Prosecutor says Rowland stabbed USC student ‘more than 100 times’ after she got in car

University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson was stabbed more than 100 times by defendant Nathaniel Rowland, prosecutor Byron Gipson told a Richland County jury on Tuesday afternoon in his opening statement laying out the state’s case.

After Josephson got into a car in Five Points she mistakenly thought was another vehicle on March 29, 2019, she was “stabbed multiple times, throughout her feet, throughout her torso, throughout her face, her neck, her hands,” said Gipson, the 5th Judicial Circuit Solicitor who is leading a team of assistant prosecutors.

Josephson, 21, a senior at USC had been celebrating her upcoming graduation with friends in Five Points, Gipson said, and looking forward to a new chapter in their lives. Josephson was headed to law school in New Jersey on a scholarship.

“They had their eyes firmly fixed on the future and their love for each other,” Gipson said.

But Rowland, who had been circling the Five Points block numerous times in his black 2017 Chevrolet Impala, had his eyes “transfixed” on Josephson and let her get in his car — she apparently thought it was the rideshare Uber — and then later “dumped” her body in a Clarendon County woods, Gipson told the jury.

Josephson was unable to escape from the car’s back seat, Gipson said. “Once she got in, she couldn’t get out.”

During his 20-minute opening, Gipson also gave a preview of evidence in the case that has previously not been disclosed.

Josephson shared a social media tracking app with a friend, Gipson said, and that friend’s app showed that after Josephson left the Five Points nightclub area, the vehicle she was in traveled through the nearby Shandon and Rosewood neighborhoods — areas in Columbia that presumably were not in the direction of Josephson’s apartment.

Evidence will show, Gipson continued, that cell phone tracking data from Rowland’s cell phone “tracked together” on the car ride from Five Points through Shandon and Rosewood.

The assertion that police were able to gather Josephson’s location data from a friend’s cell phone had not previously been made public. Cell phone GPS location data is an investigative tool used in many criminal cases.

After Josephson’s cell phone cut off, Rowland’s cell phone location data showed him traveling to Clarendon County to a rural area called New Zion, near his childhood home, Gipson said.

The prosecution will also present video evidence showing that Josephson’s debit card was used unsuccessfully to try to get money from ATMs, Gipson said.

Other upcoming evidence, Gipson said:

▪ Rowland tried unsuccessfully to sell Josephson’s cell phone.

▪ Rowland was late to pick up a friend named Maria the next morning. When she got in his car, she asked him about the blood in the back seat.

▪ DNA analysis and fingerprints will show that Josephson was in Rowland’s car.

▪ An expert will testify that a “knife-bladed tool” linked to Rowland makes cuts that match the wounds on Josephson’s body

Defense tells jury that Rowland is innocent

In the defense’s opening statement on Rowland’s behalf, Richland County public defender Alicia Goode told the jury that Rowland is innocent of the crimes he’s charged with.

In all the evidence gathered at the various crime scenes, Goode said, there was no DNA found on Josephson’s body or clothes that specifically links Rowland to her killing.

Instead, Goode told the jury, there is evidence that indicates other, unnamed people may have touched Rowland.

“Nathaniel’s DNA is not there but someone’s else’s is ... multiple someones,” said Goode, who spoke for 15 minutes.

“Ladies and gentlemen, There is zero evidence that Nathaniel Rowland is the one who kidnapped and killed Samantha Josephson,” said Goode, who urged jurors to keep an open mind. “Do not jump to conclusions about this case.”

Goode also told the jurors they will never hear the defense say a bad word about Josephson and they will not try to “blame the victim.”

Josephson was “smart, motivated and funny … and I submit to you, one heck of a fighter,” Goode told the jury.

The case has been highly publicized but ”You are the first 12 people who will have all the information. … Do not jump to conclusions about this case,” Goode said.

Jury selection takes day and a half

Earlier Tuesday, a jury of seven women and five men was chosen shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday in the trial.

While an exact demographic breakdown was not immediately available, the jury appears diverse. Of the 12 jurors, at least five are Black, six appeared to be white, and one Hispanic. Apparent ages ranged from early 20s to 60s.

Tuesday was the second day of the murder trial, which is being overseen by Judge Clifton Newman. On Monday, Newman and attorneys chipped away at a pool of 1,000 potential jurors. By Tuesday morning, roughly 100 remained. When Newman asked potential jurors who had heard about the case, which made international news in 2019, since yesterday, roughly 20 jurors stood.

Also on Monday, Rowland had initially sought to fire the three public defenders he had for the last two years, but eventually reversed his decision by the end of the day.

Rowland was arrested in late March 2019, a day after Josephson’s body was found in a field in Clarendon County.

Josephson’s killing in 2019 received national publicity. Not only was it every parent’s nightmare about their child in college, it involved the name of the prominent rideshare chain Uber and the controversial but popular Five Points nightclub neighborhood.

Reflecting widespread interest in the case, Court TV — a national criminal trial livestreaming network — has its cameras in the courtroom to cover “State v. Rowland,” as the case is known. “A college student is killed after getting into the wrong car,” a crawler headline on the Court TV’s website said about the case on Monday.

Also Tuesday morning, Columbia area attorney Debra Moore appeared in court and told presiding Judge Newman she is not representing Rowland. On Monday, Rowland surprised the judge by telling him he had retained Moore.

But Rowland later said he had mistakenly believed his family had hired Moore.