DURHAM — Laurence Alvin Lovette might have still been in jail when two area college students were murdered if Durham police had filed the appropriate charges against him after a November break-in, according to a report from City Manager Patrick Baker released late Wednesday afternoon.

Lovette should have been charged with burglary instead of breaking and entering when he was arrested for stealing items from the home and vehicle of Brenda and Thomas Kinney, Baker said. Burglary is a more serious charge, and could have led to jail time instead of the suspended sentence Lovette received in January.

Just a few days after Lovette's release, Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato was shot between the eyes at point-blank range. In early March, UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Eve Carson was shot and killed.

Lovette has been charged with first-degree murder in both cases.

"In speaking with the investigating officer, the failure to charge Mr. Lovette with burglary was a mistake," Baker wrote.

"The evidence collected in her investigation suggested that a burglary had been committed at the home and Mr. Lovette confessed to committing a burglary. ... Regardless of the practical impact of not charging Mr. Lovette with felony burglary at the outset, the failure to not file the most appropriate charge is not acceptable as a matter of course."

Baker wrote that Police Chief Jose Lopez has taken "appropriate corrective actions."

Baker's report was requested by Mayor Bill Bell in March, shortly after Carson's death.

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