Autopsy: Eve Carson shot five times

CHAPEL HILL -- Eve Carson held her hand in front of her head as a killer fired a shotgun that sent birdshot through her hand and into her temple, according to an autopsy report released today.

The report confirmed that Carson, the student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill, was shot at least five times by two weapons. In all, she suffered bullet wounds to her right cheek, shoulder, upper arm and buttocks, and shotgun wounds to her right hand and head, according to the report of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The report did not identify any single shot as the fatal one.

Carson was found March 5 on a residential street not far from campus.

She was lying on her back, tilted onto her left hip, and her arm was bent behind her head, according to the autopsy report. She wore a T-shirt and sweatpants.

The Medical Examiner's Office recovered bullets that lodged in her sinus and another that passed through her right shoulder and lung and small intestine and lodged in her torso. Numerous birdshot pellets and their plastic casing were removed from her skull cavity.

The release of the autopsy report comes three days after a judge ordered the release of search warrants and related documents in the Carson investigation.

The report appears to add weight to an account by a confidential informant who told police that she heard murder suspect Demario Atwater say he shot Carson once after co-defendant Laurence Lovette Jr. shot her multiple times.

In search warrants, police said they were seeking a .25 caliber handgun and a shotgun.

The informant also told investigators that Atwater and Lovette entered Carson's home through an unlocked door, forced her into her Toyota Highlander and drove her to an ATM.

Both Atwater and Lovette are charged with first-degree murder in Carson's death. Lovette also is charged with first-degree murder of Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University engineering student from Bengal, India. Mahato was found dead Jan. 18, shot during what Durham police have called a citywide robbery spree.