Eve Carson Murder
A promising young college student Eve Marie Carson, 22, was studying at her parent’s home, instead of going out with some of her college friends one night when two intruders entered the home through an unlocked door.
The trespassers, Laurence Alvin Lovette, 17, and Demario James Atwater, 22, forced Eve into her car. Then they took Carson to an ATM where they forced her to give up her pin number and withdraw cash. $1,400 was taken over the next two days.
Carson raised her arm to try and shield herself from a shotgun blast that hit her in the hand and head. She had been shot four other times, by two different weapons.
Eve Carson’s body was found lying on a street at approximately 5:00 am, March 5, 2008, not far from the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was class president.
Police originally thought the crime was a random shooting, but there was a picture of a suspect found on the ATM photograph when the withdrawals were made. The car he was using appears to be Carson’s. When the photo was enhanced, it showed another person in the back seat of the car.
Surveillance camera photos also identified the pictures of the perpetrators.
Demario Atwater was arrested as he left his Durham home after police received a tip from someone who recognized the suspects in surveillance photos.
Both Lovette and Atwater have criminal records, and were on parole at the time.
Search warrants were unsealed, on June 29, that described what investigators think may have happened during Eve Carson’s final terrifying moments of her life.
The police received hundreds of tips after releasing surveillance photographs from an A.T.M. and a convenience store. Mr. Atwater and Mr. Lovette were arrested within a week of Ms. Carson’s death.
Lovette and another man, Stephen Lavance Oates Jr., 19, were also charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Duke University graduate student, Abhijit Mahato, who was found dead on Jan. 18 in Durham.
We will be following this case. (NLH)
Resources…
http://crime.about.com/od/current/a/eve_carson.htm
http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/447594.html
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/03/06/unc_0307.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/ap_on_re_us/student_president_killed
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/12/unc.arrest/index.html
http://www.hulihttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/29carson.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=us&adxnnlx=1214862028-5pp1c+IfmHnB7dGhy+mfUgq.com/62991/eve-carson-was-kidnapped-being-shot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Carson
Other murder charge...
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2588344/
Biography....
http://universityrelations.unc.edu/alert/carson/
UPDATES
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06-18-09
Atwater Trial Delayed Until 1010
The trial of Demario Atwater, accused murderer of Eve Carson, UNC-Chapel Hill student body president, has been delayed from November of 2009, to May of 1010.
Atwater is accused in federal court of carjacking and kidnapping charges that could bring the death penalty if he's convicted.
The murder case is in state court.
James Woodall, Orange County District Attorney, said Monday morning that he would try to get all the lawyers from the state and federal cases together in early July to develop a schedule for Atwater and Laurence Alvin Lovette, who also is charged with murdering Carson.
Read Resource Details...
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1569923.html
http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/610739/atwater-trial-delayed-at-request-of-suspect-s-attorneys/Default.aspx
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/state/federal-trial-in-eve-carson-shooting-set-for-2010-664608.html
05-27-09
Second Request For Federal Trial Delay
Demario James Atwater Jr.'s attorneys have requested a second delay in his Federal trial, for the murder of Eve Carson, until May of 2010. Earlier this year, a federal judge denied a request from Atwater's attorneys to delay the trial until January 2010. The federal trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 2.
Atwater faces 11 state and federal charges in connection with the March 5, 2008, shooting death of Eve Marie Carson, including federal charges of kidnapping, carjacking resulting in death and carrying and using firearms during and in relation to carjacking.
But in court documents filed last week, Atwater's defense attorneys said the state crime lab is still analyzing a shoe print, an ATM receipt and other evidence found in Carson's SUV.
They also want more time to research Atwater's upbringing and background.
Read resource details...
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5211848/
04-09-09
Trial Date Set in Carson Murder
Demario Atwater will be going before a jury of his peers on November 2, 2009, as they decide, by the evidence, whether he's Eve Carson's murderer.
Atwater was indicted, last October, along with Laurence Lovette for Carson's murder on March 5, 2008.
