AG: State Crime Lab could solve more cases with more funding, more scientists

Authorities said DNA led them to a suspect in death of Faith Danielle Hedgepeth nine years after she was killed.

Attorney General Josh Stein said the State Crime Lab could solve more such cases if it had enough money to hire a dozen more scientists to run DNA tests.

"There's work to be done, and if we don't get more scientists, it's going to take us longer and longer to do that work," Stein said.

Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares, 28, of Durham, was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in Hedgepeth's death. The 19-year-old University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sophomore was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment on Sept. 7, 2012.

Investigators said Salguero-Olivares' DNA matched evidence found at the crime scene, although they have declined to say how they obtained the DNA sample to compare to the evidence.

"They're so good at [DNA testing] that law enforcement has been increasing their submissions to the crime lab," Stein said. "There's more evidence being submitted of each crime because there's more faith the crime lab can figure out what's going on."

In one year, submissions to the crime lab for DNA testing soared from about 800 to 1,800.

"The fact that we have so many submissions that come in the door every day, most cases are taking about a year at this point," crime lab director Vanessa Martinucci said.

The lab has had to get outside labs to test some of the older evidence kits to keep up with the growing backlog.

"That's a good thing because that means we're testing more kits, which means that we'll be solving more crimes," Stein said.

"For me, it's just about justice and helping those families and survivors," Martinucci said. "We all want to help achieve justice for these victims."

Rep. Jaime Boles, R-Moore, who's senior chair for appropriations for the House Justice and Public Safety committee, said he and other budget chairs support the State Crime Lab. But he wouldn't say whether any more money for the lab would be in the final budget House and Senate leaders are now negotiating.