By J. Andrew Curliss acurliss@newsobserver.com HOLLISTER — A Native American community grieved on Sunday over the death of one of its brightest, recalling the joy of UNC Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth in church sanctuaries, living rooms and at a solemn vigil held at dusk on the sacred grounds of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe. Hedgepeth’s body was found at her Chapel Hill apartment on Friday. Police are treating her death as a homicide. The news has left the tribe of about 4,000 members in a rural area roughly 90 minutes northeast of Raleigh without words to express the hurt, many said in interviews. “It is a huge, huge shock – and that’s to say the least,” said Melissa Richardson, the tribal council’s chairwoman. “Our community is just reeling from this. Numb. How could somebody do this to Faith?” There were tears on Sunday, and hugs. And some smiles, recalling the way Hedgepeth, 19, lived. Friends said that she planned to be a pediatrician, or perhaps a teacher, and that she wanted to return to the tribe’s area to practice. Gabrielle Evans, 20, a cousin and a close friend, said they had dreams of working together to help their area. “She was always thinking of someone else,” Evans said. “The sweetest person ever.” Hedgepeth and Evans both won scholarships from the Gates Millennium Scholars program, giving them ‘Numb’ N.C. tribe mourns death of UNC student SEE TRIBE, 4B Hedgepeth
