Carson autopsy to be released

Other documents could be, too

HILLSBOROUGH -- New facts about Eve Carson's killing will be available to the public by the end of this month.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled Wednesday that Carson's autopsy report can become public June 30, the expiration of a 60-day seal requested by District Attorney Jim Woodall to protect the police investigation and the state's cases against suspects Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette.

In response, The News & Observer withdrew a motion to unseal the medical report.

"We see no reason to take up the court's time and energy to deal with an issue that apparently will become moot in a few days," the paper's attorney, Hugh Stevens, wrote in a letter to Baddour. "Therefore, we respectfully ask that the intervention motions be withdrawn ... without prejudice to their being renewed in the event of a further motion to seal evidence or records in either case."

Additionally, search warrants and another unknown document could be made public June 27, a hearing date that was set in April for Baddour to consider unsealing those records.

Baddour reviewed Carson's autopsy report and decided it should remain sealed until June 30.

Woodall said keeping information from the public helps police narrow their investigation.

"If somebody can provide information that only police have, that means that's a lead they can concentrate on," he said.

Woodall said investigators have interviews with witnesses scheduled as late as June 27, but after that, they no longer need to maintain secrecy.

"Requesting that a public record be sealed is a big step to take," Woodall said. "[Investigators] assured me that if they were given 60 days, that they could complete all of the interviews."

The autopsy report is expected to say how many times Carson, the UNC-Chapel Hill student body president, was shot. It might also describe the weapon or weapons used.

The search warrants will show what investigators found when they searched dwellings associated with Atwater and Lovette.

Chapel Hill police responded to a report of gunfire and found Carson's body in a wooded neighborhood near campus about 5 a.m. March 5.

Police have said she was shot multiple times, including once in the right temple. Within days of the shooting, police released security-camera photographs of Atwater and Lovette.