Death in the Dorms Season 1: Episode 5: Samantha Josephson

Summary

Death in the Dorms: Season 1, Episode 5 – Samantha Josephson

Introduction

In this poignant and gripping episode of ABC News' 20/20, titled Death in the Dorms: Samantha Josephson, host Deborah Roberts delves into the harrowing true crime story of Samantha Josephson, a promising University of South Carolina senior whose life was tragically cut short. The episode meticulously chronicles Samantha's background, the night she disappeared, the ensuing investigation, her eventual murder, and the legislative changes that followed her untimely death.

Samantha Josephson: A Bright Future

The episode opens with heartfelt tributes from Samantha's family and friends, painting a vivid picture of a vibrant young woman with a promising future. Samantha, born on August 13, 1997, was a dedicated student and aspiring lawyer with dreams of making a significant impact on the world.

• Samantha's Mother shares, “[...] she would do anything for the people she cared about” ([02:38]).
• Marcy, a close friend, describes Samantha as “the life of the party” and “a really good person” ([03:26]).

Samantha's dedication to her studies and her tight-knit relationships highlight the profound loss felt by those who knew her.

The Night Samantha Went Missing

The narrative shifts to the night of March 29, 2019, when Samantha decided to return home after a night out with friends at Five Points, a popular bar district near the university.

• Sydney, Samantha's sister, recounts the last interaction with Samantha: “Thursday night she called me to ask if she could use my credit card for the Uber” ([10:23]).
• That evening, Samantha never made it home, and her phone died, triggering immediate concern among her friends and family.

Initial Investigation and Growing Concern

As Samantha failed to return, her friends and family swiftly mobilized to find her. The urgency and fear palpable in their actions underscore the deep bond Samantha shared with her community.

• Samantha's Mother narrates the frantic attempts to locate her daughter: “She never came home that night. And he [Greg] told me he was going to leave to go to Columbia to help his friends track down Sammy” ([13:16]).
• The University of South Carolina community was left in shock, with even acquaintances feeling the impact of her disappearance: “It just really hits you that it's [a murder].” – Timothy Boddy ([18:01]).

Discovery of Samantha's Body

Tragedy struck when Samantha's body was discovered in a remote area of Clarendon County by two individuals while turkey hunting. The gruesome nature of her injuries immediately indicated foul play.

• Lieutenant describes the scene: “There is tons of blood. I have never seen that much blood in any crime scene that I've ever been on in my 26 years” ([36:04]).
• The authorities quickly identified the body as Samantha through DNA analysis: “The blood located in the vehicle was that of Samantha Josephson” ([36:36]).

Arrest and Investigation of Nathaniel Rowland

The investigation took a critical turn with the arrest of Nathaniel David Rowland, a 24-year-old South Carolina resident. Surveillance footage and forensic evidence linked Rowland to the crime scene and the vehicle in which Samantha was found.

• Detective Odom explains the breakthrough moment: “…one of the Columbia PD investigators said, we got to get to Five Points. One of our officers just stopped the dark Chevrolet Impala” ([30:07]).
• Detective Odom further details Rowland's suspicious behavior and the forensic evidence tying him to the crime: “The phone matched the description of Samantha's phone” ([31:42]).

Rowland's arrest marked a significant milestone in the case, with overwhelming evidence pointing to his culpability.

Trial and Conviction

The legal proceedings were fraught with emotion and complexity, as family members and friends sought justice for Samantha. The trial, although delayed due to COVID-19, culminated in Rowland's conviction on multiple counts, including murder and kidnapping.

• Sydney reflects on the courtroom emotions: “I remember telling them, this is what I want. I want the death penalty” ([44:11]).
• The jury's swift decision underscored the strength of the evidence against Rowland: “After just an hour of deliberation, the jury found Roland guilty of three counts” ([53:45]).

Aftermath and Sammy's Law

In the wake of Samantha's death, her family and community channeled their grief into advocacy, leading to the enactment of Sammy's Law in New Jersey. This legislation mandates rideshare companies to implement safety measures, such as scannable QR codes on vehicles to verify rides.

