Suspect charged in UNC student's death....

21,151
37
Joined
Mar 13, 2004
art.atwater.ap.jpg


-- One suspect has been charged and police are hunting for another in connection with the killing of University of North Carolina student Eve Carson, police said Wednesday.

Demario James Atwater, 21, was arrested early Wednesday at a residence in Durham, North Carolina.

Authorities were watching the home after receiving a tip that Atwater was inside.

He was charged with first-degree murder in Carson's death.

Atwater is believed to be the man in a convenience-store photograph released by police.

A second suspect, Lawrence Alvin Lovett Jr., 17, is being sought in Carson's death, police said.

He also faces a first-degree murder charge.

Lovett could be armed and dangerous, police told CNN affiliate WRAL.

Police believe Lovett was the man seen in a surveillance-camera photo possibly using Carson's card at an ATM, Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said.

The pictures showed a young man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap. There also appeared to be a large, shadowy form of another person in the back seat of the vehicle, which may have been Carson's SUV.


Police believe Atwater was in the back seat, Curran said.

He would not comment on whether physical evidence links the two suspects to the crime.

Atwater was taken to a hospital as part of the evidence collection process, he said, and brought back to make an initial court appearance.

"As encouraging as the developments today are, we are still a community in grief," Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy told reporters at a news conference announcing the arrest.

"We also still must offer comfort to a family in mourning, Eve's family."

Carson, 22, was found shot to death about 5 a.m. March 5. The medical examiner told police that her body showed no signs of sexual assault or other injury, Curran said.

Carson's killing "feels like a random crime," Curran said Saturday.

On Sunday, more than 1,000 people crowded the First United Methodist Church in Carson's hometown of Athens, Georgia, for her funeral, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

advertisement.gif


The UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees had pledged $25,000 to the Crime Stoppers program in the area for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible in Carson's slaying. Carson was a student member of the board and student body president.
The young woman was a pre-medicine student who was double majoring in political science and biology. She received the university's prestigious Morehead Scholarship and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, according to UNC.


link

young black men throwing their lives away....this young lady had SUCH promise, only to have it taken away by people who have no regard for their own lives, aswell as anyone elses....whatever happens to them from here on out, they deserve
smh.gif


RIP
 
smh.gif
those dudes are stupid for doing that...she was actually doing something with her life and they had to go end it
 
Sad story, regardless of race, education, whatever (I'm not saying that it's implied here). Like you mentioned, this was a girl who seemed to have alot ahead of her in life and it was taken away. Glad they may have caught and know who the killers are.
 
Originally Posted by LazyJ10

You should've seen the ignorant comments posted on SFGate.com aol.com. Wow.

it was sad how much racism was being posted.....
smh.gif
....its just funny to me because white people think they are so perfect (not all but the ones posting)
 
Originally Posted by the821empire

the comments posted sometimes piss me off.

That's why I don't even bother reading them
it was sad how much racism was being posted.....
smh.gif
....its just funny to me because white people think they are so perfect (not all but the ones posting)
So true
 
Its just another case of the media blowing up this case just because of who she was. Yes its sad and unfortunate.........but who is to say she was moreimportant than anyone else killed that day, week, month that it should be played out on the news for the next few months?

No one.

Only logical reason is because it may somehow stop someone else from committing the same crime.
 
Im in the area...

And its two dudes charged in this murder

Oof them has been linked to the murder of a Duke Grad student....

Something interesting though (to me at least)....

When I was talking to my roomate about this whole situation, we both had similar stories....

We talked to people at our respective jobs about the kids who got caught....all we heard was "Im glad they got those punks...The deserve todie....etc." That was the first thing oout of their mouths...

But when me and my homeboy were discussing it....1st thing we talked about how stupid these guys were for using the ATM card and what they should'vedone....
smh.gif
 
Now, now...hollup, wait a min folks...it said they was 'charged' with the murder, not 'convicted of' it...I'm not sayin if they did do it,they don't deserve 2 rot in jail, but damn let's give em they day in court b4 we condemn em, yamean? Innocent til proven guilty, cuz...not the otherway around, dig?
 
Ok - then, I'll say, WHOEVER did this and the Duke killing deserve to rot?

Seems like both were beyond senseless.
 
I hate when things like this are blown up just because the victim was a white girl that went to a good school.

