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Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 31, 2019 5:08:08 GMT -5
Student Murdered after Getting into Wrong Car
In the early morning hours of Friday, March 29, Samantha Josephson, 21, a student at the University of South Carolina, called Uber and was last seen getting into a black Chevrolet Impala in the Five Points area of Columbia. Unfortunately, the car driven by 24-year-old Nathaniel Rowland wasn’t her Uber ride and the next time the young woman was seen, she was lying dead in a remote location.
Josephson had gone out with friends Thursday night and while at the Bird Dog bar on Harden Street, she somehow got separated from other members of the group. When her roommates were unable to locate her the following morning, they contacted law enforcement.
While police were conducting a missing-person enquiry, Clarendon County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call indicating the corpse of a young female had been discovered in a field. “The body had been found by a couple of people hunting … in a field in what was described by the sheriff to us as a wooded area in a very rural part of the county off of a dirt road – about 40 feet off of a dirt road – in an area that would be very difficult to get to unless you knew how to get there,” Columbia Chief of Police William H. “Skip” Holbrook said in a press conference. The location wasn’t far from Rowland’s place of residence.
Around 3 o’clock Saturday morning, an officer spotted a black Chevy Impala matching the description of the subject vehicle approximately two blocks from where the victim was last seen. He stopped the car and asked the driver to step out, after which the young black male took off running. He was captured after a short pursuit and upon returning to the vehicle, the officer observed what appeared to be a large amount of blood. A search warrant was obtained, samples of blood on the passenger side of the car and in the trunk were taken and testing confirmed the blood was that of Josephson. The victim’s cellphone was also found in the vehicle, along with bleach, germicidal wipes and window cleaner. According to Holbrook, the child safety feature on the rear car doors had been activated, suggesting Josephson might not have been unable to escape.
“What we know now is that she had in fact summoned an Uber ride and was waiting for that Uber ride to come, we believe,” Holbrook continued. “We don’t have a statement or any evidence that suggests this, other than our observations on the video. We believe that she simply mistakenly got into this particular car thinking it was an Uber ride.”
Rowland has been charged with murder and kidnapping.
Josephson, a resident of Robbinsville, New Jersey, was studying political science and was set to graduate in May, after which she planned to attend law school at Drexel University in Philadelphia. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta.
Sources: Isabella Cueto and David Travis Bland, The Columbia State, March 30, 2019, and Paulina Dedaj, Fox News, March 30, 2019. |
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Post by catherine on Mar 31, 2019 7:57:58 GMT -5
Because it was dark, I suppose she couldn't see what she was getting into the car with. No way would I have gotten into a car with that ugly thug unless I had a gun in my pocket.
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Post by pat on Mar 31, 2019 10:30:52 GMT -5
Because it was dark, I suppose she couldn't see what she was getting into the car with. No way would I have gotten into a car with that ugly thug unless I had a gun in my pocket. |
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Post by Graveyardbride on Apr 6, 2019 6:14:42 GMT -5
Student’s Killer Was ‘High on Pot’
According to law enforcement officers, when Nathaniel David Rowland was arrested roughly 24 hours after Samantha Josephson was abducted, raped and murdered, he was “high on pot.”
Turkey hunters discovered Josephson’s body, around 40 feet off Black Bottom Road near New Zion. The location is approximately 70 miles east of Columbia and a stone’s throw from 1313 Renegade Trail, Rowland’s place of residence.
In addition to facing rape, murder and kidnapping charges, Rowland was charged with refusing to stop after commanded to do so by a law enforcement officer and simple possession of marijuana. It is unclear whether urine, blood or DNA were taken following his arrest.
The news could inflame passions related to the ongoing debate in the South Carolina State House over the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes. “This feeds into what law enforcement has been saying to us,” one state lawmaker who is currently on the fence regarding medical cannabis said. “It underscores the public safety angle.”
Source: FITSNews, April 3, 2019.