• Samantha's Mother expresses pride in the legislative changes: “Since we've started the foundation, we've gotten so many emails and messages from people either saying, thank you because, you know, this saved me” ([57:26]).
• Sydney highlights the law's impact: “It's called Sammy's Law. And that law did go through where you had to have a QR code on the car window so that you could confirm your ride before getting in” ([56:24]).

Sammy's Law represents a tangible legacy of Samantha's life, aiming to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Personal Tributes and Foundation

The episode concludes with touching tributes from those closest to Samantha, who continue to honor her memory through the establishment of a foundation dedicated to rideshare safety and victim support.

• Marcy shares her personal loss: “I miss her laugh. I miss being able to text her when my parents are annoying me” ([58:07]).
• Sydney emphasizes the ongoing mission: “I want her to be remembered as a bright, fun, loving, great friend, great daughter” ([58:32]).

These heartfelt remembrances underscore the enduring impact Samantha had on her community and the collective resolve to ensure her legacy fosters positive change.

Conclusion

Death in the Dorms: Samantha Josephson serves as a solemn reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by young adults and the paramount importance of safety measures in ridesharing services. Through meticulous reporting and personal narratives, the episode not only recounts a tragic event but also celebrates the resilience and advocacy that emerged from Samantha Josephson's untimely death. Her story continues to inspire legislative action and community support, ensuring that Samantha's legacy endures beyond her life.

Notable Quotes

• Detective Odom: “We do have to look at him. We have to look at him” ([33:03]).
• Samantha's Mother: “I would have liked to have hugged her and held her at the time” ([25:18]).
• Timothy Boddy: “We will not forget Samantha Josephson's name” ([55:07]).
• Prosecutor: “She was dragged into the woods and left alone, covered in her own blood” ([52:56]).

Key Takeaways

• The importance of community vigilance and swift action in missing persons cases.
• The critical role of forensic evidence and surveillance in solving crimes.
• The profound impact of personal loss driving legislative and societal changes.
• The enduring legacy of victims in advocating for safer environments.

Final Thoughts

This episode of 20/20 not only sheds light on a tragic crime but also illustrates the collective effort to find justice and implement meaningful changes to prevent future tragedies. Samantha Josephson's story is a testament to the enduring spirit of those she left behind and their commitment to ensuring her memory contributes to a safer, more vigilant society.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Deborah Roberts]

Hey there, 2020 listeners. This is Deborah Roberts with another installment of Death in the Dorms. From ABC News studios this week we'll hear the story of Samantha Josephson, a graduating fourth year and prospective law student from the University of South Carolina who called a ride share and never made it home.

[Sydney]

They say time heals all things, but I think that's bull. I think you just learn how to adapt to go on now.

[Detective Odom]

One one with emergency.

[Narrator]

Our friend is missing.

[Marcy]

I don't think any of us, as much as you expect the wor, you also don't expect it. It's still the most shocking thing when you actually hear it.

[Narrator]

She still hasn't made it home. Her phone's dead.

[Timothy Boddy]

Everybody I did know. It felt like it hit them in some way. She was one of us, so to speak. One of us. One of us. Gamecocks.

[News Reporter]

The murder of a college student in South Carolina.

[Lieutenant]

I will never forget Ms. Josephson when they told her the news. I'll remember that for the rest of my life.

[Sydney]

Yeah.

[Detective Odom]

You said you've been working in law.

[Sydney]

Enforcement for 26 years?

[Detective Odom]

I have. And this really sticks out to you?

[Lieutenant]

Absolutely.

[Detective Odom]

We think we have a safe city here, but this might happen again.

[Narrator]

It's just really scary to think that, like, that can happen to anyone.

[Samantha's Mother]

My husband Seymour and I met. I was in college and he was working at the supermarket. And I used to go through his lane because I thought he was cute. And I invited him to a party and he did not show up. But then two years later, someone introduced us and we went out and we were driving past the supermarket and he said, oh, I used to work there. So then we knew that he was the one who. Whose lane I used to go through. Samantha was born August 13, 1997. I just remember Sydney kept calling her baby. She wouldn't call her Sam for the longest.

