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

[oceanstarryeyes]

My guess is that it wasn’t planned in any way. I would bet green money that he stupidly thought she was a prostitute and turned murderously angry when she wouldn’t do what he expected of her.

She didn’t look like a “prostitute“ and there was too many people her age standing around for a “prostitute” to be standing there.

 

[Herat]

She didn’t look like a “prostitute“ and there was too many people her age standing around for a “prostitute” to be standing there.

I also think he hangs around Five Points, maybe living nearby or his gf & baby live nearby. He likely sees what are obviously coeds standing in that exact spot every night as the bars close and they clearly are not prostitutes, they are just waiting for their ride-share rides. I’m sure he can tell the difference

 

[Beekarina]

It is horribly scary.
Just sayin’, if I’m intoxicated, I’d never remember the “to do” list.

Me either. I'm also well past the age of needing a ride because I'm out drinking at 2 or 3 am, but I remember those days, and think these services should be safer.

 

[bhamgal]

From Guardian news article:

“The first dark car Josephson went up to was not her ride, said her father, Seymour Josephson. So she jumped into a similar-looking car.”

This leads me to believe that the surveillance footage is longer and there was another car. If that is the case, then the perp likely saw that happen from the Exxon gas station where he pulls around from.

Samantha Josephson murder: student's father vows to boost ridesharing safety

 

[Trudie]

I also think he hangs around Five Points, maybe living nearby or his gf & baby live nearby. He likely sees what are obviously coeds standing in that exact spot every night as the bars close and they clearly are not prostitutes, they are just waiting for their ride-share rides. I’m sure he can tell the difference

@Herat is it possible he was under the influence, pullled up to pick up the woman (the one in his car at precisely the same time the next night) then a stunning woman hops in & he sped off? Of course if this is what happened, he left his friend w/o a ride. This def’ makes sense as to why he was found right back there the next night.
Maybe he lingered in lot next door until he saw a woman he thought to be his friend? Idk
Jmo

 

[MsBetsy]

Which really begs the question of why he would risk what is obviously his most valuable posession- his shiny black Impala , by first of all locking someone in it and risk having them break the handles or rip the lining and then attacking them with a very sharp object, enough to stain the carpets and upholstry with blood, and risk slashing the upholstry.

Maybe the urge to kill was stronger than his concern for his car.
From what we know so far this sounds like a chaotic, frenzied attack. It sounds like they found blood all throughout the car. There were multiple blunt force wounds, and he didn't bother to hide the body or clean up much. He still had not gotten rid of the phone when he was pulled over.
Either he is an inexperienced killer, or he went into a rage and lost control, or both.
I doubt he spent much time thinking about the consequences. Jmo

 

[Trudie]

Me either. I'm also well past the age of needing a ride because I'm out drinking at 2 or 3 am, but I remember those days, and think these services should be safer.

Also, we have a lot more intoxicated drivers on the roads compared to LE. I live near a huge bar, every night at closing time I see LE. But he can only stop one vehicle. The rest drive past him, likely white knuckling the wheel, breathing a sigh of relief.
We will never know if the murderer was under the influence of alcohol when he drove off with Samantha.
I’m glad there appears to be a lot of evidence to prevent his attorney from saying “he didn’t abduct her, she got in his car, here’s video.”

 

[EmMomma]

My guess is that it wasn’t planned in any way. I would bet green money that he stupidly thought she was a prostitute and turned murderously angry when she wouldn’t do what he expected of her.

Five Points isn’t the place to pick up a hooker.

 

[Hatfield]

I also think he hangs around Five Points, maybe living nearby or his gf & baby live nearby. He likely sees what are obviously coeds standing in that exact spot every night as the bars close and they clearly are not prostitutes, they are just waiting for their ride-share rides. I’m sure he can tell the difference

IMO
Yeah, I have tried to think of any possibility where the driver somehow got into an unplanned altercation with her and I keep coming back to that he should have immediately called 911 if it was an unexpected fight where he felt like he was defending himself. Since he took steps to hide the body and never called LE right when it happened, it all points to him being the agressor and doing this on purpose. If it was out of character of him to do this sort of thing then maybe he himself was on some stronger drugs that pushed him over the edge to commit this terrible act.

