The Faith Hedgepeth murder case is one step closer to trial.

It’s been more than three years since Miguel Salguero-Olivares was arrested and charged with murder. His arrest came nearly 10 years after Hedgepeth, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found beaten to death in her apartment.  

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On Thursday at Durham’s quarterly homicide status hearing, attorneys for both sides said they’re ready to schedule a trial.

Angela Garcia-Lamarca, the assistant district attorney assigned to the case, told the judge the two sides are in the process of finalizing discovery.

Garcia-Lamarca said, because the case dates back to 2012, there is a large amount of evidence to go through.

According to Garcia-Lamarca, the two sides plan to get in front of a judge to schedule a trial that would last at least a week.

During Thursday's hearing, Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry asked to remove the case from homicide status, which essentially moves the case past the administration stage and into trial preparation.

Hedgepeth’s family was in the courtroom for Thursday's update. Garcia-Lamarca said they’ve been present for every hearing.

WRAL News recently reported Salguero-Olivares is now facing new charges: first-degree burglary, first-degree rape and first-degree sexual offense.

WRAL obtained court records back in 2023, which explain why it’s taken so long for Salguero-Olivares to go to trial.

One reason is there’s so much evidence – more than 39,000 pages. Those court records also revealed that the state has 30 expert witnesses they expect to call to trial.

Hedgepeth was just 19 years old and a sophomore at UNC when she was found dead in September 2012. WRAL News has a timeline of the events following her death.

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