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

[happyday]

So I know they said there was an acquaintance in the car when he was caught but not in the car when Samantha was kidnapped. Do we know then for sure if he was alone when he picked her up? I honestly couldn’t tell if someone was in the passenger seat or not in the video. It makes more sense to me if he were alone, but I didn’t know if that has been clarified.

 

[Seattle1]

Thanks. There was some confusion where I read he had another "fare" in the car with him when he picked her up.

It was first reported that way in media, and later corrected at end of broadcast.

 

[Seattle1]

A timeline of how the Samantha Josephson case unfolded

[...]

The death of Samantha Josephson rattled Columbia. The 21-year-old University of South Carolina student was abducted around 2 a.m. outside a bar in Five Points, police said. Here’s how the case unfolded.

Thursday evening: Josephson and a group of friends went to Five Points

After 1 a.m. Friday: She was last seen by her friends near the 700 block of Harden Street.

2:09 a.m. Friday: Surveillance video show Josephson getting into a black Chevrolet Impala near 715 Harden St. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said investigators believe that Josephson thought the car was the Uber she called.

About 1:30 p.m. Friday: Columbia Police Department received a call from the student housing complex the Hub, on Main Street. Friends of Josephson reported her missing to police.

About 3:30 p.m. Friday: Columbia police started their missing person investigation. At about the same time, the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Department was called about a body found on a dirt road in a rural area near the town of New Zion. Based on clothing and the body’s description, police determined the body was likely Josephson’s.


After reviewing security footage of Josephson getting into the black Chevrolet Impala, police begin looking for the car.

Around 8:45 p.m. on Friday: Columbia Police Department tweeted a picture of Josephson and asked for the public’s help locating her. Officers worked through the evening to find out what happened to Josephson before she got into the car.


Around 3 a.m. Saturday: A Columbia police officer observed a matching Impala just blocks away from Five Points, Holbrook said. The officer pulled the vehicle over, and the driver fled on foot but was caught. Blood was found in the car, Holbrook later said. The driver, Nathaniel David Rowland, 24, was arrested.

Around 5 a.m on Saturday: Josephson’s father, Seymour Josephson, posted on social media that his daughter “is no longer with us but she will not be forgotten.”

10:30 a.m. Saturday: University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides released a statement about Josephson’s death. “Our prayers are with the family and friends of Samantha Josephson following the devastating news of her death.”

6:45 p.m.: Holbrook said Rowland would be charged with kidnapping and murder after testing matched the blood found in the vehicle to Josephson. Bleach, wipes, and germicide were also found in the car, Holbrook said.

 

[Gardenista]

 

[margarita25]

The PD said on twitter the warrants would be on the SLED website once they have been served. Anybody know where to look on their website?

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division

Look under the News tab. That's where the press releases are.

“SLED”...reminds me of our Late Great @Foxfire...

(Lemme check something...something’s ringing a bell with “SLED”..)

ETA.
Well, well, well, here’s what our buddy Foxy has to say about SLED:

“HCPD/SLED has absolutely the worse Media Management strategy that I have ever witnessed in a missing/murdered person investigation.
Public Safety is everyone's job.

'Without safety for our family, friends, and loved ones, we have nothing'...”

SC - Heather Elvis, 20, Myrtle Beach, 18 Dec 2013 - #8
January 18, 2014.
-Foxfire

(Wow!! Thanks Foxy! :heart: Good to know! Hopefully they have improved this! Miss ya and love ya buddy!

Longtime WS'er, FOXFIRE, has passed away
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/325542/ )

 

[Herat]

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.

As awful a thought as this it, it is one plausible explanation as to why he'd pull over like that

 

[StarryStarryNight]

His plan. So many never found and the perp not caught - this one is rare.

Yes. I’m guessing this may have been the fate of Dail Dinwiddie. Unfortunately hunters haven’t found her yet. Thousands and thousands of acres of remote places like this in SC.

 

[Herat]

A timeline of how the Samantha Josephson case unfolded
6:45 p.m.: Holbrook said Rowland would be charged with kidnapping and murder after testing matched the blood found in the vehicle to Josephson. Bleach, wipes, and germicide were also found in the car, Holbrook said.