It all is pointing to him being responsible and doing this on purpose.

The only thing I could come up with to the contrary would have required him to call LE immediately after and that didnt happen. Like I thought of a crazy possibility that he forgot the child safety locks were on in the back and she panicked and started fighting with him to get out and he freaks out and fights back. But the problem with that is if something even remotely close to that happened then you are expected to immediately call LE and call an ambulance if you want any hope of claiming self defense.

Since he did neither and took steps to hide the crime, then it all points to his guilt.

JMO of course.

 

[mks762]

From Guardian news article:

“The first dark car Josephson went up to was not her ride, said her father, Seymour Josephson. So she jumped into a similar-looking car.”

This leads me to believe that the surveillance footage is longer and there was another car. If that is the case, then the perp likely saw that happen from the Exxon gas station where he pulls around from.

Samantha Josephson murder: student's father vows to boost ridesharing safety

I’ve seen this referenced twice so I just wanted to pop in and say it looks like they tore the Exxon station down and now it’s a parking lot- where the murderer, whatever his name is, pulled out from in the video. Just don’t want people getting confused regarding an Exxon- used to be there, isn’t there anymore.

 

[ilovechili]

From Guardian news article:

“The first dark car Josephson went up to was not her ride, said her father, Seymour Josephson. So she jumped into a similar-looking car.”

This leads me to believe that the surveillance footage is longer and there was another car. If that is the case, then the perp likely saw that happen from the Exxon gas station where he pulls around from.

Samantha Josephson murder: student's father vows to boost ridesharing safety

I caught it was the second one too. Good point of him possibly seeing that occur. She was also probably fairly certain if the first one was not hers then the next dark car was. In the CNN video it said this is an Uber area both waiting and parking...

 

[Herat]

So he was intentionally parked in an Uber waiting area?

 

[Trudie]

I’ve seen this referenced twice so I just wanted to pop in and say it looks like they tore the Exxon station down and now it’s a parking lot- where the murderer, whatever his name is, pulled out from in the video. Just don’t want people getting confused regarding an Exxon- used to be there, isn’t there anymore.

I really think we might learn his passenger at time of his arrest is the one that’s employed in the area & he often parked in the old Exxon lot.
Perhaps this was a crime of opportunity.
Samantha mistakenly gets in, instead of screaming “get out of my car”, he thinks “nice”, and goes from there.
After thinking of different scenarios, if his mission was to abduct, he could have found someone walking, perhaps alone, without being on camera with witnesses surrounding him.
Jmo

 

[Herat]

Re: Autopsy findings

Multiple sharp wounds on head, neck, face, upper body, leg, foot

The leg & foot wounds sound like defensive wounds with her leg up and foot facing him trying to ward him off

The head and face wounds can be out of control wounds suggesting loss of emotional control by the assailant. They are not the wounds of an efficiant experienced killer.

Sounds like he lost emotional control of the situation.

He had the chance to just let her go as if there was an Uber mixup, but he didn’t: He attacked her and she defended herself. And it sounds like he lost control

 

[Beekarina]

Her poor parents having video of her getting into that car. I can't imagine.

 

[cobalt sky]

From Guardian news article:

“The first dark car Josephson went up to was not her ride, said her father, Seymour Josephson. So she jumped into a similar-looking car.”

This leads me to believe that the surveillance footage is longer and there was another car. If that is the case, then the perp likely saw that happen from the Exxon gas station where he pulls around from.

