Bond set at $3 million in slaying of student

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A teenager accused of killing two college students in North Carolina was ordered held in lieu of a $3 million bond Friday.

Laurence Lovette, 17, is charged with murder in the slayings of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato and University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson.

During his initial appearance in the Mahato killing, prosecutor Tracey Cline said she asked for the high bond because Lovette is already facing trial on numerous other charges.

Court records show that between Mahato’s slaying in January and Carson’s death last week, police arrested and changed him with felonies ranging from burglary to car theft to resisting arrest.

Lovette wasn’t a suspect in Mahato’s death until after police in Chapel Hill began investigating Carson’s slaying. Carson, a 22-year-old from Athens, Ga., was found lying in the street about a mile from North Carolina’s campus. She was shot several times, including once in the temple.

Lovette was arrested in the Carson case after police released two surveillance photos they said show him using Carson’s ATM card while driving what appears to be her Toyota Highlander.

Cline said detectives linked Lovette to Mahato’s death through phone records, a vehicle and items taken from his home.

Mahato, a 29-year-old doctoral student in computational mechanics from originally from Tatangar, India, was shot to death inside his apartment a few blocks south of Duke’s campus. Authorities have also charged Demario Atwater, 21, in Carson’s death, and Stephen Lavance Oates, 19, in Mahato’s killing.