CHAPEL HILL - The committee looking for a new chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill somberly appointed a replacement Tuesday for Eve Carson, the student leader who was killed last week.

Carson, who as student body president served on the search committee, was found shot dead one week ago in an intersection in a residential neighborhood near campus.

Her successor on the committee is her successor as student body president: J.J. Raynor, a junior from Charlotte whom the student body elected to be its leader next school year.

An emotional Nelson Schwab, a trustee and chairman of the search committee, announced Raynor's appointment at the start of the committee's Tuesday meeting. He struggled with tears as he talked about Carson, whose killer is still at large.

"We miss our precious Eve," Schwab said during brief comments prior to a moment of silence Tuesday. "It leaves a void in all our hearts."

Schwab attended a memorial service for Carson over the weekend in Athens, Ga., her hometown. On Tuesday he recounted comments from three speakers at the ceremony, pausing at one point to say, "I have to pull myself together here."

The committee is seeking a replacement for James Moeser, UNC-CH's chancellor since 2000. He steps down this summer.

"We gotta suck it up," Schwab said as the committee disappeared behind closed doors to discuss candidates. "We have a job to do, and we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Schwab gave no indication how far along the committee is in its process. Bill Funk, a search consultant working with the committee, often gives brief, public updates at the start of meeting, but was delayed Tuesday by bad weather in Dallas, where his company is based.

At recent meetings, Schwab and Funk have said the search has been narrowed to about 20 people.

The committee is scheduled to meet again this morning.