent to distribute meth.
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However, Salguero-Olivares was not brought over from the jail.
Salguero-Olivares' legal team filed a motion for independent testing of the controlled substance. In their motion, his attorneys say it is unclear whether the alleged controlled substance was tested by the NCSBI crime lab.
According to Salguero-Olivares' defense, he is lawfully provided with multiple prescriptions, one of which is known to cause false positive results for meth that he is accused of possessing.
The state made a motion to continue the case in September, and the defense attorney agreed. This case has been rescheduled to take place Sept. 29.
It's not the first contraband issue we've covered at the Durham County Detention Center. In October of 2024, a nurse was charged with bringing marijuana in for an inmate to sell.
The Durham County Sheriff's Office is trying to stop the flow of drugs. In 2021, they began scanning mail and provided the copy to detainees to avoid any drugs sprayed on paper, mixed with ink or glue.
In 2023, they moved those mail scanning services offsite.
It's not just a Durham issue. Data from the federal prison system shows how drugs get in - drugs are smuggled in for 38% of the cases, mailed in 23% of cases and come from a prison employee in 18% of cases nationwide. We reached out to the Durham County Sheriff's Office about how common drug contraband is, but did not hear back.
In addition to murder, Salguero-Olivares also faces charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree rape and first-degree sexual offense. He is currently being held at Durham County jail under no bond for the charges related to the Hedgepeth case.
In September 2012, 19-year-old Hedgepeth was found dead in her off-campus apartment on Old Chapel Hill Road. Autopsy reports show she was beaten to death and sustained severe head injuries.
Despite multiple leads and the offering of rewards, an arrest didn't come until nearly 10 years after her death.
RELATED: Timeline: Nearly a decade later, closure surfaces in Faith Hedgepeth murder
Salguero-Olivares was taken into police custody on Sept. 16, 2021, after a DNA sample was sent to the State Crime Lab that matched the DNA profile found at the original crime scene.
WRAL obtained court records back in 2023, which explain why it’s taken so long for Salguero-Olivares to go to trial.
Earlier this month, newly filed documents in Hedgepeth's case show previously uncovered claims around those close to her on the night she was murdered.
The motions filed on July 3 look into the possible involvement of Hedgepeth’s roommate and ask for more expert witnesses and DNA testing.