Posted on 03/09/2008 4:35:40 PM PDT by abb
A photography expert with over 30 years of experience says that a second person can be seen in the back seat of the SUV in a photo provided by police regarding the murder of UNC student Eve Carson.
William Mathis of Mathis & Jones Communications near St. Louis, Missouri initially contacted the Raleigh Chronicle newspaper to provide a color enhanced version of the ATM surveillance photos that were provided by Chapel Hill Police.
UNC student body president Eve Carson, age 22, was found murdered on Wednesday morning in Chapel Hill and police are looking for the man whose photo was taken while using her ATM card.
According to his bio, Mathis is an award-winning expert in photography with over 30 years of experience and works to enhance digital photographs for a living. He uses large format cameras, printers, and other specialized equipment to do his work which has included architectural photography for large architectural firms such as HOK, worked as an official photographer for historic site renovations, and has performed graphic arts design in the sports industry.
Mathis saw an interview with the editor of the Raleigh Chronicle about the case on MSNBC on Sunday morning and decided to help out, especially since he is originally from North Carolina.
"I have daughters at Vanderbilt and University of Maryland and this type of heinous crime has to be stopped," said Mathis. "It is the least I could do."
Mathis provided the Raleigh Chronicle two colorized versions of the original grainy black and white photos that Chapel Hill Police provided to the media on Saturday. He also improved upon the color of the "retro" Houston Astros baseball cap that the suspect appears to be wearing.
However, while working on the photos, Mathis noticed something else in the background, which he did not notice until he started examining the photos closely.
"It also looks like there is a very large person in the backseat," said Mathis, who said he noticed the figure when he printed out a very large copy of the photo.
Mathis has large format printers that can print copies of pictures several feet across, to the point of being life-sized.
"When I blew them up, I noticed...hey, there's another person back there," said Mathis.
Mathis said an outline of a shoulder can be seen in the back seat and although no face can be seen, he feels that after reviewing the photo that another person is in the vehicle.
"[The figure] is a very big man," said Mathis.
Mathis said he believes the second person in the back seat is also wearing a baseball cap.
Indeed, looking at the original black and white photographs provided by police (see below), a very dark outline against the light-colored leather seats of the SUV in the back can be seen. The outline blocks all light and does not seem to be a shadow.
The outline seems to be in the shape of a person, although that is certainly not confirmed by Chapel Hill Police at this time. It could be something else that simply appears to be a person in the photographs.
Mathis said it would be better to work with a higher resolution version of the photo than the one handed out to the media.
Chapel Hill Police have not mentioned a second person in their discussions of the case, but the Raleigh Chronicle will notify police of the photo expert's opinion.
The official spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department, Lt. Kevin Gunter, was not immediately available for comment in the case. Two messages were left with the police department on Sunday afternoon including one with the staff duty officer at the front desk.
ping
Has anyone mentioned that the skank using the murdered beauty’s ATM card is black?
Holy Crap! Fat Albert has turned to a life of crime! Hey hey heyyy!
That should help matters.
I’ve been just fuming since I saw this picture...we are all just going to snap one day....the day of reckoning is approaching....
shame on the Durham,NC area....
This was pointed out by a FReeper on the initial thread yesterday (or was it the day before)
Oh come on..you all know Tyrone is just stopping by the ATM to get some money to put in the collection plate at church now..come on...
Is that a Houston Astros cap?
A FReeper noticed yesterday that there appeared to be someone in the back seat, due to a shadow in the picture.
Somewhere - I think over on Liestoppers - a poster mentioned a posible reason the guy in the front seat is not hiding his face. He may be a juvenile member of a gang and the guy in the back seat is the real murderer. As part of initiation to the gang he takes the rap for the murder but being under 18 he gets tried as a juvenile and is out in a couple of years.
Also of interest, she apparently was abducted hours before she was killed. Oh God, I hope that isn’t true.
I bet the young woman was still alive and in the car when this POS visited the ATM. A PIN was needed and the only way to make sure the PIN works is to have the woman in the car when you try to use it.
He'll get caught. They always do. Why? Because he escalated the situation by senselessly killing the victim (had he merely robbed her, nobody would've been looking very hard for him. Just another run-of-the-mill street crime). Now he's on the lam for a brutal murder and has no escape plan. That and there's the $25,000 reward. This kind of money looks awfully good to all of his homies.
It may be a few days but we'll see him in cuffs soon with that typical menacing, thuggish unrepentant look on his face.
Lot’s of people must know this suspect — and I don’t know why none of them have come forward yet.
Wow! That sure is a clear photo!
Somebody ought to be able to ID that goofy looking b@stard immediately. Although his momma won’t. “My baby never done no wrong.”
Unlikely. Unless this guy is thirteen (and he doesn't look like it) he's getting charged as an adult.
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