Closing arguments to begin Monday in Lovette trial

HILLSBOROUGH (WTVD) -- Closing arguments are expected to begin Monday after the prosecution rested in the Laurence Lovette trial Thursday and the defense called no witnesses.

Investigators have said Lovette and another man, Demario Atwater, kidnapped the 22-year-old UNC student body president from her Chapel Hill home on March 5, 2008 and then drove her around in her SUV to various ATMs in Chapel Hill and Durham to withdraw cash from her accounts.

They said the pair then killed her and dumped her body on a Chapel Hill street.

Earlier this year, Atwater took a plea deal on federal charges related to the Carson's kidnapping, carjacking and murder, and is currently serving a life sentence.

During testimony Thursday morning, FBI agent Michael Sutton said a cell phone registered in the name of Melissa Lovette, who is Lovette's mother, made the call in Chapel Hill.

The prosecution implied that Laurence Lovette was using the phone the night of the murder.

According to testimony, Carson was abducted around 3:45 a.m. and just after 5 a.m., she was shot to death with a handgun and a shotgun in the middle of the street.

Officials said that would have given the suspects enough time to dump Carson's car and return to the area in Durham near their homes where the cell phone was used at 5:50 a.m.

A SBI agent who was involved in Lovette's arrest also took the stand Thursday and said once Lovette was identified as a suspect, he compared a picture of Lovette to an ATM photo, then issued an arrest warrant.

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