UNC murder update:

University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Senior Eve Marie Carson was found early Wednesday morning just half a mile from the Chapel Hill campus. Carson, 22, suffered multiple gun shot wounds, including at least one to the head.

Chapel Hill police responded to the scene after area residents reported hearing gunshots around 5 a.m. The body was not identified until Thursday.

“It’s times like this that test us,” UNC Chancellor James Moeser said at a Thursday evening memorial service. “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be filled with grief.”

Carson’s murder occurred in the upscale Hillcrest neighborhood where few students reside. Officials cannot currently explain why Carson was in the area.

Local resident and former Student Body presidential candidate Tom Jensen spoke to UNC’s student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel Thursday.

“If something like this can happen on Hillcrest Drive, it can happen anywhere,” Jensen said.

Police recovered Carson’s vehicle, a blue Toyota Highlander, just off the town’s main drag Thursday. At this time, police believe that the shooting was a random act.

Carson was an honor student attending UNC on the prestigious Morehead-Cain scholarship. She was elected Student Body President in February 2007, and also served as student body president at her high school. Carson was renowned for her volunteer work in the local community as well as Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana.

“She was happy, vivacious, intelligent, engaged and a presence in our community whose absence leaves a permanent void in our hearts and in our lives,” Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said at a Thursday press conference.

Chapel Hill police have been in contact with Auburn, Al. officials, according to The Daily Tar Heel, regarding a possible connection to Tuesday’s murder of Auburn University freshman Lauren Burk.

An unknown gunman shot Burk several times and left her body about five miles from the campus. She died later that day at a local hospital. Burk’s vehicle was found burned-out in a campus parking lot.

Carson and Burk were both originally from Georgia.

“Even though the homicides on the surface may look similar, it appears to be unlikely that they’re connected,” Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran told CNN Thursday.

The Arbiter will post additional information as it becomes available.

COMPILED BY
Arbiter Staff

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