Carson had been studying in her student house when Demario James Atwater and Laurence Alvin Lovette ambushed her, forced her into a car and stole $700 from her card.

When this did not kill Carson, Atwater murdered her with a fatal shot from a shotgun to the side of her head, before fleeing the scene.

On May 24, 2010, Atwater pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping in a plea bargain agreement that will have him serve two sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

She attended Clarke Central High School,[10] where she was elected president of the student body and was class valedictorian.

[12] Carson attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in political science and biology.

Her academic achievements earned her membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and allowed her to become a recipient of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship.

[13] She served as the co-president of the Honors Program Student Executive Board and as co-chairwoman of UNC's chapter of Nourish International, a hunger relief organization.

[12] During the summer of 2005, Carson traveled to Ecuador where she volunteered in the rural countryside as a medical assistant, worked on a coffee farm, and taught computer skills to members of the Indigenous Siona community in the Amazon rainforest.

[19] In 2006, Carson studied abroad with UNC's Spring Semester in Havana, Cuba and spent the summer working with a U.S.

[21][23][27] According to a forensic psychologist and criminal profiler, the manner in which Carson was shot showed a "complete lack of regard for another person.

[32] In a 2014 opinion, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina wrote that Lovette has “a lengthy juvenile record that exhibits a pattern of escalation of criminal activity”.

[33] Atwater had previously been convicted of several crimes, including possession of marijuana with intent to sell, trespassing, robbery, and assault.

On February 20, 2008, Atwater was arrested for carrying a gun while on probation but was released on a $10,000 bond and was set to appear in court on March 3.

"[35] In honor of Carson, the North Carolina men's and women's basketball teams wore a black badge on their jersey that read "EVE" for the remainder of their seasons.

[37] Carson's dual-major bachelor's degree was posthumously awarded—for the first time in the university's history—to her surviving family (parents and brother) at the May 2008 UNC graduation ceremony she would have attended had she lived.

Due to the high-profile nature of the case, records such as the autopsy report and search warrants were sealed from public view in the months after the murder.

[45] Judge James A. Beaty of the United States District Court in Winston-Salem sentenced him to life in prison plus 30 years on September 23, 2010.

[46] Atwater was ordered to undergo substance abuse treatment[47][48] and pay restitution of $212,947.10 should he ever be released, which Judge Beaty noted was "highly unlikely.

[51] The decision relied on Miller v. Alabama, where the Supreme Court ruled that a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for defendants under 18 at the time of a crime is cruel and unusual punishment.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said that Lovette was a "predator" and that he did not care about the consequences of his actions or about other people.

[55][56] Prosecutors had also charged Lovette with the January 2008 murder of 29-year-old Duke University engineering student Abhijit Mahato[57] but he was found not guilty in July 2014.

He was previously incarcerated at Pasquotank Correctional Institution,[59] a close and minimum custody prison in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

They include threatening to harm staff, disobeying orders, involvement with gangs, using profane language, and possessing substances and audio/video/image devices.

The scholarship is expected to help attract qualified out-of-state students to the university and will provide recipients with additional programming and support during their undergraduate careers.

[64] The case was brought to national attention again in 2009 after American Idol finalist Anoop Desai, who was a friend of Carson's, talked about her death on the show and how it motivated him to audition.

[7] On the second anniversary of her death, UNC dedicated the Eve Marie Carson Garden in honor of her and all students, past and future, who die before graduation.

One feature of the garden is a wall of Georgia marble inscribed with her words: "Learn from every single being, experience, and moment.

The series aimed to bring big-name speakers to campus in order to challenge students and spark discussion.

Speakers have included Elizabeth Edwards, Greg Mortenson, Fatou Bensouda, Mika Brzezinski, and most recently, former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

[71] In March 2012, controversy arose when an Indian consulting firm distributed advertising posters containing a copyrighted photo of Carson.