Six witnesses testified during an evidentiary hearing, including forensic evidence specialists, a state crime lab scientist and the lead Chapel Hill police investigator on the case.
Defense attorneys focused on a bloodstain collected from a bathroom door frame inside Hedgepeth's Chapel Hill apartment. A former Chapel Hill police forensic evidence specialist testified that her team collected the sample but said she does not know what happened to it before it could be tested.
She acknowledged she never updated her report to document that the sample had been lost.
"Forensic evidence is going to be used to prosecute my client. A piece of evidence that was collected and should have been tested. The connection makes the loss of this more difficult for our case," a defense attorney told the judge.
Prosecutors argued there is no evidence the sample was lost intentionally.
"The long and short of it is, Judge, there was blood on the door frame. We don't know whose blood it was. It wasn't tested," a prosecutor said. "It was a mistake, a negligence issue. That's what we have here. No evidence of it being lost in bad faith."
The defense also played video from a 2012 police interview with former UNC soccer player Jordan McCrary.
McCrary told investigators he picked up Hedgepeth's roommate, Karena Rosario, around 4 a.m. and noticed blood on her finger. He said he asked Rosario about it after she and Hedgepeth returned from Thrill Nightclub. According to McCrary, Rosario said she did not know where the blood came from.
The judge denied the defense's motion to dismiss the case.
The trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 28.
The Durham County District Attorney's Office told ABC11 that if the defendant is convicted, prosecutors do not plan to seek the death penalty.
Tuesday's pretrial hearing
On Tuesday, Judge Keith Gregory ruled that cameras will be allowed to remain in the courtroom during witness testimony, including when Hedgepeth's former roommate, Karena Rosario, testified.
The judge also ruled that jurors will not hear written statement analysis involving Rosario. The media will not be shown autopsy photos or crime scene images of Hedgepeth's body.
Evidence tied to investigative genetic genealogy was excluded, and the judge barred testimony and arguments regarding the underlying data behind inconclusive DNA results.
However, prosecutors will be allowed to argue that a pen found at the crime scene was used to write a message discovered on a white takeout bag found near Hedgepeth's body.
Judge Gregory also ruled that Salguero-Olivares will appear before jurors in civilian clothing and without visible handcuffs during the trial.
ABC11 will continue to provide updates from the courthouse as new developments emerge.
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