Carson's Cell Phone Recovered Near Franklin Street Shopping Center

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Chapel Hill police recovered Eve Carson's mobile phone, with the help of her cellular provider, at Eastgate Shopping Center on East Franklin Street the same day they identified the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student leader's body.

That's according to a March 6 search warrant. Eastgate is about 1.5 miles from Hillcrest Circle, where police discovered Carson's body Wednesday morning while responding to reports from a nearby street of shots being heard.

Also recovered from Carson's student-government office on the UNC campus was her IBM laptop, a computer memory stick and a USB storage device.

Police, meanwhile, continue to seek the public's help in identifying a man they want to question in connection with the UNC senior's shooting death.

Investigators made public two new surveillance photos Monday that show a black man in a convenience store at the time an attempt was made to use Carson’s ATM card at a machine there, Police Chief Brian Curran said Monday afternoon. He did not specify when or where the pictures were taken because he wanted to "protect the integrity of the investigation," including information only the killer might know.

Curran said the man appears to be the same one driving a sport utility vehicle captured on an ATM surveillance camera that police released Saturday morning.

In the earlier photos, a black man, who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, is driving what could be Carson's blue, 2005 Toyota Highlander.

Investigators are also examining a silhouette in the photo that they say seems to indicate a second unidentified person in the back seat. Curran said investigators looked at stop-action images from the video camera, but they are not clear enough to identify the second person.

He played down speculation that Carson might have been in the back seat of the SUV – perhaps held at gunpoint.

"We've looked at the photographs. From what I can tell, I do not see her in the car," Curran said. "That does not mean at some point in the investigation (we won't see that)."

Crime Stoppers received more than 200 calls over the weekend after police released the images, but police have not identified either man, Curran said.

Investigators still have no motive in the case and urge individuals to call police at 919-968-2760 or Crime Stoppers at 919-942-7515. Callers can remain anonymous if they wish.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.