Police release surveillance photos

CHAPEL HILL -- Chapel Hill investigators today released photos from a bank surveillance camera that they say show a man using an ATM card belonging to slain UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson.

Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said investigators have not identified the person in the photos, and can only say that he appears to be a black man in his late teens or early 20s.

He appears to be wearing gloves, what looks like a hooded sweatshirt or parka and a ball cap with a star on it. Chapel Hill police also released a photo of a Houston Astros baseball cap that looks similiar.

Curran said the ATM photos were taken in the Chapel Hill area, but would not say specifically where or when.

"This is our biggest break so far in this case," he said at a press conference this morning.

Curran said the ATM camera captured several photos of the man, including one showing him in a sport utility vehicle with a roof rack that may be Carson's 2005 Toyota Highlander. He referred to the man in the photos as "a person of interest," not the suspected killer.

Curran said police are putting together a timeline using Carson's cell phone records, but said they have not found her keys. He repeated that investigators have no evidence to suggest Carson was specifically targeted.

"We believe, at this point, it feels like a random crime," Curran said.

Carson, 22, was found in the Hillcrest neighborhood northeast of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus about 5:15 a.m. Wednesday with gunshot wounds, including one to the head. She was carrying no identification, and it was not until Thursday that police announced that they had confirmed her identity.

Her Toyota Highlander was discovered Thursday afternoon on North Street, around the corner from Carson's house at Friendly Lane.

Carson's roommates told police that they'd gone out at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and that she had stayed home alone to study. Curran said this morning that police think Carson might have left her house after her roommates to make copies for school.

Police are still interested in speaking with anyone who thinks they saw Carson's Highlander between 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and midday Thursday. The blue SUV has Georgia license plates, AIV-6690.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees has pledged $25,000 to the Carrboro-Chapel Hill-UNC Crime Stoppers program for a reward for information leading to the arrest of a person or persons responsible for Eve Carson's death. Police ask anyone with information about the case to call Crime Stoppers at 919-942-7515 or www.crimestoppers-chcunc.org.