Less than two weeks from the start of the Faith Hedgepeth murder trial, a new filing in Durham County Court gives insight into expert witnesses for the prosecution.
Hedgepeth was found dead in her Chapel Hill apartment in 2012.
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Miguel Salguero-Olivares was arrested for her murder in 2021.
A judge ruled on multiple pre-trial motions in early August, including whether to allow cameras in court during Hedgepeth’s former roommate’s testimony, and how to handle the loss of a blood sample.
The prosecution filed a Supplemental Notice of its intent to use expert witnesses on Sept. 14.
The total list includes six witnesses, including SBI investigators, forensic scientists, and an associate medical examiner.
The state plans to call Justin Heinrich, the Special Agent in Charge for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to provide historical cell site record analysis. The filing says Heinrich will offer opinions regarding cellular tower records and argues Karena Rosario’s account about her location is not inconsistent with the call detail records, or CDRs.
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Heather Waleski, an Advanced Practice Provider with the Atrium Health Child Protection Team, could be called by the state to offer expertise on medical forensic sexual assault examinations.
North Carolina State Crime Lab Forensic Scientist Manager Summer Maffett could be called to offer expertise on latent print processing and comparison, while Forensic Scientist Erin Ermish may be called to offer expert opinion on forensic biology, including DNA analysis.
Senior Consultant of Latent Prints Lauren Smith with Ron Smith and Associates, Inc, may be called by the state to discuss latent print comparison, and Associate Chief Medical Examiner Lauren Scott may be called to review Hedgepeth’s autopsy.
In addition to expert witness testimony, motions filed by the state in April of 2026 show how much they will pay out-of-state witnesses to testify. Those include Karena Rosario and Jordan McCrary.
There will be one more pretrial hearing on Sept. 21.