+ By Jenna Smialek jsmialek@newsobserver.com CHAPEL HILL A UNC-Chapel Hill student was found dead in her apartment Friday morning, and po- lice are treating her death as a homi- cide. Faith Danielle Hedgepeth, 19, was found by friends in her apart- ment at 5639 Old Chapel Hill Road at 11 a.m., according to the Chapel Hill Police Department. Hedgepeth was a biology major from Warrenton, according to UNC-CH’s directory. Police were still investigating late Friday but said they do not think her death was a random act. Police said they had not determined how she died. Hedgepeth lived at Hawthorne on the View apartments, formerly called Willow Brook apartments, a complex about four miles from cam- pus. Police were still at the apart- ment Friday evening, restricting ac- cess to the building in the rear of the complex. Earlier, police had distributed a flier telling residents that someone had been found dead at the complex and that little was known about the death. The flier urged residents to lock their doors and windows and to keep an eye out for anything sus- picious. Chancellor Holden Thorp re- leased a statement to students, fac- ulty and staff Friday evening alert- ing them to Hedgepeth’s death. “ In th i s t ime o f gr ie f , our thoughts are with Faith’s family and all the people whose lives she touched here on campus,” Thorp wrote. Hedgepeth came to UNC-CH as a Gates Millennium scholar after graduating from Warren County High School in 2010, according to the high school’s website. The Gates Millennium Foundation awards 1,000 scholars each year with full scholarships to four-year colleges or universities. The pro- gram focuses on minority students with high academic and leadership promise, according to the pro- gram’s website. Hedgepeth was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of Hollister, and at the time of her high school graduation she planned to one day go to medical school and study to be a physician, according to an “Indian Time” newsletter published by the state Commission of Indian Affairs. Staff and students plan to gather from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the American Indian Center in UNC-CH’s Abernethy Hall to talk about Hedgepeth and her impact on campus, according to Leslie Lock- lear, a friend and fellow UNC-CH student. Locklear also created a Facebook group for Hedgepeth. Friends are planning a candlelight vigil in honor of Hedgepeth for 9 p.m. Monday in the school com- mons area known as The Pit. STAFF WRITER TAMMY GRUBB CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT. UNC student’s death treated as a homicide Faith Danielle Hedgepeth, 19, was found by friends in her apartment