So many people die every day, and the only ones that get attention are the over-priveleged, probably ungrateful white folk.

Im not saying this isn't a tragedy, but its no more important then the countless other murders happening everyday in all of our cities.
 
The fact that it was a college student, a girl, and the student body president adds more to the story.

The running back from the LA school who was gunned down for no reason made headlines nationwide.

They both share a common point, both were pointless and senseless.

Say what you want, but I firmly believe if this person was any color, at any University, we'd see headlines. Period. If it was joe-schmo from the block,probably not.
 
I live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, but I've been in California visiting since this senseless act happened. I for one am dreading going back tothe area because unfortunately there are some white people that will associate black males with those losers and I don't even do the whole braids and baggyjeans that hang off your butt look.
 
Originally Posted by KAPSI1911

I live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, but I've been in California visiting since this senseless act happened. I for one am dreading going back to the area because unfortunately there are some white people that will associate black males with those losers and I don't even do the whole braids and baggy jeans that hang off your butt look.
eyes.gif


If you present yourself in a way that depicts self-respect and respect for others, noones going to think you're a murderer.
 
[h1]also charged in a robbery of a Duke grad student from India..
smh.gif
[/h1]

RIP....



Durham Police: Carson Murder Suspect Also Killed Duke Student
[table][tr][td]
3-13-2008-10-20-06-AM-7406213.jpg
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Lovette is now also charged with killing Abhijit Mahato, a 29 year old Duke graduate student who was shot back in January.[/td] [/tr][/table]The Raleigh Chronicle 13.MAR.08

DURHAM - According to the Durham Police, after a brief manhunt, Lawrence Lovette, the second suspect in the Eve Carson murder case, has been now taken into custody. Durham Police are also saying today that Lovette is being charged in the murder of another young student, Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato.

The Durham Police Department says that Lawrence Alvin Lovette, Jr., age 17, of Shepherd Street, was taken into custody this morning at a house in Durham.

According to the Durham police, negotiators worked for over an hour and a half to establish communication with Lovette. When he was provided with telephone communications he finally began talking with the negotiators, says the department. Negotiators continued to talk with Lovette until he agreed to surrender peacefully around 4:15am, said the Durham Police Department. Lovette has been placed in the Durham County Jail without bond.

Both Lovette and another suspect were charged with first degree murder yesterday in the Eve Carson case. Carson was found shot to death near the UNC campus last Wednesday morning. The second suspect was brought into custody in Durham yesterday and has been named as Demario James Atwater, age 21, of Durham.

Both men have criminal records and were out on parole when police allege that last Wednesday they shot Eve Carson, the UNC student body president. In an exclusive article on our front page, this newspaper reported that Lovette took the time over the weekend to log into his MySpace page, three days after the murder took place.

LOVETTE CHARGED IN ANOTHER MURDER

Durham Police said today that Lovette is now being charged in the killing of another student in the area. Lovette has been charged in the January murder of Duke graduate student. Abhijit Mahato, age 29, was a Ph.D. engineering candidate who was from India and was studying in the United States, Duke University officials said.

Durham Police would not say what led them to charge Lovette in that second crime today.

"That is part of an ongoing investigation," said Kammie Michaels of the Durham Police Department.
Michaels said that Lovette was also charged today with a February 19th robbery on Weymouth Street in Durham. He is accused of entering an apartment and taking a pair of pants and five pairs of shoes from a 17-year-old male, say police.

Like, the Carson killing, the murder of Mahato sparked a wave of grief on Duke University's campus, as Mahato was a well-liked but quiet student who showed much promise.

Durham Police said that the crime took place in the 1600 block of Anderson Street at around 11:30pm on a Friday night. The apartment complex is several blocks south of the Duke University campus.

"He was found by friends who came by the apartment to check on him Friday night," said Kammie Michaels of the Durham Police Department at the time of the murder. Mahato was pronounced dead on the scene when police arrived, say police.

Mahato, originally from Tatangar, India, was studying for an engineering doctorate degree focused on computational mechanics at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. He was in his second year in the program, says the school.
"This is a tragic circumstance, and we are doing everything possible to assist those who may be affected by it," Moneta said in a statement tothe media shortly after the crime was reported.

Mahato's adviser, engineering professor Tod Laursen said that he described the student as intellectually curious, kind and outgoing.