Atwater faces 5 federal charges including kidnapping resulting in death; carjacking resulting in death; and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and causing a murder in the course of the violation.
In addition to setting the dates for the pretrial hearing and the trial, U.S. District Court Judge James Beaty also ordered each side to file proposals for pretrial proceedings and other deadlines to him by May 29.
A pretrial hearing will be held June 4 in Winston-Salem.
Read Resource Details...
http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/state/nov-trial-set-in-unc-student-leader-murder-case-536249.html
http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=607499
02/11/09
Eve Carson Suspect Gets Federal Kidnapping Charge
It was already ruled that the prosection could proceed with a death penalty case against Demario Atwater, one of two young men who is accused of the murder of UNC student body president, Eve Carson.
Atwater, had been indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of carjacking resulting in death, and carrying and using firearms during and in relation to carjacking. Both charges carry a potential death sentence.
A superseding indictment, filed on Jan. 30, included the new charge of federal kidnapping, claiming he used automated teller machines, telephones and interstate and public roads in the commission of the offense.
The indictment also outlines several aggravating factors that the grand jury will consider in its decision on whether to administer federal capital punishment, the N&O reported.
Laurence Alvin Lovette, 18, is also charged with murder and kidnapping in the Carson killing. Because he was 17 at the time of the incident, state prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Lovette.
Read Resource details...
http://www.wbt.com/news/details.cfm?article_id=45359
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/02/10/News/Jury-Adjusts.Atwater.Case.Indictment-3621714.shtml
12/03/08
Trial Date Projected
Eve Carson Murder-Defense wants access to private files of Crime Stoppers.
A federal judge set a November, 2009, trial start for Demario Atwater who already faces state charges in the fatal shooting of Eve Carson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president.
Demario Atwater appeared in U.S. District Court, Tuesday, in Greensboro on several charges, including carjacking resulting in death. Federal prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.
State prosecutors are also seeking the death penalry in this case.
Defense attorneys for the suspects accused of killing want complete access to Crime Stoppers files, a request that gives police pause about the long-term effect on anonymous tipsters.
In North Carolina, state law requires prosecutors and police to share with the defense all evidence they gather. But Crime Stoppers organizations are private, and in the minds of some law enforcement officers that means not all their tips have to be handed over to the defense.
Read full resource details...
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/388793.html
http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/state/student-president-slay-suspect-pleads-not-guilty-271577.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460584,00.html
11-13-08
Atwater Brother Shot To death
The brother of Demario James Atwater was shot to death, last Saturday night, while leaving a week-end party.
Shelton Henderson Jr., 19, the half-brother of Demario James Atwater, was one of two men killed around 11:30 p.m. Saturday outside a Durham apartment at 906 Glendale Ave.
Henderson had recently testified before a federal grand jury, which indicted his older brother Demario Atwater, 22, on fatal carjacking, armed carjacking and felony firearms charges.
Henderson's body was found outside the townhouse where the party took place. A second teen, Nathan Elmoore, 17, also died of gunshot wounds, police said.
Demario Atwater will be moved from Central Prison next week.
The U.S. magistrate has ordered Demario James Atwater be moved Nov. 17 to the Middle District of North Carolina for an arraignment in U.S. District Court on Dec. 2.
Read Resource details...
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/25225.html
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3929563/
http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/story/3940772/
10/08/08
Possible Death Penalty Case
Eve Carson Murder-update
The state of North Carolina is seeking the death penalty against Demario J. Atwater in connection with the murder of , UNC-Chapel Hill student leader, Eve Carson.
Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall has said he will seek the death penalty in state court for Atwater; Laurence Lovette, 17, is not subject to capital punishment because of his age.
In order for Atwater to receive the death penalty, an U.S. attorney must submit the case to review by the U.S. Department of Justice, which will make a recommendation that will go to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
State probation officials outlined a plan, Tuesday, to spend $2.5 million to help fill cracks in a system whose failures have been highlighted this year by several high-profile homicides.