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Post by catherine on Apr 6, 2019 11:25:18 GMT -5
I hate potheads. I despise all druggies, but I cannot tolerate potheads. People are always talking about how marijuana is harmless, but if the truth was known, it probably causes more harm than all the other illegal drugs combined. Look at all the serial killers who smoked pot. Ted Bundy said he was always high on marijuana when he went out hunting for victims.
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Post by Kate on Apr 6, 2019 14:22:10 GMT -5
I looked up this address, but couldn't find a photo. It's a rental and last sold for only $7,000, so it's got to be a real dump.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 22, 2021 16:00:37 GMT -5
Uber Murder Trial Begins, Damaging Testimony by Defendant’s Girlfriend
The trial of Nathaniel Rowland, who is charged with kidnaping and killing 21-year-old Samantha Josephson, began Monday, July 19. Josephson, who was about to receive her degree in political science, called for an Uber around 2 o’clock on the morning of Friday, March 29, and mistakenly got into a car driven by Rowland. Fourteen hours later, the young woman’s body was discovered in a remote wooded area approximately 70 miles away in Clarendon County. The state isn’t seeking seeking the death penalty.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Bryon Gipson emphasized to the jury that Rowland had stabbed Josephson in excess of 100 times “throughout her feet, throughout her torso, throughout her face, her neck, her hands” before dumping her body in the woods. “It’s those intentional deliberate, heinous, cruel and malicious acts that Nathaniel David Rowland has been indicted for kidnaping Samantha Josephson. He’s been indicted for murdering … Samantha Josephson.”
Nonetheless, Alicia Goode, Richland County public defender, insisted her client was innocent. “There is zero evidence that Nathaniel Rowland is the one who kidnaped and killed Samantha Josephson,” she told the jury, citing the fact Rowland’s DNA was not found on the young woman’s clothing or body. “Nathaniel’s DNA is not there, but someone else’s is … multiple someones,” she said.
The first witness called by the prosecution was Greg Corbishley, Josephon’s longtime boyfriend, who told jurors he had spoken with his girlfriend throughout the night of March 28-29 and tracked her phone after she got into the car she had mistakenly believed was her Uber ride. When the tracking ceased around 2:40 a.m. on Montgomery Avenue, he assumed she had left her phone in the vehicle and gone to bed. Corbishley said he did not go to bed until around 5 o’clock and when he awakened, he immediately called the Liberty Taproom, where Josephson worked, and discovered she hadn’t shown up for work, which was uncharacteristic because she was very responsible.
On the second day (July 20), Maria Howard, a young black woman who said she had been in a dating relationship with the Defendant, told the jury she had known Rowland for years and that in March 2019, he was spending the night with her on a regular basis. On Thursday, March 28, she said her boyfriend was at her home when she asked him to wash a shirt she needed for her job at McDonalds. On that same day, she said she had mistakenly left her visor, which she was required to wear at work, in the back window of his car.
The next morning, she continued, Rowland was nowhere to be found and she began texting him because he was supposed to give her a ride to work. When he appeared, she noticed he was still wearing the clothing he had worn the previous day and her work visor was no longer in his car. When she asked about it, Rowland told her “it had blood on it,” and when she asked why, he replied, “Mind your own business.” He then left, saying he had to take his nephew to school and when he returned, he had her work shirt, but it was wet.
Rowland failed to pick her up from work on the 29th and she got a ride from a co-worker. When she got home, she observed that he was using some sort of chemical that smelled like bleach to clean his car and a small knife-like tool and he was still wearing the clothes from the day before. She got into the car and although he had agreed to take her to pick up her daughter, as they were driving, Rowland said he didn’t want the child in the car because “it had blood on it.” They returned to Howard’s home, Rowland left and when he next appeared, he showed her a rose gold iPhone in perfect condition. “I asked him where he got it because it looked like a female phone,” she testified, and he said he was getting it ready for her, although she did not need a phone at that time. Later when she saw a news report on the disappearance of Samantha Josephson with a description of the suspect’s car, she said “it all made sense,” however, she claimed she did not contact the police because she was scared. When the police talked to her following Rowland’s arrest, Howard said they told her there had been “a significant bloodletting” in her boyfriend’s car.