[Marcy]

Sammy was younger than me. She was 20 months younger than me. Even though I always, for the most part, would refer to her as two years younger, she would always correct me and say that we were not two years apart because we were one year in school. She was always silly, goofy, the life of the party, would like to make people smile. She was a really good person, cared deeply about the people that she cared about, would do anything for them.

[Narrator]

Syd was always put together. Kind of like if we were playing house, Syd would be the mom character. Sammy would be the rambunctious, kind of out of line younger sibling that you had. But like, you always could go and look at Sammy and you knew that she was up to no good, but you'd have fun doing it.

[Samantha's Mother]

Samantha was a little bit a mix of everything. She was very sensitive, but she was also like, wanted to be the class clown.

[Marcy]

Growing up, Sammy wanted to do so many different things. At one point she was really into makeup. She wanted to be a makeup artist. She would always do my makeup. But she eventually grew into wanting to be a lawyer.

[Samantha's Mother]

I think Sammy wanted to go to law school because she wanted to change the world a little bit.

[Narrator]

You always knew that she wanted to help people. Whether it be help people throughout the day or help people throughout their life. She always, like, had that ambition.

[Samantha's Mother]

So when we were looking for colleges, because the girls were only one year apart in school, we went to the University of South Carolina was Sydney. So Sammy came and we wanted her to also, you know, take it in.

[Marcy]

We all flew down. My family loved the school, Sammy especially. I didn't end up going there for different reasons. But Sammy then decided after that trip that she really wanted to go there.

[Sydney]

And she got in, obviously, and she had her mind made up. That's where she was going.

[Timothy Boddy]

I'm Timothy Boddy. I go by T. Michael Boddy. I was one of two managing editors of the student newspaper at the University of South Carolina. It's called the Daily Game. Cock.

[Narrator]

Gotta say I've been great, Got no.

[Detective Odom]

Complaints on my sins and namaste.

[Timothy Boddy]

If you were to Google the university, I'm sure the Wikipedia page would say campus urban. It's an urban campus in the sense that it is pretty well integrated into the city. You know, restaurants, shops, that kind of thing. You'll hit them without realizing that you're off of the campus.

[Marcy]

The campus, even though it is in the middle of a city, does have a very campusy vibe to it, where there's grass and trees and areas for you to sit.

[Timothy Boddy]

It was a big sports culture, really big Greek life culture. I mean, I don't remember the exact percentage of the students that were in fraternities or sororities, but it was, it was a lot.

[Samantha's Mother]

We actually dropped her off on her 18th birthday was her first day at college. She really acclimated to the school and she enjoyed it.

[Sydney]

Having Samantha be in South Carolina and being so far from home. It's a 12 hour drive or a flight. It was difficult in the sense of letting go. Because God forbid if anything happens, but you just hope that you did enough and you did things right.

[Marcy]

I remember for parents weekend we went to a football game, which was a lot of fun. She seemed very at home and like she knew everything about it. So she was excited to show all of us.

[Samantha's Mother]

Samantha joined the sorority Alpha Gamma Delta and made a lot of nice friends, had a lot of connections.

[Marcy]

She became close with this one guy, Greg, who then they started dating at some point. I know that they were friendly for some time before they started dating. She was happy with Greg. He was, as far as I know, happy with her. They were in a good spot.

[Sydney]

Samantha really didn't want her senior year to end. She loved it so much down at University of South Carolina. But she knew she was getting ready for law school.

[Samantha's Mother]

So Samantha had applied to Rutgers and that was really where she wanted to go to law school. She also applied at Drexel in Philadelphia. At Drexel she had a full scholarship. At Rutgers she had a scholarship, but it was not a full scholarship. So she decided to go to Drexel.

[Sydney]

They flew her up for student acceptance day. Then we went to a winery. Marcy, Sydney and I and Samantha. It was just really nice. It was the last time that we were all together. She went back to University of South Carolina that Monday morning.

[Marcy]

Sammy had about a month left until graduation. A little bit more. That's the kind of time where everybody is really taking in the last parts of college. Being with your friends that you don't know the next time you're going to be that close to, if ever. So just a happy time, a celebration.

