From NC WANTED Staff and WRAL Reports

Posted: Mar 6, 2008
Updated: Mar 6, 2008

ORANGE COUNTY — ORANGE COUNTY: Chapel Hill police contacted NC WANTED to report they found Eve Carson's blue 2005 Toyota Highlander Thursday afternoon within Chapel Hill city limits. 

The car was parked on North Street near Hillsboro Street, but it was not clear how long it had been there, authorities said in a news conference Thursday afternoon. The car did not immediately appear to be damaged.

A North Street resident contacted police after seeing the car parked there around 2 p.m. Thursday. Police are asking anyone who may have seen the blue 2005 Toyota Highlander with Georgia license plate AIV-6690 between 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and midday Thursday to come forward.

The SUV is being processed at the town's operations center for evidence in Carson's death.

The North Street and Hillsboro Street intersection is only a few blocks from where Carson lived on Friendly Lane. Her body was found a little more than a mile away. Both Carson's home and the location where police recovered her car are within walking distance of the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus.

Authorities have not revealed whether they have any suspects in the case.

Police identified Carson, 22, who was found dead about a half mile from the UNC campus Wednesday morning, as the university's student body president in a news conference Thursday. She had been shot multiple times in the head.

Officers spent most of Wednesday and Thursday morning following up and searching for leads in the case. At a news conference Thursday, they called it a "fairly random crime."

"We're at the very beginning of this investigation," Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Currin said. "A lot of it, up to this point, was just trying to figure out who the victim was."

Carson's roommates reported seeing her around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at their home. Police believe the murder occurred around 5 a.m. when 911 callers reported gun shots. The body was found shortly after those calls were made.

There was no identifying information found at the scene -- ID card, keys  or wallet -- and police would not comment on whether she had had those items with her when she left her home.

Roommates also told police that Carson was "an extraordinarily busy woman" and it was not uncommon for her to go the student government offices on campus in the middle of the night.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-968-2760.

If you have any information on this case, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.

Meanwhile, during an informal vigil on UNC's campus Thursday afternoon, UNC Chancellor James Moeser said the university community was in a "state of shock."

The gathering that drew an estimated 5,000 people, most who held each other and cried.

"We are all hurting. We are all grief-stricken – stunned," he said. "This university needs an enormous group hug. It's OK to cry. It's OK to be filled with grief."

The UNC Bell Tower tolled every 30 seconds preceding the 3 p.m. gathering, and flowers behind the old Campus YMCA building marked a makeshift memorial.

"She was just an incredible person that I think had an affect on a lot of people's live," said UNC senior Katie Eagan, who knew Carson. "The way in which she died was obviously a shock. I think we're all just trying to process it right now."

Carson, a pre-med major studying both political science and biology, was active in both leadership and service roles while she was a student. As a Morehead-Cain scholar, she spent her summers volunteering and working overseas in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana.

She was also a tutor at Githens Middle School in Durham her junior year and an assistant coach with Girls on the Run in 2005.