Nearly 70 percent of the money would go to creating 26 new positions -- 20 new probation officers and six new supervisors, Theodis Beck, secretary of the state Department of Correction, told legislators.
It was the first time Beck and Robert Guy, head of the state's probation and parole system, have laid out their plan for spending money the General Assembly doled out this summer in response to the mishandling of the suspects, Atwater and Lovette, charged with murdering UNC-Chapel Hill student Eve Carson and Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
Atwater and Lovette’s trials are expected to take place next summer in Orange County, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
Resources...
http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/federal_18174___article.html/case_carson.html
http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/4066/42/
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1246966.html
08/26/08
New probation managers named
Many deaths could be avoided if more attention was paid to the whereabouts of criminals on probation.
Demario Atwater, 22, and Laurence Lovette Jr., 17, are accused of the kidnapping and murder of Eve Carson. Lovette is also accused of another murder during that time period. They were on probation when the murders occurred.
New managers are now named in the WAKE and Surham county probation offices and in a regional office according to newsobserver.com.
Lovette had gone nearly two months without ever meeting his probation officers, while Atwater's case was passed on to 10 different officers, and he went more than a year without hearing from any probation officers, despite racking up an additional gun conviction.
The National Institute of Corrections, a federal agency, was called in last spring to do an independent evaluation of the state's probation system after the problems were exposed.
The agency found that probation offices grapple with heavy caseloads, high turnover, an information disconnect between adult and juvenile courts, and archaic computer systems that make it difficult to share information. These findings were similar to a report the same agency made on the state's probation system in 2004
Read resource details and more...
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1192930.html
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/3429825/
http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/08/25/StateNational/Calls.For.Reform.Refer.To.Carson-3402854.shtml
08-02-08
Letter confirms federal probe of Eve Carson homicide
Federal prosecutors have opened their own investigation into the killing of former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson, according to a letter made public Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner says in the letter, dated April 23, to Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall, that investigators opened the investigation nine days after Eve Carson, 22, was found dead several blocks from the UNC campus. Investigators are looking at carjacking charges against Demario James Atwater, 22, and Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr., 17, the two men charged in her death.
Both already face state charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, as well as other charges. A federal carjacking charge can carry a death penalty sentence if prosecutors can prove the carjacking was committed during a homicide.
If federal prosecutors bring charges, Woodall said, that would mean a separate prosecution; federal involvement would not affect his state case. "They might have some similar charges, but usually, they are going to have some charges for crimes that, frankly, don't exist at the state level," Woodall said.
If convicted, Atwater could face the death penalty and Lovette could face life in prison. Lovette cannot be executed because of his age. Under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Lovette cannot be tried on capital murder charges, because he was under the age of 18 at the time he allegedly committed the crime.
A hearing to determine whether Atwater will face the death penalty is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Carson, who was a senior from Athens, Ga., had been shot five times, including once to her head with a shotgun, according to an autopsy report; search warrants suggest both suspects might have shot her. Authorities said that Lovette and Atwater entered Carson's home through an open door and kidnapped her to take her to an ATM. Police believed both defendants shot her, but those details have not been confirmed by prosecutors.
Resources...
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3310693/
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-08018-mw-carsonfedinvestigation.3745943.html
07-09-08
Indictments Released
Eve Carson Update
The two suspects in the murder of Eve Carson murder, Damario Atwater and Laurence Lovette had further indictments released Tuesday about the weapons used in her shooting death.
Armed robbery and kidnapping charges were levied Monday against the two men accused in the fatal shooting of former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson.
Accordint to the documents the suspects used a sawed-off Harrington & Richardson Topper model 12-gauge shotgun and an Excam GT-27 .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
Atwater was also indicted on a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of weapon of mass destruction for the size of the shotgun that investigators believe was used to killed Carson.
Read resource details...
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080707/APN/807070598/Grand_jury_brings_more_charges_on_Carson_suspects
http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/story/3169087/
Indictments...
http://www.wral.com/asset/news/local/2008/06/30/3125964/20080708111346597.pdf