[Timothy Boddy]

The way that the university is situated. Situated at the top of a hill that leads down into a very popular bar district called Five Points. And that is where a lot of kids would go every night.

[Narrator]

Sammy was just the life of the party. You'd always be having the best time whenever you were with Sammy. She brought that joy to life.

[Sydney]

Thursday night she called me to ask me if she could use my credit card for the Uber. Because hers somehow someway never worked. So she always used mine.

[Samantha's Mother]

Samantha went out with her friends that night. They typically went out on Thursday nights.

[Sydney]

Samantha Josephson and her friends, they were.

[Detective Odom]

Out here at this bar called the Bird Dog.

[Sydney]

And that was the last time.

[Detective Odom]

We.

[Sydney]

Had any type of communication.

[Timothy Boddy]

A disturbing mystery out of South Carolina. The horror that college, senior and a community rocked.

[Sydney]

What happened?

[Narrator]

Josephson never came home. This episode is brought to you by Amazon. The holidays are here and you know what that means. It's time to get your friends and family the gifts they deserve. Take the stress out of shopping with Amazon's great deals and low prices on a huge range of items from toys to tech and much more. Whoever you're gifting for, Amazon has great prices on everything you need this holiday season. Shop Black Friday week starting November 21st.

[Detective Odom]

Fifty years ago, a young woman named.

[News Reporter]

Karen Silkwood got into her car alone.

[Detective Odom]

She was reportedly on her way to deliver sensitive documents to a New York Times reporter. She never made it. And those documents she'd agreed to carry were never found. Do you think somebody killed her? There's no question in my mind that someone killed her that night. I think they were trying to stop her in order to get the documents. A new investigation into the life and death of America's first nuclear whistleblower. Listen to Radioactive the Karen Silkwood Mystery from ABC Audio. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Samantha's Mother]

It was March 29, 2019. I was having lunch with my friends and my phone rang and I saw that it was Greg. And he said to me, marcy, we can't find Sammy. And I said, what do you mean you can't find her? And he said that he was at home with his parents in Charleston. He said that her roommates couldn't find her. She didn't come home that night. And I just kind of froze. And he told me he was going to leave to go to Columbia to help his friends track down Sammy.

[Sydney]

I get a phone call from Marcy saying, have you spoken to Greg? I said, no. She goes, sammy's missing. I'm like, what? She goes, he called me and told me that Sammy's missing. She never came home last night. I said, get home. We're going down. She goes, what do you mean? I go, get home now. We're going down. We're driving down.

[Marcy]

My dad called me and I answered him. And he very sternly told me that I needed to come home now. And I asked him why. And he said that something with Sammy, she's missing. And I was like, oh, she's probably like, her phone's dead. She's fine. He's like, no, you need to come home. So I did.

[Sydney]

Marcy then got home, we threw stuff in a bag and we just. And Sydney, I said, stay Here, watch the dog. Hopefully, we should be back. We'll be back this weekend. Before we left, I had called one of Samantha's roommates, Carly, to find out what was going on. And she said that we've called the.

[Detective Odom]

Police now with your emergency.

[Narrator]

Our friend is missing. She still hasn't made it home. Her phone's dead. We don't think she, like, went home with, like, a guy or anything. Like, we're, like, actually, like, worried.

[Lieutenant]

On March 29, 2019, I received a call from my captain at the time that said we had a call out to assist Columbia Police Department. I am a lieutenant in the Midlands Investigative Unit with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. We're here to assist with whether it be manpower or technical assistance. And within the Midlands unit, we have 10 counties that we assist. Several agents were called out from SLED to assist, along with several Columbia PD investigators. And we were tasked with interviewing the roommates of Samantha Josephson. The friends had told us that the night that this occurred, there were multiple friends that would be graduating. And at this point, they just want to go out and have a good time. They all go to five points together. They go to the bird dog. Samantha decides she's ready to go home around 2am on the morning of the 29th, and she contacts an Uber. Her friends, they think she's taken an Uber, so they return home. When they return to the apartment, Samantha is not there. At this point, they also have a system where they all would keep up with one another and track one another through apps on their phone. So at this point, they're looking for her through the apps. Greg's looking for her through the apps, and it shows her phone going into the Rosewood area. And the phone stopped. And at this point, we've learned that she never got into the Uber. It was canceled due to her not being at the location, according to the Uber driver. So now we are trying to figure out, where is Samantha? Where has she been? Where did she go?

