Judge upholds life sentence for man convicted of murdering USC student in 2019

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – A district judge has denied the appeal of a man convicted of killing a University of South Carolina (USC) student after she thought she was getting into her Uber.

Nathaniel Rowland was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for the killing of Samantha Josephson, who was a senior at USC at the time of her murder.

In March 2019, Josephson called an Uber around 2 a.m. after spending a night out with friends in Five Points, a popular nightlife district in Columbia. Authorities organized a search after Josephson's friends reported her missing, only to realize the next morning that she had never returned home.

Officers learned that Josephson had gotten into Rowland's car, thinking it was her Uber. He activated the child safety locks in his car, preventing her from escaping.

After days of searching, turkey hunters found Josephson's body in a remote wooded area in Clarendon County. She had been stabbed 120 times.

Rowland was arrested after officers initiated a traffic stop. While searching his vehicle, they discovered marijuana, a rose gold iPhone and a keychain with a pink key ring. Officers also said they noticed blood stains, footprints on the windows and cleaning supplies scattered throughout the car.

After deliberating for just over an hour, a jury found Rowland guilty of kidnapping and murdering Josephson, as well as possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Rowland attempted to appeal the court's decision, arguing that the evidence obtained during the traffic stop should not have been presented to the court because law enforcement did not have reasonable grounds to believe that a traffic violation had occurred or that someone in the car had engaged in criminal activity. He also argued that certain expert testimony should have been suppressed as well.

The appeals court said that due to the smell of marijuana coming from the car, the fact that Rowland did not have a driver's license and the fact that he ran from the car on foot after the stop, there was reasonable suspicion to initiate the traffic stop.

The police officers who stopped the car matched the description of the vehicle that was the subject of a missing persons investigation two blocks from where Josephson was last seen. The court argued that this car “goes beyond the threshold of mere hunch or nonspecific suspicion.”

The court stated: “The jury was presented with an avalanche of direct and circumstantial evidence that [Rowland] and Josephson were arrested together at the time of the kidnapping and murder,” and argued that even if there was evidence that had been mistakenly admitted, “such an error would be harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of his guilt presented by the State at trial.”

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