They make no comments about a weapon or bullet casings. We don't yet know the manner of her murder. The blood inside the car suggests, to me, she was assaulted inside the vehicle. So he would have had to get out of the driver's seat and open one of the back door, thus unlocking the back doors.

He wouldn't have shot her inside his own vehicle. And the "large amount of blood in the trunk" implies she was possibly still alive and bleeding while he drove that 90 minutes to Black Bottom Road.

Of course, we haven't yet heard about what LE found at the scene where the body was dumped. All in all, I don't think he shot her. MOO, MOO, MOO

I understand the theory that he was cruising Five Points to pick up a hooker, but looking at the scene outside the bar on the security video, she seems obviously like a college student, not a prostitute.

And why, why was he back at Five Points 24 hours later. Was his "female companion" in the car when he was arrested a prostitute?

He could have just told Sami there was a mistake and let her out.

Why, why, why let it get out of hand like this?

 

[Herat]

In the video, it looks to me like a young man in a plaid shirt with lighter hair is talking on a phone, when he stops and kind of gives the car a long glance. It looks like something feels wrong to him but he can't put his finger on it so he doesn't feel he can/should intervene. I don't know that it would have helped in this case, since by all appearances she got in the car willingly, but I think bystander training regarding when it's appropriate to intervene in situations would be great for this age group.

Well, the car is driving into a handicapped spot and does not have a disabled tag

 

[Herat]

I wonder if he was in Atlanta the night of Friday, September 8, 2017, or if he was displaced by Irma, because many people came to Atlanta after the hurricane temporarily. I ended up in a fake Uber about 2am leaving the area of the Braves game where there is heavy Uber activity. When I saw his hair, cheekbones and beard, it reminded me of the driver. There was a guy sitting in the back that offered to "share his ride". That was part of the con to make it look like an Uber. So I popped in the back and told the driver I was going to the Hampton Inn at the intersection. But then instead of stopping at my hotel they turned the corner and hopped onto I-285 East with me.

It may not be the same guy, but the general setting is similar (although it would seem that anyone pulling that stunt would choose similar settings).

But also, my abduction was "interesting" in that it seemed they had thought some parts out and had a game plan, but in other ways it seemed somewhat amateurish.

Once I realized what was happening, I started going off on them in my most authoritative voice that they "BETTER STOP THIS %#&@ CAR RIGHT NOW!!!" And they both absolutely just ignored me. Neither one seemed surprised that I was flipping out, and neither one said a single word nor even looked in my direction. It was like they had anticipated that whoever they took was going to start freaking out, and they agreed that they would just ignore her so as not to escalate it further, or perhaps hope she runs out of steam and become weepy and compliant? I can't say what the expectation was but the fact that neither one said a word and sat there like I wasn't even in the car even though I was shouting at the top of my lungs...seemed planned.

What I think they didn't plan for was abducting a former police officer. After about a minute and a half of having my demands completely ignored, I jacked the guy up that was sitting next to me in the back seat into a chicken wing and pinned him against his door. At that point, I finally got a verbal response from him: "YOU'RE BEING A *****!!!!" But it was even the way he said it, like a 16-year-old "shout-whining" at his mom for not letting him go to the party on a Friday night! Like I had spoiled his big plans for the evening! That really struck me, even in the moment. It was so absurd then, and despite the trauma I still experience, it's still so absurd to me now that it's actually laughable.

Anyway, at this point, the driver, who never did say a word start-to-finish, must have become aware that things were spiraling out of control in the back and he pulled off the next exit and I jumped out of the car and ran to a nearby Waffle House. I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see a Waffle House in my whole life.

Point is, there were no child locks on, and there was no weapon presented to subdue me (thank God!). IF (and this is a big "if") this is the same guy, maybe he learned from his experience with me and (God forbid) with others, and started using child locks. And as someone suggested that Samantha may have been shot, started trying to subdue with a gun and she fought and he shot her. But clearly doesn't quite know how to clean up after that, despite his effort with the bleach bottle. Still seems a bit amateurish overall. Over a year and a half from my experience, I can see the "clowns" I dealt with upping their game a little bit but still not quite being professionals yet.