[Marcy]

I was just kind of, like, waiting to hear that she was okay. I remember playing with my dog outside, and one of my neighbors came over after work and just kind of, like, strongly suggested that I come over. So basically told me, like, I needed to come over their house and that I was gonna have dinner with them. We were all posting on social media, like, begging for help or if anybody had any information.

[Prosecutor]

I keep my hopes up, and I'm turning the stone.

[Timothy Boddy]

I remember being at the desk in one of the residence halls and learning that Sammy had gone missing. Everybody I did know it felt like it hit them in some way. Even if we didn't know her, she was one of us, so to speak. One of us. One of us Gamecocks. It was one of those things where it's so outside the realm of what you would be thinking about at any moment that it would take a minute to really process it.

[Narrator]

I was at work when I found out about Sammy. I was going through my phone and started to see all of the posts on Instagram actually, of, you know, samantha's missing. What's going on? And I ran out of the meeting, and I called my mom immediately. I was like, is this true? What's going on? And she's like, yeah, this is true. Seymour and Marcy are on their way down to South Carolina right now, and you should come home from work.

[Sydney]

To drive down. Was pretty quiet. You just want to get down there as quick as possible. And I'm driving fast. I'm driving 85 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour down there. You know when you're talking to the police on the way down. What time's your eta? What time's your eta? And I'm like, all right, do you have any. I'll be down there whenever. And asking about updates and speaking to the police about, do you have any updates? Have you found or have you have any. Do you have any leads? Detective Odom of the Columbia Police Department, she was my main contact for the day. And I remember her for the second time going, what's your ETA? And I'm like, it's saying 12:00, whatever it was. She goes, okay, just come right to the. You know, when you get into Columbia, just come right into the police department. I'm like, okay. And I hung up the phone, and I remember looking out to my left away from Marcy, and I go.

[Detective Odom]

This.

[Sydney]

Is not gonna end well. I just got an empty feeling, an empty wave over me that I knew that something was bad.

[Detective Odom]

I'm Special Agent Lee Blackman. I work with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in the Midlands investigative section of SLED. On the afternoon of March 29, I was actually out at the movies with my family, and I actually saw media reports that there was a young lady, a student from the University of South Carolina, that was missing from Five Points. The Columbia Police Department had already notified the officers on patrol, and not just within Columbia, Richland county and the surrounding counties had been notified. And on our way home from the movies, I received a call. A body had been discovered in Clarendon County.

[Lieutenant]

Clarendon County Sheriff's office received a call from two gentlemen that were out turkey hunting. They had went to a field kind of in a remote location to, like, scout for turkeys. While they were down there, they located a deceased female in a wooded area.

[Detective Odom]

I was told that the manner in which the body had been found and the injuries that the body had, that this was a horrendous situation and that the victim had been brutally murdered.

[Lieutenant]

Columbia PD had put out a BOLO for Samantha as a missing person. Based on her physical description and her clothing description, they believed it to be Samantha at that point.

[Detective Odom]

When I was called out, I responded to a Columbia Police Department annex, which is near Williams Bryce Stadium, which is the University of South Carolina football's team stadium. And that's where I first learned that there were friends of Samantha that were there that needed to be interviewed, including her boyfriend, and that her parents were on the way to that facility as well.

[Samantha's Mother]

When we got to the police station, they took us into a room. There were a lot of people in the room, and they were introducing us to people. And the first thing I saw was there was a man with a jacket. And on the jacket it said coroner.

[Sydney]

And I just put my head down and I just grabbed onto Marcy.

[Samantha's Mother]

And then they told us, they said that they think they found Sammy. They weren't 100% sure, but she matched the description of what she was wearing. And we just broke down.

[Sydney]

I remember slamming the table, hitting a wall, Marcy breaking down.

