It was the second time a huge crowd of students met Thursday to mourn Eve Marie Carson, whose body was discovered about a mile away from campus early Wednesday. The 22-year-old senior from Athens, Ga., had been shot several times, including at least once in the head, police said. Officials said there are no suspects and no arrests have been made.
``We have lost someone whom we cherish and love,'' university Chancellor James Moeser told a massive crowd on the school's Polk Place quad at a memorial service held earlier in the day. ``We're all in a state of shock.''
Police found Carson's vehicle, a blue 2005 Toyota Highlander with Georgia plates, after receiving a tip Thursday afternoon from a witness who spotted it near Franklin Street, the main drag though the popular college town about 45 minutes west of Raleigh.
``We saw it on the news and we heard the woman is the president of the student body, and she (his wife) goes, 'Oh my God, I just found the car,''' Toby Rice, of Chapel Hill, told The Associated Press. ``She called 911. She took pictures of it with her Blackberry.''
Officers found the body of a young woman about a mile from campus, on the street at the intersection of Hillcrest Road and Hillcrest Circle, after neighbors reported hearing shots about 5 a.m. Wednesday. Moeser said he got a call early Thursday morning that Carson was the apparent victim.
``It was shocking,'' he said. ``I sat down and said `Oh my God.' I couldn't believe this.''
Police publicly identified the shooting victim as Carson on Thursday and chief Brian Curran said her death appeared to be a random act. Police had no evidence other than her car, and the medical examiner said they was no indication that Carson had been sexually assaulted.
Moeser said there was nothing to link Carson's slaying to anyone on campus, and Curran said police don't know what she was doing in the upscale residential area where her body was found.
``My information is she was an extraordinarily busy woman and it wasn't unusual for her to go to the office in the middle of the night,'' Curran said. ``But we don't know that's what she was doing.''
A giant crowd of students, staff and faculty gathered on the North Carolina campus Thursday afternoon to remember Carson. Students passed out daisies and carnations, and large boards were erected for students to leave written memories.
``The strange thing, how the last time I saw her we made the types of plans where you know you're going to run into someone,'' said Keegan DeLancie, a senior from Los Angeles and fellow Morehead scholar. ``I'd like to think somehow we will again.''
Students met again after nightfall for a candlelight vigil at The Pit, a popular campus gathering spot. Dozens of counselors from both North Carolina and nearby Duke University were available to talk to students.
``She touched us all,'' Moeser said. ``And now she's been taken from us suddenly, in a terrible, terrible act of violence.''
Carson was a prestigious Morehead-Cain scholar and a North Carolina Fellow, taking part in a four-year leadership development program for undergraduates. A premed student, she majored in political science and biology, taught science at a Chapel Hill elementary school, studied abroad in Cuba and spent summers volunteering in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana as part of a school program.
``I credit my prior experiences, especially my past two Morehead summers, for preparing me to get along with pretty much whatever comes my way,'' she wrote in an e-mail posted on the Morehead Web site.
In her position as student body president, she was a member of the university's Board of Trustees. At inauguration, she said, ``This year will be a year of growth and inclusion. ... What an amazing year this is going to be.''
Moeser said he last saw Carson on Tuesday, at the Tar Heels men's basketball game against Florida State.
``This is a tragedy magnified and multiplied by the number and depth of relationships, many relationships that Eve Carson had on this campus,'' Moeser told the students. ``This enormous throng is a testament to the many and deep relationships. ``Eve Carson personified the Carolina spirit.''
Carson is the daughter of Bob Carson and Teresa Bethke. A man answering the phone at Bob Carson's business, Carson Advisory Inc. in Athens, said the family had no comment.
Maxine Easom, the principal of Clarke Central High School in Athens, where Carson graduated as valedictorian in 2004 and was also elected student body president, said she and staff members learned of her death Thursday morning.
``We're devastated,'' Easom said. ``Eve was just the most wonderful young woman you would ever want to know. She was brilliant. She was absolutely beautiful. Everything she did was aimed at helping other people. It's one of the greatest tragedies I've ever known. Eve was one of the young women who could change the world.''
Eve Carson
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/3/207739