While I may have done my best to appear brave to them, I was terrified and fairly confident that I was going to end up in a dumpster before sunrise. I'm glad that I didn't end up as another thread on this site. But I'm haunted by what happened to Samantha because I know what that mind-bending desperate fear feels like when it washes over you the moment you realize you're being abducted, and I'm devastated that she couldn't escape.

You are so resourceful and amazing to have called on your strength to get you out of there.

This makes me want to stay in my small Uber-less town and stay in my house with the alarm on.

It's getting to be triggering.... Aack

 

[cobalt sky]

Here is the video.
*modsnip*

RSBM

The question I have is, what made him take a right turn at the intersection and then pull into that parking spot close to where Samantha was waiting? Was it really just dumb luck on his part that he happened to choose that exact spot where a beautiful young woman just so happened to be waiting for an Uber and literally ran up and jumped into his car?

The Impala appeared to be waiting at the intersection before turning right. What I'm wondering is, while he was at the intersection, if he saw her there standing alone and if he had rolled down his window and called out to her to ask if she was waiting for an Uber. This could have happened before what we see on the video. Because then he takes the right turn after the motorcycle goes by and pulls in and Samantha runs up to his car and is opening the door before he even comes to a complete stop. How did she even know that was HER Uber, or even an Uber at all? It doesn't appear that there was any communication between them before she just hopped on in. You can see the glare off of the passenger side window glass showing the window was 100% up when he pulled in so he couldn't have been communicating with her then. But possibly earlier while he was idling there at the intersection?

I wish we knew the details of the Uber that was originally supposed to pick her up. Was it coincidentally a similar make, model, and color, with a similar driver?

 

[Herat]

RSBM

The question I have is, what made him take a right turn at the intersection and pull into the lot, then pull into that parking spot close to where Samantha was waiting? Was it really just dumb luck on his part that he happened to choose that exact spot where a beautiful young woman just so happened to be waiting for an Uber and literally ran up and jumped into his car?

The Impala appeared to be waiting at the intersection before turning right. What I'm wondering is, while he was at the intersection, if he saw her there standing alone and if he had rolled down his window and called out to her to ask if she was waiting for an Uber. This could have happened before what we see on the video. Because then he takes the right turn after the motorcycle goes by and pulls in and Samantha runs up to his car and is opening the door before he even comes to a complete stop. How did she even know that was HER Uber, or even an Uber at all? It doesn't appear that there was any communication between them before she just hopped on in. You can see the glare off of the passenger side window glass showing the window was 100% up when he pulled in so he couldn't have been communicating with her then. But possibly earlier while he was idling there at the intersection?

I wish we knew the details of the Uber that was originally supposed to pick her up. Was it coincidentally a similar make, model, and color, with a similar driver?

Great observation. She is standing on a pretty prime piece of real estate at 2 am. She just doesn't hesitate to open the rear door and get in

What if he asked " are you lookin' for a ride" meaning "are you looking for a date" but she thought he meant "are you waiting for your Uber"?

But this isn't the kind of place a prostitute looking for a Carolina local hangs out - a hooker there would be looking for those college boys....

 

[insearchoflight]

Heartbreaking and terrifying. This could happen anywhere. I once got into a car I thought was my Uber (intoxicated). Luckily the man took me straight home no questions asked. I was lucky

RIP poor Samantha

 

[Herat]

I did too. One for me and my 25 year old daughter who Uber’s quite a bit and is 2500 miles away from under my protective momma helicopter wings (sometimes I think it’s harder to be a mom to young teen/adult children vs when they are little )

Also some pepper spray

I can see her text to me now when she gets the package...
“mom, you have got to take a break from Webseluths!”
But thank you <3”

These last several weeks have been just too many of these precious young women. Libby, Jassy, Savannah, Samantha
Heartbreaking, senseless, horrific

Add lovely Ruth in Ireland who drowned walking away from the group on a bachlorette party, no foul play it seems.

