Faith Hedgepeth
On September 7, 2012, Faith Hedgepeth, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), was found murdered inside her apartment. Police recovered considerable forensic evidence from the crime scene, including evidence with semen and male DNA. A note at the scene was also believed to have been written by the killer. In September 2021, the Chapel Hill Police Department named a suspect in the case, Enrique Salguero-Olivares. He was not initially considered a suspect and was identified through DNA.
Jessica Gutierrez
On the night of June 5, 1986, four-year-old Jessica Gutierrez was asleep in her bedroom when she was abducted. The next morning, Jessica's mother discovered her daughter missing. Jessica's six-year-old sister said she was taken by a man with a "magic hat". It was believed the intruder broke into the house through the living room window. Curtains were ripped off the window, and the front door of the house was open. Jesssica was never seen again, and her body was never found. In 2022, Thomas Eric McDowell, 61, was arrested and charged with the murder and kidnapping. He lived in Lexington County in 1986 and was an acquaintance of the family.
Ventura Strangler cases
The Ventura Strangler is the name given to an American serial killer responsible for the murders of three sex workers in Ventura County, California, from May to December 1977. The killings occurred around the same time that the Hillside Strangler was active in nearby Los Angeles. At one point, the crimes were thought to be linked before it became evident that a separate killer was responsible. In 2024, Warren Luther Alexander was linked to the Ventura killings through DNA. He was awaiting trial for a 1992 murder in North Carolina at the time.