[Marcy]

I remember my neighbor Jody answering the phone. My dad had called her. And she just, like, drops to the ground and just starts crying. And I just remember, like, grabbing the phone from her because I needed to hear it myself. I needed to hear my dad. And I could hear my mom in the background just crying. And I don't even remember exactly what my dad said, but he. I think he said something that. Like, that she was gone. And I just remember, like, totally losing. I couldn't breathe.

[Sydney]

That was the hardest call, one of the hardest things I had to do, ever.

[Samantha's Mother]

The fact that Sydney wasn't with us. I don't know if it was good or bad, but, you know, I would have liked to have hugged her and held her at the time.

[Sydney]

Marcy and I went into autopilot. At least I did. I just wanted to. To find a guy.

[Timothy Boddy]

I was a senior when this happened. And the word did spread really, really fast.

[Sydney]

One day you're with your friend, and the next day you may never see them again. And it's kind of a morbid thought, but it does happen. And sadly, it happened here.

[Timothy Boddy]

This hurts, whether you knew the person or not, because it was just so awful what happened.

[Narrator]

We hang out at Five Points, like, every weekend, so it's scary.

[Detective Odom]

We were around the area.

[Narrator]

Could have been any of us.

[Timothy Boddy]

You'll spend some time going, no, no, no. That didn't happen. No way before. It really hits you that it's.

[Detective Odom]

When I arrived at Annex and started my part of the investigation, the Columbia Police Department had already recovered the video from the Bird Dog Lounge, and it showed Samantha Josephine outside.

[Lieutenant]

On the video, you see Samantha, she's standing on what I would consider the island of the sidewalk in front of the Bird Dog. And when she's standing there, it's apparent she's looking for someone to pick her up. We know that she had requested, through an app, her Uber. It was canceled due to her not being at the location, according to the Uber driver. And at that point, we're able to see a black Chevrolet Impala come out of the side parking lot next to the Bird Dog.

[Detective Odom]

It showed her getting inside the dark colored Impala, and it was not an Uber vehicle.

[Lieutenant]

On the video. You cannot see a license plate. So at this point, we started gathering more video from the downtown area.

[Detective Odom]

Watching the videos, you could see her getting into the vehicle, and we could watch it leave Five Points and leave that area with her inside the vehicle.

[Lieutenant]

We know at this point that we are looking for a black Chevy Impala. Columbia PD puts out a BOLO to all of their units as well as the surrounding agencies to be on the lookout for this black Chevrolet Impala.

[Detective Odom]

We knew that we were looking, in a sense, for a needle in a haystack.

[Marcy]

We flew down to South Carolina, drove to meet up with my parents, and then pretty quickly, we're involved with displ, just talking with the cops and everyone there. And we all just kind of waited for answers from the cops.

[Detective Odom]

After we had interviewed the friends and after we had spoken with Samantha's parents, I actually stepped outside to take a break to kind of get my thoughts together on where I thought we needed to go next, what would be important for us to do next. I said a short prayer. I said, God, please, please give us a lead. Please help us find some information to move this investigation along. Because there's a fear already when a case like this starts that you may not solve it. You may not find the person who did this. And I remember walking back in the door, and as soon as I did, one of the Columbia PD investigators said, we got to get to Five Points. One of our officers just stopped the dark cuddle Impala. What went through your head when you heard that God had already answered my prayer before I prayed it. Here's the deal, man.

[Timothy Boddy]

I pulled your car over.

[Detective Odom]

Cause the match is a suspect. Get your hand in your pocket. And the driver took off and ran. Hey, get over here. Go. We're running. Bravo, Mike. Wearing a gray sweats pants, gray sweatshirt. Nunez, keep going.

[Timothy Boddy]

He's gonna be on your left.

[Samantha's Mother]

I got him.

[Detective Odom]

They called him and went back to the car. And there appears to be blood in the backseat.

[Lieutenant]

Of course, that gets everybody's attention. At that point, it's, well, more than a traffic stop.

[Detective Odom]

Blood on the seat. There's blood on the driver's seat too.

[Narrator]

In the dry states of the Southwest, there's a group that's been denied a basic human right.

[Samantha's Mother]

In the Navajo Nation.

[Marcy]

Today, a third of our households don't have running water.

