New Pics of Man Wanted in UNC Slaying

March 11, 2008 — -- Here he is.

Police have released more images of a man who they think twice tried to use Eve Carson's ATM card in Chapel Hill, N.C., the night she was murdered near the University of North Carolina campus.

Investigators say at the very least, this man may know something about what happened between 1:30 a.m. March 5 -- the last time Carson's friends saw the 22-year-old student body president alive -- and 5 a.m. March 5, when a pair of residents called 911 to report hearing several gunshots in their neighborhood.

He also may be the person who pulled the trigger, according to police.

Chapel Hill police, now drawing on broader law enforcement resources across North Carolina, released a second pair of surveillance stills Monday night.

Those stills show a young, black male with long hair and wearing jeans, sneakers and a black coat over a black shirt as he walks into a convenience store moments before someone uses Carson's ATM card.

Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said Monday night that the man was the only person in the store when Carson's ATM card was used.

The convenience store images follow two stills released this weekend that showed a young, black male with long hair tucked beneath a Houston Astros baseball cap. The man is driving a car -- perhaps Carson's Toyota Highlander, police say -- as he stops in front of a drive-through ATM and tries to make a withdrawal.

Police believe the person in the store and in the car is the same man. On Monday, Chapel Hill police also announced that there was potentially a second person of interest, after a close examination of the drive-through ATM photos showed what may be the outline of a second person sitting behind the driver's seat.

"Questions have surfaced about an individual possibly seated in the rear passenger seat of the vehicle," Chapel Hill police said in a statement Monday. "We do believe there is a second unidentified male seated in the rear seat. We have been exploring ways to enhance the quality of this photo in an effort to learn more about this person."

Police said Monday evening that Carson's ATM card was being used at both locations, but declined to say whether money was successfully withdrawn from Carson's account. Authorities have maintained since Carson's body was found last week that the murder appears to be a random crime.

Carson's sport utility vehicle was found parked a few blocks from her off-campus home Thursday afternoon, more than a day after her shooting death. Authorities hope that someone who saw the man in the photographs either at the store or in the vehicle will come forward.

The UNC board of trustees has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Carson's killing. As student body president, the pre-medicine double biology and political science major also served as a board member.

Search warrants filed in the case revealed that police found Carson's cell phone near a shopping center on the road that connects the towns of Chapel Hill and Durham. Authorities have not recovered her wallet or keys and are searching a student laptop and memory cards from her campus office.

Confession in Auburn Slaying

The investigation is further along two states away where another female college student named Lauren Burk was murdered near her campus the same night.

Courtney Lockhart, who was arrested Friday, has reportedly confessed to trying to rape Burk before killing the 18-year-old Auburn University freshman.

Lockhart reportedly admitted to authorities that he abducted Burk on campus, robbed her and forced her to take her clothes off before killing her, according to a confession read Monday in an Alabama court.

Lockhart, a veteran of the Iraq War who was discharged from the Army after serving seven months in a military prison for an assault and marijuana court-martial, was arrested after a police chase Friday night. According to an affidavit, Lockhart was in possession of a pistol that was linked to the shooting.

Authorities in Arkansas also made an arrest in the murder of 24-year-old University of Arkansas student Katharine Wood, who was found dead in a bathtub in her apartment Sunday. The chief medical examiner has not made a final determination about how Wood died.

Zachariah Scott Marcyniuk, 28, is being held in an Oklahoma jail as Arkansas police work on his extradition back into Arkansas.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.