DNA expert returns to stand Thursday in Faith Hedgepeth murder trial

Testimony resumes Thursday in the murder trial of the man accused of killing UNC student Faith Hedgepeth in 2012.

Miguel Salguero-Olivares is charged with killing Hedgepeth, who was found dead inside her Chapel Hill apartment in September 2012.

Forensic scientist Erin Ermish, with the North Carolina Crime Lab, spent most of Wednesday on the witness stand testifying about DNA evidence collected during the investigation.

Ermish testified that DNA from an unknown person found on Hedgepeth’s body could not be excluded from DNA found on several other pieces of evidence, including the Bacardi rum bottle prosecutors allege was used to kill Hedgepeth.

She said that same unknown DNA also could not be excluded from samples collected from underneath Hedgepeth’s fingernails and from DNA found on Hedgepeth’s clothing.

Ermish also testified that testing of swabs from Hedgepeth’s body indicated semen might be present, and further testing showed sperm.

Earlier Wednesday, fingerprint expert Summer Maffett testified that a palm print and fingerprint found on a blue Riesling wine bottle in Hedgepeth’s bedroom were identified as belonging to Salguero-Olivares.

Ermish will return to the witness stand when testimony resumes Thursday morning.