Following Howard’s testimony, Lt. Todd Schenk, a SLED (State Law Enforcement Division) investigator, testified that he and his partner processed the location where Josephson’s corpse was found. The young woman was lying on her back with her shirt pulled up and there were multiple stab wounds to her body. Her fingernails were broken and an earring was missing from her left ear. Because of the blood striations on the corpse and lack of a blood trail, he said it appeared the young woman’s body and been dumped in the wooded area. A beer can and two cigarette butts were collected and processed.
Schenk and his partner were then called to process a scene at 600 Saluda Avenue, where police had stopped and detained Nathaniel Rowland. Among the items removed from his black Chevrolet Impala were two cell phones, a USB thumb drive and keys attached to a pink object. From the trunk, they collected a McDonald’s visor and white Yankee Candle back, both of which appeared to be have blood on them. The vehicle itself contained a large amount of blood in several locations and there were footprints inside one of the rear windows, indicating Josephson had been attacked in the backseat.
Josephson’s body was discovered by two turkey hunters and one of them, Anders Sullivan Lee, 25, testified he and Ryan Knowlton were hunting on Knowlton’s land and while scouting a field for turkeys, he saw something unusual down a firebreak road. Upon investigation, they discovered it was a dead woman, after which they notified a nearby game warden.
A few other witnesses were called to the stand before CPD (Columbia Police Department) Officer Jeffrey Kraft took the stand and recounted Rowland’s arrest. As they approached the vehicle, Kraft and his partner both smelled marijuana and asked the driver for his license. The driver said he didn’t have his license on him and admitted to smoking marijuana. At that point, Kraft advised the driver his car matched the description of a vehicle observed in the Five Points area and the driver suddenly took off running. Although the two officers gave chase, they lost the suspect near Waccamaw Avenue and Blossom Street. The driver was subsequently apprehended on Congaree Avenue.
While searching the car for marijuana, officers discovered a rose gold cell phone and a set of keys on a pink key chain under the front seats, a backpack and what appeared to be blood on the rear seat, and cleaning supplies and bleach in the trunk. Maria Howard, who had been in the passenger seat was temporarily detained.
Sources: State of South Carolina v. Nathaniel David Rowland; WLTX, July 21, 2021; Stephen Fastenau, The Columbia Post and Courier, July 21, 2021; Jill Sederstrom, Oxygen, July 21, 2021; Lucas Daprile and John Monk, The State, July 20, 2021; and The Associated Press.
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Post by madeline on Jul 22, 2021 20:40:57 GMT -5
I had forgotten about this case. The defense attorney is saying that the pothead's DNA wasn't found on the girl's body or clothing and that means she has an alternative theory, which I'll bet is that the girlfriend did it.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 23, 2021 18:08:02 GMT -5
‘Very Strong Support’ DNA under Defendant’s Fingernails Was That of Samantha Josephson
In her opening statement, Alicia Goode, the public defender representing Nathaniel Rowland, claimed her client’s DNA wasn’t found on Samantha Josephson’s clothing or body. While this may be true, according to Ryan Dewane of SLED ((State Law Enforcement Division) there is “very strong support” demonstrating that DNA under the Defendant’s nails was Josephson’s. Additionally, Dewane said DNA found on a sock, bandana and a bladed multi-tool was likely Rowland’s.
Prior to Dewane’s testimony, SLED agent Eric Grabsky explained to the jury that Rowland’s phone connected with towers in the Five Points area, where Josephson got into a black Chevrolet Impala, and then moved toward the location where the young woman’s body was discovered.
