Student killed after taking car she mistook for Uber victim of ‘heinous’ acts, prosecutor says

A college student suffered “heinous, cruel and malicious acts” as she was kidnapped and murdered two years ago by a man she mistook for her Uber driver, a South Carolina prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Samantha Josephson was out with her friends, just months short of graduating from the University of South Carolina, before she was allegedly killed by Nathaniel Rowland on March 29, 2019, authorities said.

Josephson, a 21-year-old native of Robbinsville, New Jersey, was in Columbia’s Five Points entertainment district when she got into Rowland’s black Chevrolet Impala, believing that it was her ride home.

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson told jurors that they’ll be shown surveillance footage, cell phone tracking data, the murder weapon and other incriminating evidence that’ll lead to a finding of Rowland’s guilt.

“It’s those intentional deliberate, heinous, cruel and malicious acts that Nathaniel David Rowland has been indicted for kidnapping Samantha Josephson. He’s been indicted for murdering of Samantha Josephson,” Gipson said.

“And he’s been indicted for possession of a weapon from the commission of a violent crime. And at the appropriate time, we’ll ask that you return verdicts on guilty on each one of those counts.”

April 1, 201901:16

Gipson painted an alternately bright and sinister picture of the scene — of Josephson celebrating the end of school and of the defendant allegedly lying in wait.

“They had their eyes firmly fixed on their futures and their eyes firmly fixed on their love for one another,” Gipson said of the victim and her friends.

“But what they didn’t realize, what they could never realize is that the defendant, Nathaniel David Rowland had his eyes firmly fixed on Samantha Josephson. He had his eyes on Ms. Josephson as she walked outside the Bird Dog Lounge in Five Points alone, as she walked outside, as she had ordered an Uber ride, alone.”

And once she got inside the car there was no way out, as the child locks were activated and the doors could only be opened from the outside, the prosecutor said.

Her blood and cellphone were found in Rowland’s vehicle after the student’s body was discovered in woods off a dirt road in Clarendon County about 65 miles away, officials said. She had wounds to her head, neck, face, upper body, leg and foot.

But defense lawyer Tracy Pinnock on Tuesday urged jurors to keep an open mind and promised to show them that an army of crime-scene investigators didn’t find any DNA evidence linking her client to Josephson’s slaying.

“Ladies and gentlemen I want you to hear this number again, and that is zero,” Pinnock said. “That’s the amount of DNA on Samantha Josephson’s body that matches Nathaniel Rowland. Zero. It’s not on her clothing, it’s not under her ripped and town finger nails, it’s not on her ankles.”

Josephson was scheduled to graduate from USC in May, 2019, before going to law school.

If convicted, Rowland could face up to life in prison without parole. He’s been held in the Richland County jail since his 2019 arrest.

Josephson’s death drew national attention to ride-hail safety and spurred changes within the industry, including more prominent displays of driver license plates and drivers having to say the name of their passenger before they travel.