HILLSBOROUGH - A confidential witness told investigators that Demario Atwater said he and Laurence Lovette Jr. took Eve Carson from her home March 5 after entering through an open door, according to search warrants made public Friday.

The documents offered the first detailed public accounts of the crime, in which Atwater and Lovette are accused of killing Carson, the student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill.

According to the witness, Atwater told her he and Lovette forced Carson into the back seat of her Toyota Highlander and drove her to an ATM.

Lovette shot Carson multiple times, and Atwater subsequently shot her with a different weapon, the witness told investigators.

Lovette is also charged with first-degree murder in the slaying 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.

In requesting the warrants, police investigating Carson's murder said they were looking for a shotgun and a .25-caliber pistol. There is no indication they found either weapon.

Based on the description of the crime outlined in the search warrants, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said he plans to pursue additional indictments on charges other than first-degree murder. Those might include kidnapping and burglary.

Carson's autopsy report is set to become public Monday and should reveal more details about her death. Her body was found at 5:30 a.m. March 5 on a residential street in Chapel Hill; she was wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt.

Over the next two days, Atwater and Lovette took $1,400 from Carson's bank account, the witness said.

According to the documents, police found the confidential witness through an anonymous tipster who called CrimeStoppers on March 11.

The tipster said she had spoken to a man she knew as "Rio," who told her that he and someone else had taken Carson to an ATM. "Rio" told the caller that he and the other man planned to obtain Carson's bank card PIN before killing her.

The caller then told an investigator the name of the confidential witness she said knew more details.

On March 12, investigators interviewed the confidential witness, who identified "Rio" as Atwater. She said she had spoken with Atwater after learning that his photo had appeared in a March 7 surveillance photo from a BP convenience store at 1002 N. Alston Ave. in Durham. Carson's ATM card was used at the store that day.

Police arrested Atwater on March 12. After his arrest, according to the warrants, he admitted being in Carson's Highlander in Chapel Hill on March 5 and identified himself as the person whose image was captured in the BP security photo, according to the warrants.

He identified Lovette as the person in another surveillance photo taken at an ATM at the Bank of America in Chapel Hill, the warrants state. The next day, police arrested Lovette.

Furthermore, police recorded a cell phone call in which Atwater talked to an informant about his involvement in the crime, according to the documents.

Despite the witness' statements, Woodall said police have not confirmed the suspects were inside Carson's home. At this point, they are not sure, he said.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ordered the release of six search warrants Friday. A seventh was returned to the court clerk by police only this week and remains under seal, as does a written motion by the defense.

Investigation has progressed

Woodall assured Baddour that the police investigation had progressed to the point where releasing the search warrants would not compromise its integrity or the safety of the informants.

"The state has taken every precaution necessary to protect those individuals," Woodall said.

Baddour said the defendants probably already know who the informants are because they have had access to the sealed search warrants. Still, defense attorneys objected to Baddour's order, saying news coverage would convict their clients before the trial ever began.

"Anything that causes pretrial publicity is going to taint the jury pool," said Lovette's attorney, Karen Bethea Shields. "That's just common sense."

But Baddour said the judicial process -- including pretrial motions, jury selection and instructions to the jury --would ensure a fair trial.

Atwater's attorney, Jonathan Broun, declined to say whether he or co-counsel James Williams planned to challenge any of the evidence contained in the search warrants before trial.

The documents show police investigated whether Carson was sexually assaulted. Woodall said Friday that she was not.

What police sought, found

The search warrant for Atwater's and Lovette's homes states that police were seeking a shotgun, a .25-caliber pistol, ammunition, hooded sweatshirts, blue jeans, white athletic shoes, a black coat, a Houston Astros baseball cap, gloves, Carson's ATM card, keys, purse, wallet or identification. They also sought cell phones and computers or digital storage devices, cash and cameras. The documents indicated that police were looking for gang-related material, including clothing, bandannas or documents.

Documents indicate police did not find all of these things. At Atwater's home at 2507 S. Roxboro St., Apt. 11, they seized assorted vehicle keys, two shotgun shells, a Motorola cell phone, two cameras, one house key, assorted notes, clothing and drug paraphernalia.

Police also collected samples of hair, saliva and blood from Lovette and Atwater for DNA evidence.

Police seized more than a dozen pairs of shoes, mostly athletic sneakers, from Lovette's home at 1231 Shepherd St. in Durham. They took eight pairs of shoes from Atwater's residence. Probation records show that Durham police were investigating Lovette in a case of stolen shoes.

TIMELINE

The release of search warrants in the Eve Carson case Friday provides the following sequence of events concerning suspects Demario Atwater and Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr.:

MARCH 5, 5:30 A.M.: Police find Carson's body on Hillcrest Drive in Chapel Hill. Carson had been shot several times.

MARCH 6: Carson's Toyota Highlander is located. Police recover a partial shoeprint on a Bank of America receipt that investigators say was generated when the suspects made a withdrawal.

MARCH 11, 9:58 P.M.: An anonymous caller tells CrimeStoppers of Orange County that someone she knows as "Rio" told her he and another person took Carson to an ATM and planned to kill her. The caller refers police to a confidential witness she says knows more about the crime.

MARCH 12, 7:09 AM: The State Bureau of Investigation interviews the confidential witness. The witness identifies "Rio" as Atwater and says he told her that he and Lovette entered Carson's house through an open door, forced Carson into her Toyota Highlander and took her to an ATM. The witness says Atwater and Lovette took $1,400 from Carson's bank account and that Carson was shot multiple times -- by Lovette and then by Atwater. The witness says Lovette lives on Shepherd Street in Durham.

MARCH 12: Atwater is arrested and charged with the murder. He tells police he was in Chapel Hill the night Carson died and inside her Toyota Highlander. He also confirms he is the man in a BP convenience store surveillance photo and identifies Lovette as the man pictured in an ATM surveillance photo taken the morning Carson was killed.

MARCH 13: Lovette is arrested and charged with Carson's murder.

COMPILED BY STAFF WRITER KRISTIN BUTLER

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