Mourners have gathered in Eve Marie Carson’s hometown of
Athens on Sunday, to remember the brilliant and popular University of North
Carolina student body president, who was found dead Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Lauren Burk, an Auburn University freshman who
was also slain last week near the campus, was mourned in her hometown of
Marietta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta.
“We should not be here this afternoon. It is too soon to be
remembering the life of Eve Marie Carson,” senior minister Bill Britt told the
mourners, who were wearing blue ribbons in the girl’s honor.
During the service, many people spoke beautifully of
Carson, who had been involved in all kinds of generous activities, including
volunteering in places such as Ghana, Ecuador and Egypt.
In Marietta, the hometown of the other slain girl, Rabbi
Steven Lebow asked the people who had come at the funeral, to put aside their
angry feelings and turn the negative energy into a useful one.
"It would be easy to give way to our emotions this
afternoon because there is a spectrum of feelings roiling and unsettling our
souls," Lebow said, according to The Associated Press. “The right thing
isn't vengeance. The right thing is justice,” he added.
Even though the two deaths appear to be similar,
investigators said they did not find a link between them. The two colleges are
a seven-hour drive apart, so officials do not think the same killer is
responsible for both crimes.
Lauren Burk was found near the camp Tuesday, at 9 p.m., with
a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital, but died in the same night.
At 5 a.m. Wednesday morning, police in North Carolina found
the other student, Eve Carson, who had been shot several times, including once
in the head.
People who knew the two girls describe them as wonderfully
spirited, brilliant and caring for others, and nobody can understand why the
tragic crimes took place.