Man Given Funny Money Inxbox Myrtle Beach
COLUMBIA — Samantha Josephson was a fighter, who tore her fingernails as she clawed her attacker before she was killed while locked in the back of a black sedan that she thought was her Uber after a night celebrating her upcoming college graduation with friends.
That was the scene painted July 20 in opening arguments in the trial of Nathaniel Rowland, charged with murder and kidnapping in Josephson's death in 2019.
While a prosecutor said authorities found evidence that Josephson had been in the car Rowland was driving when he was arrested hours after her body was found, a defense attorney said Rowland's DNA was not found on the University of South Carolina senior.
Marci Josephson holds the arm of her husband, Seymour, during opening arguments in the trial of the man accused in their daughter's slaying, July 20, 2021, in Columbia. Samantha Josephson, a 21-year-old University of South Carolina senior, was killed after getting into a car she thought was her Uber ride in March 2019 in Columbia's Five Points. John A. Carlos II/Special to The Post and Courier
Josephson's death stoked fears across the country because the 21-year-old disappeared in an activity thousands of people do each day — ordering a ride-hiring service. The trial is being aired nationally by cable channel Court TV.
Opening arguments and testimony began July 20 after a near-even racially mixed group of 12 jurors was picked. The jury includes seven women and five men.
In his opening statement, 5th Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson told the jury that Rowland and Josephson's phones tracked together at some point during the early morning hours in March 2019 and that Josephson's blood, hair and fingerprints were found in Rowland's car after he was arrested in her death.
"As she stood alone waiting on that Uber, he had his eyes firmly transfixed on her," Gipson told the jury. "As she waited on that Uber ride to arrive."
Rowland, in a purple shirt, striped tie and khaki pants, sat between his lawyers and largely appeared to offer no reaction to the opening statements and testimony other than leaning over periodically to confer with attorneys.
As many as 100 stab wounds, scratches and other wounds were noted on Josephson's body after it was found in a remote stand of woods in Clarendon County, Gipson said. A member of the Josephson family gasped when the prosecutor mentioned her wounds.
Gipson said surveillance video from Five Points shows a black 2017 Chevrolet Impala circling the block in Columbia's nightlife district before pulling up to park at a curb outside The Bird Dog bar in Five Points, where Josephson waited alone for an Uber ride she had called.
Josephson had been out with some friends and the Harden Street bar was a regular spot, her boyfriend, Greg Corbishley, testified. He said he had talked regularly with Josephson that day, that she was upset about news of a family member's medical condition and he had told her to enjoy herself.
The Charleston resident said Josephson had planned to visit him that weekend.
"I told her to get her mind off of it, to go out with her friends, that she just worked so hard, got into law school, that she deserved to have a night to celebrate that," Corbishley said in his testimony. "I just told her to go out and have fun that night."
Josephson's phone, via a phone app used by her friends, showed her traveling through Columbia's Shandon neighborhood to Rosewood before the phone powered down near the intersection of Montgomery Avenue and South Ott Road, Gipson said in his opening statement.
Rowland's phone then tracked him leaving town via U.S. 378 to Sumter and then to New Zion, his hometown in Clarendon County. Josephson's body was found 2 miles from Rowland's family home, Gipson said.
Video evidence shows someone later trying to use Josephson's debit card multiple times, including at a Columbia bank trying to withdraw money from her account. Someone also tried selling Josephson's phone, which Gipson said video evidence will show was Rowland.
Rowland was scheduled to pick up a friend later that morning for work, and the friend noted blood in Rowland's car, Gipson said.
Bloody clothes and cleaning products were found in a large garbage bin behind the home of the friend Rowland planned to pick up for work, Gipson said A blade found in the same trash was consistent with Josephson's wounds, the prosecutor said.
Samantha Josephson. File/Provided
Rowland was arrested after being seen in Five Points later the same day driving a black sedan. He initially ran from Columbia Police officers after he was stopped, Gipson said.
In their opening statement, Rowland's attorneys said there is no evidence Rowland kidnapped and murdered Josephson.
She fought hard against her abductor, scratching and clawing as she was stabbed numerous times in the backseat of the car, said Alicia Goode, Rowland's public defender.
Despite that, Rowland's DNA wasn't found under Josephson's fingernails or on her body, Goode said. She also said that an investigator photographed Rowland within 24 hours after his arrest, and his skin showed no marks or cuts that would have been consistent with Josephson having fought him.
Josephson's boyfriend and roommate described in testimony their growing dread after Josephson didn't return to her apartment as expected.
They watched on their shared phone app as Josephson's phone moved in the opposite direction of her Main Street apartment before shutting off near a Rosewood home. They initially thought their friend's phone had been left in an Uber, but Josephson never returned to her apartment and the shoes she wore to work as a waitress at Liberty Taproom in the Vista remained by her door, though she was scheduled to work a shift that day, her roommate testified.
Her friends doubled back and eventually convinced someone at The Bird Dog to show them video that showed Josephson getting into the car. Desperate, her roommate got into Josephson's computer and saw an email where the actual Uber ride she ordered had been canceled.
The Uber driver Josephson ordered testified that he circled the area but never picked up or saw Josephson that night.
Nathaniel Rowland speaks to his family after the first day of testimony at his murder trial in Columbia. Rowland is accused of killing USC senior Samantha Josephson, who thought she was getting into Uber car in 2019. John A. Carlos II/Special to The Post and Courier
The defense rarely chose to follow up with questions to the prosecution's initial witnesses. Goode made a point from the outset to say no one from the defense would blame Josephson for what happened and lauded her as smart and funny with a bright future.
That said, Goode said she expected jurors to come to the same understanding after the evidence is presented in Rowland's trial.
"That it's not his fault, and he is not to blame for the death of Samantha Josephson," Goode said.
The initial potential jury pool of about 700 in the case was more than twice as large as normal due to the nature of the case and continuing COVID-19 protocols that result in more potential jurors being sent home.
Rowland had told Judge Clifton Newman on July 19 that his family had hired a new attorney and that he wasn't satisfied with his court-appointed team of public defenders. Rowland later said it had been a misunderstanding and the attorney he said he hired, Debra Moore, told Newman July 20 she hadn't been hired to represent Rowland.
Reach Stephen Fastenau at 803-365-3235. Follow him on Twitter @StephenFastenau.
Source: https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/news/phones-tell-story-after-usc-student-locked-in-car-she-thought-was-uber-before-her/article_57c0f5e8-e955-11eb-a5ca-179eb4a479d0.html
Post a Comment for "Man Given Funny Money Inxbox Myrtle Beach"