Here's why it's taking lawyers so long to prosecute the suspect in the 2012 murder of UNC student Faith Hedgepeth

Attorneys for a case involving the 2012 murder of a University of North Carolina student met Thursday for a homicide status hearing.

It took nearly 10 years for Chapel Hill police to make an arrest for the murder of UNC student Faith Hedgepeth. She was 19.

Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares is charged with first-degree murder of Hedgepeth. The sophomore student was last seen alive around 4 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2012, when her roommate left their off-campus apartment. The roommate returned about seven hours later to find Hedgepeth dead.

Chapel Hill police arrested Salguero-Olivares on Sept. 16, 2021.

On Thursday, attorneys explained why the case is moving so slowly.

“In this case, the discovery is extraordinary, since it was a nine-year investigation with significant forensic testing,” said Durham Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn.

Montgomery-Blinn told the judge on Thursday her office is still getting results back from the crime lab. She indicated how thorough the search for evidence is, which involves translators and social media accounts.

“We are still awaiting digital forensic analysis and cell extractions, and digital social media and translation of audio,” Montgomery-Blinn said.

Montgomery-Blinn and Chief Public Defender Dawn Baxton are reviewing to see if there will be additional forensic requests.

On Thursday, WRAL News reached out to the Hedgepeth family with a request for comment but did not hear back.

WRAL News has reported that Salguero-Olivares was linked to the crime from DNA evidence gathered in a drunk-driving stop the month before his arrest.

A search warrant, recently made public, shows investigators determined a palm print on a wine bottle found by Hedgepeth's body belongs to Salugero-Olivares.

Fingerprints on the bottle were inconclusive.

A warrant from December 2022 reveals police wanted to do a more thorough finger-printing of Olivares, in jail, for a better comparison to include "inked impressions with emphasis on the fully rolled fingers to include sides and tips."

In court Thursday, the case was continued. It means the judge is set to receive another update on where things stand on July 20.

There is still no trial date or plea date set.