[Narrator]

But that's not something they chose for themselves. Can the Navajo people reclaim their right to water and contend with the government's legacy of control and neglect?

[Detective Odom]

Our water, our future. Our water, our future.

[Narrator]

That's in the next season of Reclaimed, the lifeblood of Navajo Nation. Listen now, wherever you get your podcast.

[Sydney]

Where's your id? What's your name?

[Detective Odom]

I don't have id.

[Sydney]

You don't have id?

[Detective Odom]

We first arrived where the car had been stopped at. We talked to the officers who had been part of the car stop, and they had found a phone. The phone matched the description of Samantha's phone. Look at this girl iPhone. We looked in the backseat, and you could see what appeared to be blood. Look at the back of the seat. Oh, there's blood all over the air, bro. Yeah. Something happened. He was not telling us who he was. He was not identifying himself. You tell me your name. We had already started the process of taking pictures and doing facial recognition to see if we could determine who he was.

[Timothy Boddy]

We're gonna get a fingerprint scanner and.

[Detective Odom]

See who you are.

[Lieutenant]

He's determined to be Nathaniel roland. He was 24 years old, and he lives in South Carolina.

[Detective Odom]

We were on scene talking to those officers who had stopped the vehicle when I got word that Nathaniel Roland wanted to speak to the investigator. I was told you wanted to talk to somebody. So I'm the one that came up here to talk to you. I want to know what I was detained for. You understand that you jumped out, ran from the police, and they caught you, put you in the back seat of the car?

[Sydney]

Yes, sir.

[Detective Odom]

Okay. At that point, there had been some Narcotics found inside the vehicle. And, of course, plus with the blood and the other things in there. Daniel, if you want to talk to me about where you've been last couple. I was partying. Good. He gave an explanation that he had been partying the night before in some apartment complexes near the university and that he was in the apartment, had been drinking too much. I woke up this morning, My keys weren't in my pocket, and I fell asleep at stadium suite. You fell asleep at stadium suite? Yeah. And when he went outside to try to find his car in the parking lot, it was not located in the place where he had parked. And when he did find his car, he opened the door and looked in, and there was blood inside. What you're trying to tell me is somebody else got in your car last night, most likely, and all of a sudden, there's blood in the back. Is that what you're telling me, Nathaniel? To my knowledge, bar in my car at that time, we knew that Samantha had been murdered. And we're looking at a person that all of a sudden, he's on our radar now. And we want to find out more about him. And we asked him if he would wish to talk further with us. And we had him transported to the Columbia pedianics that we were working out of. Cause listen, and I'm gonna tell you some things, okay? There was a girl who was abducted from hardin street in Five Points around 210 or so Friday morning. Okay? He was still sort of passive in his answers to us. Her phone's in your car. He simply just refused to have any more conversations with us. At that point, you don't just get tunnel vision and think, well, we got our man here. We have to look at him. Of course he's in our picture now. We have to find out where he's been, do our due diligence to look to see, hey, is he involved or is he not involved? We knew at that point that we had a big piece of evidence, and that big piece of evidence was his vehicle. We also had a phone that we believe was Samantha Josephson's phone. He also had phones on his person, and we knew that we needed to get the ball rolling as soon as we could to start processing the phones and processing that vehicle.

[Lieutenant]

At this point, I was with our crime scene agents, and they go to do a thorough search. Based on the search warrant for the black Sheri Lampala, we're able to see a lot more clearly into the vehicle. It appears that the child locks are engaged in the vehicle.

[Detective Odom]

And once Samantha stepped in the backseat of that vehicle. She couldn't escape.

[Lieutenant]

And there is tons of blood. I have never seen that much blood in any crime scene that I've ever been on in my 26 years.

[Detective Odom]

We actually had some of our sled lab workers come in immediately to the office in the wee hours of the morning to start, as we call it, spinning the DNA to get a DNA profile from the blood that was found inside the vehicle.

[Lieutenant]

Our lab was able to turn it around and determine that the blood located in the vehicle was that of Samantha Josephson. That this. I know that everything we're doing now and everything we're about to do is for Samantha is to make sure that we get justice for Samantha and for Samantha's family.

