Demario Atwater and Lawrence Lovett, two Durham residents, have been arrested in connection with the March 5 murder of Eve Carson, a senior and student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Both Atwater and Lovett are charged with first-degree murder.
"We are grateful for the intense efforts over the past week by the Chapel Hill Police Department and other law enforcement agencies," UNC Chancellor James Moeser said in a statement Wednesday. "Our interests are in seeing justice served and helping our community during this difficult time."
Carson's body was found March 5 in Chapel Hill with multiple bullet wounds, at least one of which was to the head.
Lovett, 17, surrendered to authorities at about 4:15 a.m. Thursday after a standoff at a residence at 1914 Cook Rd. in Durham-about six miles from campus-according to a Durham Police Department release.
He has also been charged in the Jan. 18 shooting of Abhijit Mahato, a Duke engineering Ph.D. student who was found dead in his home at The Anderson Apartments on Anderson Street near campus.
DPD Chief Jose Lopez said Thursday that investigators do not believe the shootings are gang-related.
Only Stephen Oates, 19, of Durham had been charged in Mahato's murder, but police said they now believe Lovett was also involved.
In a hearing Friday, Durham Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline said Lovett was connected with the Mahato murder by several items of Mahato's property he had. She also said Atwater had been called using Mahato's stolen cell phone.
Mahato died instantly when he was shot point-blank in the forehead, according to an autopsy report by the state's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner dated Thursday.
Lovett was charged with numerous felonies, including burglary and car theft, in the time between the Mahato and Carson murders.
Because he is younger than 18, he will not face the death penalty in the slayings.
Lovett, whose name has also been spelled Lovette in releases, is believed to be the person pictured in a surveillance photo of a man in Carson's car trying to use her card at a drive-up ATM. The photo was released March 8.
Atwater, a 21-year-old Durham resident, was taken into custody at a Rosedale Avenue residence by members of the DPD Selective Enforcement Unit at around 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to a CHPD statement. He is believed to be the man in a photograph released March 10 taken by a convenience store camera.
CHPD had alerted DPD of Atwater's residence and the site was under surveillance when Atwater was seen leaving and was taken into custody. The home is about two miles from Duke's campus.
He had previously been convicted of several felonies, including breaking and entering and possession of a firearm, according to media reports. Atwater was placed on three years of probation in 2005 after the breaking and entering charge, and a hearing to revoke his probation was scheduled for March 31.
Both Atwater and Lovett are being held without bond in Orange and Durham county jails, respectively. Both arrest warrants have been transferred to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Both men have a hearing March 24 in Hillsborough, and Lovett will have a hearing in Durham for the Mahato case March 27.
A memorial service for students and the community is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the Dean Smith Center on UNC's campus to commemorate Carson's life. UNC, like Duke, was on spring break last week.
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