"He made friends very easily and always had a smile on his face," Laursen said through Duke University. "Our research team was particularlyclose to Abhijit. He was very well read in both poetry and literature, and enjoyed conversation with others about what they were reading."

On his website at Duke, Mahato said his hobbies included reading books, playing chess, and photography.

Before coming to Duke, Mahato worked for two years for the GE Global Research Center in Bangalore, India where he focused on finite element analysis, acomputer-simulation technique used in engineering.

Mahato earned his mechanical engineering degree from Jadavpur University in India in 2001 and a master of technology degree from the Indian Institute forTechnology in Kanpur in 2004.

Mahato was very proud of his Indian heritage and seemed to enjoy talking about his hometown.

"My upbringing was in Kolkata; the City of Joy, the city of intellectuals, and much much more," said Mahato on his website at Duke. "My nativelanguage is bengali. We, Bengalis, have a very distinct and rich culture. To know more about my beautiful city and about bengalis follow this link."

[h1]
[/h1][h1]Suspect in UNC slaying charged in Duke death[/h1]
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size - + By Associated Press / March 14, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. - A suspect in the slaying of a University of North Carolina student leader was charged yesterday with the killing of a graduate student atDuke University, authorities said.

[h3]more stories like this[/h3]
Police charged Lawrence Alvin Lovette Jr., 17, of Durham with first-degree murder in the death of Abhijit Mahato hours after he surrendered in the death ofthe UNC student body president, Eve Carson.

It was not immediately clear how, or whether, the two cases were connected.

The Duke and UNC campuses are less than 10 miles apart, and it appeared that both slayings involved robbery.

Mahato's wallet and cellphone were gone, and authorities have said the two suspects in Carson's death were caught in surveillance photos trying useher ATM card.

Mahato, 29, originally of Tatangar, India, was a doctoral student in computational mechanics. He was found shot to death inside his apartment a few blockssouth of Duke's campus in January. One arrest had already been made in his death: Stephen Lavance Oates, 19, is being held without bond on charges ofmurder and of robbing 18 people, including Mahato.

Police had been searching for suspects in Carson's death since the 22-year-old was found lying in a street about a mile from the Chapel Hill campus lastweek.


The biology and political science major from Athens, Ga., had been shot several times, including once in the right temple.
dingbat_story_end_icon.gif




[h1]NC Slayings Suspect Held on $3M Bond[/h1]
By MIKE BAKER - 9 hours ago

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A teenager accused of killing two college students in North Carolina was ordered held in lieu of a $3 million bond Friday.

Laurence Lovette, 17, is charged with murder in the slayings of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato and University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson.

During his initial appearance in the Mahato killing, prosecutor Tracey Cline said she asked for the high bond because Lovette is already facing trial on numerous other charges.

Court records show that between Mahato's slaying in January and Carson's death last week, police arrested and changed him with felonies ranging from burglary to car theft to resisting arrest.

Lovette wasn't a suspect in Mahato's death until after police in Chapel Hill began investigating Carson's slaying. Carson, a 22-year-old from Athens, Ga., was found lying in the street about a mile from North Carolina's campus. She was shot several times, including once in the temple.

Lovette was arrested in the Carson case after police released two surveillance photos they said show him using Carson's ATM card while driving what appears to be her Toyota Highlander.

Cline said detectives linked Lovette to Mahato's death through phone records, a vehicle and items taken from his home.

Mahato, a 29-year-old doctoral student in computational mechanics from originally from Tatangar, India, was shot to death inside his apartment a few blocks south of Duke's campus. An autopsy report released Friday said he died instantly after being shot point-blank in his forehead.

Lovette was appointed a public defender. His next court date was set for March 27.

Lovette is scheduled to make his first appearance in the Carson case in nearby Hillsborough later Friday. Authorities have also charged Demario Atwater, 21, in Carson's death, and Stephen Lavance Oates, 19, in Mahato's killing.



ALeqM5gdJfTZ_oiwvfte1YiMY52TEtDEKA


Lawrence Alvin Lovette Jr.,left, 17, listens to charges against him in the Durham County Detention Center courtroom for his first appearance in Durham, N.C., Friday, March 14, 2008. Lovette is charged with first degree murder and held on a $3 million bond in the murder of Abhijit Mahato, a doctoral student at Duke University. (AP Photo/Sara D. Davis)
 
Back
Top Bottom