Samantha Josephson murder: student's father vows to boost ridesharing safety

From the article:

"The father of a University of South Carolina student who police say was kidnapped and killed after she got into the wrong car thinking it was her Uber has promised to dedicate his life to improving the safety of ridesharing services"

My heart goes out to this grieving father and I respect his commitment to wanting to make sure something like this never happens to anyone else. But the truth is that Uber is not in any way responsible for what happened to Samantha. They have clear safety guidelines that are also pretty much common sense. And Nathaniel was not an Uber driver. I think the real core issue is that young people are sometimes very naive and trusting...add a few drinks which might affect their thinking and there you have the potential for disaster. Nathaniel is a monster who took advantage of a vulnerable young woman who let her guard down. Safety improvements to ridesharing services will not make any difference at all if women do not keep their guard up at all times especially when getting in a stranger's car, especially when they're alone!! Ridesharing services cannot control what predators might be laying in wait, disguising themselves as Uber/Lyft drivers, or just waiting for a woman to jump right in the car as seems the situation with Samantha. Unless there is more to the story that we don't know about yet. IMO.

 

[Herat]

I wonder if she tried to attack him, her in the back seat- him in the front.

How would he be able to control her? He’d have to stop the car and get out. Could she have used the baby seat as a shield?

It’s just so awful to think about. She’s a smart, smart girl, likely foughtg extremely hard against him.

 

[Herat]

From the article:

"The father of a University of South Carolina student who police say was kidnapped and killed after she got into the wrong car thinking it was her Uber has promised to dedicate his life to improving the safety of ridesharing services"

My heart goes out to this grieving father and I respect his commitment to wanting to make sure something like this never happens to anyone else. But the truth is that Uber is not in any way responsible for what happened to Samantha. They have clear safety guidelines that are also pretty much common sense. And Nathaniel was not an Uber driver. I think the real core issue is that young people are sometimes very naive and trusting...add a few drinks which might affect their thinking and there you have the potential for disaster. Nathaniel is a monster who took advantage of a vulnerable young woman who let her guard down. Safety improvements to ridesharing services will not make any difference at all if women do not keep their guard up at all times especially when getting in a stranger's car, especially when they're alone!! Ridesharing services cannot control what predators might be laying in wait, disguising themselves as Uber/Lyft drivers, or just waiting for a woman to jump right in the car as seems the situation with Samantha. Unless there is more to the story that we don't know about yet. IMO.

If the comment about the first dark car is to be taken as a specific detail, then she DID exercise some reasonable caution if the first vehicle that came by did not match the Uber description given of a black vehicle. She is very quick to get into Rowlands ‘ vehicle and it seems to me she has a moment of hesitation after the door is open and her head is bent into the car, as if she is asking a question.

She could have asked “Are you the Uber for Sami?” or “ Are you Jeff?”and have him answer affirmatively instead of waiting for him to give her name.

 

[SteveP]

Maybe the urge to kill was stronger than his concern for his car.
From what we know so far this sounds like a chaotic, frenzied attack. It sounds like they found blood all throughout the car. There were multiple blunt force wounds, and he didn't bother to hide the body or clean up much. He still had not gotten rid of the phone when he was pulled over.
Either he is an inexperienced killer, or he went into a rage and lost control, or both.
I doubt he spent much time thinking about the consequences. Jmo

BBM....There were multiple SHARP wounds. Blunt force wounds were not mentioned, IIRC. She was apparently stabbed or cut repeatedly, not so much beaten. I so hope she was able to fight back and cause him some serious pain before she passed. JMO

 

[borndem]

I just saw her obit -- please excuse if it is a repeat.
She was 21 years old, as we know.
She was 21 years old. SMH.

Samantha Josephson

Samantha L. Josephson ROBBINSVILLE Samantha L. Josephson, 21, passed away Friday March 29, 2019. Born in Princeton, Samantha was a student at The University of South Carolina majoring in political science. She would have graduated in June and planned to attend Drexel University School of Law. [...] Funeral services are at 12 noon Wednesday, April 3, at Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road East, Princeton Junction, NJ.

View Samantha Josephson's Obituary and express your condolences