 

[Herat]

Heartbreaking and terrifying. This could happen anywhere. I once got into a car I thought was my Uber (intoxicated). Luckily the man took me straight home no questions asked. I was lucky

RIP poor Samantha

That was a standup guy. You were very lucky, indeed. I'm glad it turned out OK

 

[cobalt sky]

Great observation. She is standing on a pretty prime piece of real estate at 2 am. She just doesn't hesitate to open the rear door and get in

What if he asked " are you lookin' for a ride" meaning "are you looking for a date" but she thought he meant "are you waiting for your Uber"?

But this isn't the kind of place a prostitute looking for a Carolina local hangs out - a hooker there would be looking for those college boys....

Hmmm I don't know that he thought she was a prostitute, but who really knows what was going through his mind, anything is possible I guess. Maybe if he was out prowling for a victim, or even if he wasn't and she just caught his eye and in the wrong place at the wrong time...and he called out to her taking a chance she was waiting for an Uber .

 

[ValhallaWolves]

RSBM

The question I have is, what made him take a right turn at the intersection and pull into the lot, then pull into that parking spot close to where Samantha was waiting? Was it really just dumb luck on his part that he happened to choose that exact spot where a beautiful young woman just so happened to be waiting for an Uber and literally ran up and jumped into his car?

The Impala appeared to be waiting at the intersection before turning right. What I'm wondering is, while he was at the intersection, if he saw her there standing alone and if he had rolled down his window and called out to her to ask if she was waiting for an Uber. This could have happened before what we see on the video. Because then he takes the right turn after the motorcycle goes by and pulls in and Samantha runs up to his car and is opening the door before he even comes to a complete stop. How did she even know that was HER Uber, or even an Uber at all? It doesn't appear that there was any communication between them before she just hopped on in. You can see the glare off of the passenger side window glass showing the window was 100% up when he pulled in so he couldn't have been communicating with her then. But possibly earlier while he was idling there at the intersection?

I wish we knew the details of the Uber that was originally supposed to pick her up. Was it coincidentally a similar make, model, and color, with a similar driver?

This makes the the most sense I think. He easily could have rolled down his window and asked if she was waiting on an Uber. Since Ubers are paid before you ride, she would have just thought he was making sure he had the right passenger since the sidewalk was so crowded. The poor girl never would have thought twice.

Ugh my heart is just sick.

 

[KatzEye]

The Impala appeared to be waiting at the intersection before turning right. What I'm wondering is, while he was at the intersection, if he saw her there standing alone and if he had rolled down his window and called out to her to ask if she was waiting for an Uber.

Your question provoked some Google Maps searching. That "intersection" is actually the entrance/exit to a parking lot next to a block of businesses. So he was turning right out of a parking lot - which he may have been cutting through or maybe he had been to one of the businesses and was parked there. Sure hope there is some video of that parking lot.

Google Maps

The green building on the end is a place called Natural Vibrations. The next business to the left is Bird Dog Bar, where Samantha was leaving. That section of road is divided by a median and is one-way, so he could only turn right.

Now my question is what was he doing in that parking lot. Lurking ? (speculation on my part) And yes, I believe it's possible that he may have rolled the window down and asked if she was waiting for a ride.

All just MOO and all that.

 

[cobalt sky]

Your question provoked some Google Maps searching. That "intersection" is actually the entrance/exit to a parking lot next to a block of businesses. So he was turning right out of a parking lot - which he may have been cutting through or maybe he had been to one of the businesses and was parked there. Sure hope there is some video of that parking lot.

Google Maps

The green building on the end is a place called Natural Vibrations. The next business to the left is Bird Dog Bar, where Samantha was leaving. That section of road is divided by a median and is one-way, so he could only turn right.

Now my question is what was he doing in that parking lot. Lurking ? (speculation on my part) And yes, I believe it's possible that he may have rolled the window down and asked if she was waiting for a ride.

All just MOO and all that.

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.

 

[Seattle1]

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.

From the coverage/angle, I'd say it's surveillance from Natural Vibrations. Watching is a real wake up call for me.