Slain UNC student's car found

(CNN) -- Police in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said Friday they have found a vehicle belonging to a slain UNC student, and are examining it for possible evidence.

Eve Carson, the 22-year-old president of the student body at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found shot to death in a suburban neighborhood not far from campus about 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Her car was found in another neighborhood to the west, about a block or two from where she lived with roommates, Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said Friday.

A resident alerted police to the vehicle Thursday, police said in a written statement. Watch authorities describe finding body »

Curran said evidence from the car was being catalogued Friday, and then a forensic examination will be conducted on the vehicle.

He said the car was not stripped of its radio or any other equipment, but police cannot say whether anything was missing from it because they do not know what was in the car. The keys were not found, he said.

Late Friday, a photo of a possible suspect was being circulated among law enforcement officials, The Associated Press cited a police watch commander from neighboring Durham as saying.

Curran refused comment except to say that police don't have the names of any suspects, AP reported.

Authorities are interested in speaking to anyone who may have seen the car, a blue 2005 Toyota Highlander with Georgia plates, between about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and midday Thursday.

Carson, a UNC senior and native of Athens, Georgia, was last seen about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday by her roommates, who were leaving their living quarters and invited her along. Carson was studying and declined, saying she had work to do, Curran said. He described Carson as "an extraordinarily busy woman" and said it would not have been unusual for her to go to her office in the middle of the night.

Police have subpoenaed her cell phone records and are examining her laptop, he said, but "as far as I know she wasn't having problems with anybody," Curran said. Authorities are also attempting to determine whether there was activity on Carson's credit cards or bank account about the time she was killed, he said.

At least two people called 9-1-1 to report hearing gunshots in the area where Carson's body was found, Curran said. Police believe, based on those calls, that she was slain at that location, he said.

The medical examiner told police there were no other injuries to Carson's body besides the gunshot wounds and no signs of sexual assault, he said.

Chapel Hill police have been talking with police in Auburn, Alabama, because a female Auburn University student was shot and killed the same day as Carson, Curran told reporters. But he said the cases have only "surface similarities" and "we still don't believe that the crimes are connected."

Police believe Carson was not targeted, and the crime was a random one, he said.

No additional security measures are in effect in the city, he said. "Our officers are out there just doing the normal job that they do every day."

He said he did not believe students should take any additional measures to protect themselves. "I think they should take precautions that they normally would anyway," he said, but added, "this in no way is an indication from me that [Carson] had done anything wrong."

Carson was a pre-med student who had a double major in political science and biology. She was a recipient of the university's prestigious Morehead Scholarship and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, the university has said. Watch a friend remember Carson »

The university's Board of Trustees has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her death, Curran said.

Curran said other police agencies have offered assistance and his department may accept the offers "as this thing goes on." E-mail to a friend

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