Although the victim’s fingernails were swabbed, the Defendant’s DNA wasn’t present. However, there was DNA of two male individuals under some of Josephson’s nails.
Prosecutors contend Rowland trapped Josephson in the back seat of his vehicle by activating the childproof locks.
Sources: The Durham Herald-Sun, July 23, 2021; and FoxCarolina, July 23, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 26, 2021 22:12:32 GMT -5
Medical Examiner Testifies Victim was Stabbed 120 Times
Thomas Beaver, M.D., who conducted the postmortem examination on Samantha Josephson testified today (July 26) that the young student had been stabbed at least 120 times, primarily in the head, arms chest and back and that any one of the thrusts that penetrated into her brain or neck would have been fatal. In fact, he said she had so many wounds that her body contained only 1.3 Tablespoons of blood instead of the gallon one would expect in a woman her size.
On cross-examination, the defense attorney noted that while Josephson fought her attacker, the Defendant had no visible marks on his body and there was none of his DNA underneath the victim’s fingernails.
Beaver also was questioned concerning the type weapon used to inflict the 120 wounds. He admitted that following the autopsy, he Googled hundreds of photos of knives to ascertain what caused the unique wounds and provided investigators a photo of a weapon that did not match the knife-like tool recovered following Rowland’s arrest.
Another witness testified that DNA found under Rowland’s fingernails matched Josephson’s genetic material.
Sources: NewsNation, July 26, 2021, and Jeffery Collins, Associated Press.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 27, 2021 21:47:35 GMT -5
Jury Says Guilty! - Rowland Sentenced to Life Without Possibility of Parole
Before the defense rested, Rowland’s attorneys requested the charges against their client be dismissed, claiming prosecutors had presented a circumstantial case, never demonstrating the Defendant was driving the car on Friday, March 29, 2019, or that he had killed Samantha Josephson. Judge Clifton Newman, however, rejected the request, telling the lawyers that on the contrary, there was an avalanche of both direct and circumstantial evidence.
The case was then given to the jury, which was almost evenly divided between black and white, and it took members little more than an hour to find Nathaniel Rowland guilty.
Following the verdict, Newman wasted no time sentencing Rowland to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After hearing testimony and seeing the evidence, “there’s 1,000 trails and each trail led to you,” the judge told the Defendant. In addressing the court, the jurist also commented that the last time he presided over a stabbing death, it was a death penalty case. Although the prosecution did not seek the death penalty against Rowland, Newman continued, saying a death penalty case requires an aggravated circumstance, which, because of the kidnaping charge, was present in the instant case.
Before he was sentenced, Rowland told Newman he was innocent and complained that instead of trying to find the real killer, the state had concentrated on proving he killed Josephson.
Later, both Newman and Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook remarked that Josephson’s murder was the worst crime they had encountered during their careers.
Marci Josephson, the victim’s mother, called Rowland a monster and said she cannot erase the thoughts of her daughter’s struggling to survive while being stabbed repeatedly. “Her dreams were my dreams and her death was my death,” the distraught mother wailed. “I used to have dreams for her, now all I have are nightmares. Her death sliced through my heart.”
Sources: Stephen Fastenau, The Columbia Post and Courier, July 27, 2021; Mikr Olson, WOLO, July 27, 2021; and Michelle Liu, The Associated Press, July 27, 2021.
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Post by pat on Jul 28, 2021 8:22:18 GMT -5
At least the judge didn't waste any time sentencing the monster to life without parole. The same should happen in all cases. I saw on Court TV where the lawyers representing the illegal alien that killed Mollie Tibbetts are still arguing that he was abducted by two men.
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Post by catherine on Jul 28, 2021 10:40:43 GMT -5
At least the judge didn't waste any time sentencing the monster to life without parole. The same should happen in all cases. I saw on Court TV where the lawyers representing the illegal alien that killed Mollie Tibbetts are still arguing that he was abducted by two men. |
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