Found Deceased SC - Samantha Josephson, 21, Columbia, 29 March 2019 *Arrest*

[PommyMommy]

What was to stop her from calling 911 when she realized she was trapped in the car?

I have to think he put up with the charade he was the Uber until she realized she wasn't going home. Wasn't there something about her phone having a signal until she was in the Rosewood area (don't know where that was)

With him in the driver's seat, it would be ackward to try to shoot her while he's driving so he would have had to pull over and turn around. Even then, it's easy to hit 911 on your phone.

And gawd, even in a taxi I always have my phone in my hand ready to hit the emergency button

Rosewood is mentioned here:

“Her phone was tracked to a house in the Rosewood (neighborhood) but she wasn’t there when (her) friends checked in,” the friend told us."
Father Of Missing University of South Carolina Student Confirms Her Death

The Rosewood area is about 1.5 miles from Five Points. Google Maps

 

[Herat]

Wouldn't the Uber driver have texted her to say he had missed her?

That would have been within a few minutes of her getting into Rowland's vehicle. So she would have known there was a problem quickly ! Demanded Rowlands to stop. Child locks on. It wouldnt have taken her long to hit the Emergency Call button

 

[Heather30024]

Thanks for the map, sorry "intersection" wasn't the best word but I think everyone gets the idea of what I was trying to say.

Looking at the map and comparing it to the video, I can better see how close the spot Samantha was standing was to that corner where the Impala was stopped. Now I'm more convinced he probably spoke to her through the window in the car before he turned right and then into the parking spot.

I wonder where Edgar Castro got the video footage? He stated he is a close friend of Samantha. I wonder if there is any additional footage, specifically before what we have already seen.

It does appear that he got her attention in some form while he was sitting at the "intersection" because at first her back is turned to him, then she suddenly turns to look at the car, then he pulls around. My guess is he saw her waiting and asked, "Did you call Uber?" and she acknowledged and that's why she walked right up to the car. After my abduction I did quite a bit of research on "fake Ubers" and that's what they do -- look for people standing near the curb outside restaurants and bars. There were two guys and a girl together waiting for their Uber outside of a restaurant here in Atlanta and a fake Uber picked them up. Then the driver said he had to stop on the way to pick up a friend. That friend then held them all at gunpoint while they were all taken to another location and robbed.

 

[Herat]

Rosewood is mentioned here:

“Her phone was tracked to a house in the Rosewood (neighborhood) but she wasn’t there when (her) friends checked in,” the friend told us."
Father Of Missing University of South Carolina Student Confirms Her Death

The Rosewood area is about 1.5 miles from Five Points. Google Maps[/QUO
TE]

Her intended destination where her apt is at The Hub is in completely the opposite direction from Rosewood

 

[Trudie]

Many drivers use their private cars for this service, so a car seat for a child could be explained, I'd say.

.....and we never know what their car might be stocked with.

 

[kaen]

Where were the friends she was with that evening? Were they still in the bar? Didn't they check on her to make sure she got home within about 30 minutes of her leaving?

While I think the questions are good ones, I think her friends had been pretty responsive. She left and got an Uber--- normally people don't go missing from Ubers. If I had a friend who left a bar, was fairly sober, got an Uber and went home, I wouldn't think to call her at 2:30 am. I am sure they are all beating themselves up pretty bad about now. However, they would not have been able to do anything at 2:30 am except call her. I am sure the murderer left the area right quick. Unfortunately, this murderer probably subdued her by then or she would have had the opportunity to call 911.

Don't Uber drivers offer water and snacks? Maybe her water was spiked. I guess we will find out when the documents are released.

 

[Herat]

While I think the questions are good ones, I think her friends had been pretty responsive. She left and got an Uber--- normally people don't go missing from Ubers. If I had a friend who left a bar, was fairly sober, got an Uber and went home, I wouldn't think to call her at 2:30 am. I am sure they are all beating themselves up pretty bad about now. However, they would not have been able to do anything at 2:30 am except call her. I am sure the murderer left the area right quick. Unfortunately, this murderer probably subdued her by then or she would have had the opportunity to call 911.

Don't Uber drivers offer water and snacks? Maybe her water was spiked. I guess we will find out when the documents are released.

I'm saying her friends were, indeed, checking on her, but they weren't all standing out on the curb, like the large group of men were.

 

[Trudie]

I wanna know what kind of drug he was potentially using to think he could get away with such a brazen act.
Cameras & witnesses galore.
I honestly think he had a desire to pull off an abduction but
always stopped short of doing so.

 

[kaen]

I'm saying her friends were, indeed, checking on her, but they weren't all standing out on the curb, like the large group of men were.

