A suspect in the slaying of a University of North Carolina student leader was charged Thursday with the killing of a graduate student at Duke University, authorities said.
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 of UNC student body president Eve Carson.
It was not clear if the two cases were connected. The Duke and UNC campuses are less than 10 miles apart, and it appeared robbery was involved in both deaths. Mahato’s wallet and cell phone were gone, and authorities said two suspects in Carson’s death were caught in surveillance photos trying use her ATM card.
Mahato, 29, was found shot to death inside his apartment a few blocks south of Duke’s campus in January. One arrest already had been made in his death: Stephen Lavance Oates, 19, is being held without bond on charges of murder 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 last week. The biology and political science major from Athens, Ga., had been shot several times.
Lovette and Demario James Atwater, 21, were charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the Carson case.
– – –
School support
Carson’s death led to a massive outpouring of grief at UNC. The school’s Board of Trustees offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in her death.
