Cell phone ties suspect to second killing

DURHAM, N.C., March 14 (UPI) -- A stolen cell phone tied a suspect in the killing of a University of North Carolina student with an earlier slaying at Duke, a prosecutor said Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline said the suspect, Laurence Alvin Lovette, 17, of Durham, used the cell phone of Abhijit Mahato to call James Atwater, his co-defendant in the killing of UNC student Eve Carson last week. Mahato was killed in January.

Investigators found other property belong to Mahato at Lovette's home, Cline said.

Bail was set at $3 million for Lovette on murder and robbery charges in the Mahato case, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. Atwater was not charged in the Mahato killing, the newspaper said.

Carson, who was the UNC student body president, was shot last week near the campus in Chapel Hill. Mahato was killed in Durham.

Durham District Court Judge Craig Brown scolded the news media, saying that Carson's case was heavily covered because the victim was a young white woman.