Faith Hedgepeth Murder Trial: Analyst Finds Unknown DNA on Bacardi Bottle Neck Skipped in 2012

The neck, shoulder and body of the Bacardi bottle were never swabbed for DNA back in 2012. Now the jury hears what was on them. This is Day 7 of the Faith Hedgepeth murder trial in Durham County Superior Court. Faith was a 19-year-old UNC student, and her death in 2012 is what this trial is about. Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares is on trial on the charges, and the State's case leans hard on DNA. The witness on the stand all day is Erin Ermish, the State Crime Lab DNA analyst. Earlier on Day 7 she took the jury through the swab from the top of the Bacardi bottle, the result that includes the defendant. This clip is the rest of that same bottle. Defense attorney James Rainsford walks her through it one part at a time. The neck of the bottle, not swabbed in 2012? "That's correct." The shoulder, where the glass curves out from the neck? "No, it was not." The body of the bottle? "That's correct." Three parts of the bottle this trial keeps coming back to, and none of them went for DNA the first time around. Ermish also tells him she never reached out to law enforcement to ask which parts of the bottle they wanted tested. Then the later swabs. When the bottle went back to the lab, she took four new ones: the cap, the neck, the shoulder and the body. The cap had too little DNA to go any further. The neck came back as a mixture of three people, and she reads out that the defendant is excluded from the two parts of it she could interpret. Then comes the line Rainsford stops her on: "Additional DNA was present, which cannot be accounted for by the standards compared." He asks what that means, and she explains it is DNA from someone who was never compared as part of this case. The shoulder is a mixture of two people, the defendant is excluded from the part she could read, and again there is DNA nobody has accounted for. The body is a single-source profile, and the defendant is excluded from that one too. So here is what I keep asking. In 2012 the lab tested one part of this bottle. When somebody finally swabbed the rest of it, the defendant was excluded from every readable profile on the neck, the shoulder and the body, and two of those swabs carry DNA from a person who was never compared in this case. Who is that, and why did nobody look sooner? None of this erases the bottle top result the jury heard earlier in the day, and I am not the jury. Only the jurors decide what this bottle means. But they should hear all of it, and now they have. --- KEY MOMENTS 0:00 What this video is, and a preview 0:21 Video starts 2:35 The analyst confirms the neck was never swabbed in 2012 3:30 The bottle parts nobody swabbed get their results 6:21 DNA nobody can account for turns up on the neck 7:08 Rainsford pins down the exclusion on the neck 9:44 The body of the bottle excludes him too --- COMPLETE CASE COVERAGE justiceisaprocess.com SUBSCRIBE for daily trial coverage. CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://justiceisaprocess.com/nc-v-mi... Complete case overview including the charges, the timeline, the key players, and the legal questions this trial raises. State of North Carolina v. Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares. Durham County Superior Court, North Carolina, Judge Keith Gregory presiding. Salguero-Olivares is charged with first-degree murder in the 2012 death of Faith Hedgepeth, a 19-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill student, along with other charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Opening statements were heard on October 7, 2026. He is presumed innocent unless and until the State proves each charge beyond a reasonable doubt. LATEST ARTICLE: https://justiceisaprocess.com/desk-20... PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://justiceisaprocess.com/coverag... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares: Full Trial...   No Breaks Edition:    • NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares: No Breaks ...   Trial Analysis Podcast:    • NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares: Case Story...   Key Moments and Testimony:    • NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares: Key Moment...   Commentary:    • NC v. Miguel Salguero-Olivares: Commentary   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #FaithHedgepeth #SalgueroOlivares