[h1]also charged in a robbery of a Duke grad student from India..
[/h1]
RIP....
Durham Police: Carson Murder Suspect Also Killed Duke Student
|
| Lovette is now also charged with killing Abhijit Mahato, a 29 year old Duke graduate student who was shot back in January. |
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.
[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.
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)