When I had friends leave earlier I don't think we considered going out and waiting with the friend for a cab unless the person was highly intoxicated (in which case we would babysit and go home with the person). Some bars don't allow you to go in and out easily or if there is a line to get in if you go out you have to wait in line. The men were standing and hanging outside the bar--maybe smoking, maybe waiting to get in or waiting to go to the next bar. Last call at many bars is 3:00 am. So I am guessing the men weren't leaving the area.

 

[PommyMommy]

Her intended destination where her apt is at The Hub is in completely the opposite direction from Rosewood

Yep. It may just be that he went through Rosewood to catch Hwy 16 to Hwy 77. I dunno. Google Maps

 

[Heather30024]

Wouldn't the Uber driver have texted her to say he had missed her?

That would have been within a few minutes of her getting into Rowland's vehicle. So she would have known there was a problem quickly ! Demanded Rowlands to stop. Child locks on. It wouldnt have taken her long to hit the Emergency Call button

Honestly, it never occurred to me to call 911 because I was so hyperfocused on the immediate potential danger from guy sitting next to me in the back and shouting at them to stop the car. I suspect if I were sitting in the back alone I might have called 911. Which makes me wonder, like in another instance I mentioned with some other people that were picked up by a fake Uber, could he have said he needed to pick up another person and perhaps did so (pre-planned with them) ? I would think if it was just her, she would have known something was up at the first wrong turn, like I did, but if he said he needed to pick up another passenger, it could be a bit until she knew something was wrong. And once that other person was in there it's too late. I don't want to speculate too much, but just wondering if this is why she didn't call 911.

 

[Herat]

The comment about Rosewood is worded oddly to me:

The phone was tracked to a HOME IN ROSEWOOD, but she wasn't there when her friends checked on her. Could her friends track or tag her on their phones?

This sounds like the vehicle was at least stopped in front of a home. Was this where she was subdued, assaulted ? Did Rowlands stop there to pick up someone else?

Where was this in relationship to where Rowland's car was seen the next day? Who lives there and what is that area like? Is this where he hangs out? Is this where his female acquaintance hangs out?

 

[beatrixpotter]

Rosewood is mentioned here:

“Her phone was tracked to a house in the Rosewood (neighborhood) but she wasn’t there when (her) friends checked in,” the friend told us."
Father Of Missing University of South Carolina Student Confirms Her Death

The Rosewood area is about 1.5 miles from Five Points. Google Maps

And yet her phone was later found in his car. So whose house did it ping at? How did it get from their house to his car?

 

[Herat]

Yep. It may just be that he went through Rosewood to catch Hwy 16 to Hwy 77. I dunno. Google Maps

He seems quite familiar with the neighborhood, and not because he likes music or hangs out in college bars.

I had thought there was a gas station just by where she was standing, but I was wrong. There is just a series of interconnected parking spaces / driveways right in front of the big Five Points mural. I wonder if he just lingers by the side of the building waiting for a woman to stand out there on Harden St. The fact he was back there 24 hours later really makes me think he's been stalking this area for a while.

edited: There is no gas station adjacent to where she was standing.

 

[PommyMommy]

And yet her phone was later found in his car. So whose house did it ping at? How did it get from their house to his car?

We don't know whose house it was or if the house is in any way related other than he maybe pulled over there, but I don't think her phone left the vehicle. MOO

 

[Herat]

And yet her phone was later found in his car. So whose house did it ping at? How did it get from their house to his car?

We don't know it was actually IN the house. It could be the car was stopped outside and her phone was turned on /off.

Or maybe that's where the Uber's text was received....

I agree with PommyMommy, her phone never left the vehicle.

 

[kaen]

Yep. It may just be that he went through Rosewood to catch Hwy 16 to Hwy 77. I dunno. Google Maps

Very good point. The comment in the article about the phone being tracked to a home in Rosewood is attributed to a friend. We have no idea if the quote is accurate or if that is the last place that her phone pinged and was turned off after that.

 

[scmom]

Once he was on Rosewood Drive all he had to do was follow Rosewood to Devine St. Devine St. becomes Garners Ferry Rd and eventually 378. Straight to New Zion the back way.
Google Maps

 

[stmarysmead]

My daughter and her friends use “Where’s my Friend” app to track each other...and now my husband and I use it too. If the friends didn’t start looking until the next morning and they used this app, I’m wondering if that’s when the app showed the phone at that location. Did he go to a friends house...spend the night there? Park there?

If so, must be a-pretty close friend to risk taking a bloody car there.

 

[Herat]

I think he was just lurking in that big parking lot, waiting for a woman to do exactly what Sami did. He knew the EXACT most likely spot for a woman who had been in the bars to be standing to get her Uber ride home.

Google Maps

And his plan was always to drive to New Zion. This was never an attempted burglary. This was premeditated murder. He also knew where in New Zion to dump a body. She was 40 ft from a rarely-used obscure dirt road.

I sure hope LE can pick up his vehicle on security cameras or highway cams.

30 seconds later and she would have been safe in the Uber