[Prosecutor]

I remember being at the Soda City Market, which is a little market on Main street in downtown Columbia on Saturday morning, March 30th. I was there with my family. We were walking around enjoying a beautiful day when I got a call late that morning from the Columbia Police Department telling me, hey, we have something pretty serious here and we need to talk to you about it.

[News Reporter]

That Saturday morning I was actually headed out of town with my daughter, headed to a softball tournament. And I got a call from my deputy solicitor, Dan Goldberg. And he at that point began to inform me that there's a person of interest.

[Prosecutor]

At this point, agents from the Columbia Police Department and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are working together. And independently they started to kind of.

[News Reporter]

Confiscate as much information as they could about cell phone records and cameras.

[Prosecutor]

So in this case, investigators knew they had to take a look at both Samantha's phone and Mr. Roland's phone. And what they discovered was that both his phone and her phone tracked to the same path to the point that Ms. Josephson's phone turned off. But more importantly, a look at Mr. Rowland's phone records showed his phone traveling out of Columbia up Highway 378 to just a short distance away from where Samantha was found.

[News Reporter]

In South Carolina. We as the prosecutors, we as the solicitors, we stay in an advisory role. We don't put out the warrant. Law enforcement will actually do the investigation. They may consult with us about, you know, maybe elements of the crime and just different things that need to be done. But ultimately it's their decision to make the arrest. They made the warrants and the arrest when they were comfortable that they had probable cause that Nathaniel Rowland had murdered Samantha Josephson and kidnapped Samantha Josephson.

[Detective Odom]

24 year old Nathaniel David Rowland has been arrested.

[Narrator]

And the charges at this Point are murder with malice, abort thought the most serious murder there is under South Carolina law, as well as kidnapping.

[Detective Odom]

We believe she simply mistakenly got into this particular car thinking it was an Uber ride.

[Sydney]

The Columbia Police Department chief came and gave us an update.

[Marcy]

And they basically told us that they had found someone that they suspected was our killer and that they had gotten him.

[Samantha's Mother]

Basically, we were relieved that they caught him, but I have to say, it still didn't feel real, you know, I guess I still kind of wait for her to come home.

[Timothy Boddy]

I could tell that it was tough on the reporters under me at the student paper, but I needed them because this was a team effort. If I was somewhere, like, tied up at a desk in a residence hall, I would have needed somebody else to call this person for me, get a police report for me, go and attend the vigil that these students and Sammy's parents are having.

[Sydney]

Wow, it's amazing to see everybody out here. The Gamecocks, usc, your people, how you guys have come together, how you pulled this together.

[Detective Odom]

Under this roof, we gather to let you go.

[Narrator]

We first met Sammy during our freshman year when we all pledged Alpha Gaming. There will never be another soul like Sammy Josephson.

[Detective Odom]

You brought us back together. One last chance to steal the show.

[Marcy]

She embodied the phrase, work hard, play hard.

[Detective Odom]

We often called her the next Amal.

[Narrator]

Clooney because we knew how far she would go in the field of international law.

[Sydney]

I look at all of you guys.

[Detective Odom]

And I see that even in the.

[Sydney]

Short time that she was here, how many people she positively impacted with her energy and the positive attitude.

[Detective Odom]

I hope we see you in our dreams tonight where you can make us laugh again.

[Lieutenant]

So at this point, Nathaniel's been charged, but the way we look at it, this is just the beginning of our investigation. We have more items that we need to follow up.

[Prosecutor]

One thing that was occurring initially was the autopsy.

[Lieutenant]

Initially, we were told that they believed Samantha had suffered approximately 40 plus stab wounds. Once the autopsy is conducted, we're told it was well over 100 stab wounds. These wounds were very specific wounds. It was almost as if there was two points to the knife, and it's almost as if they crossed over one another. And it was due to the type of item that was used. We were kind of told that it was not normal. It was not just a plain knife. It was. It was something that should match to the wounds on Samantha if we could find it.

[Prosecutor]

It was important to us as the prosecutors on the case to establish a relationship with the Josephson family. And I can recall on the day that they were leaving Columbia to go back to New Jersey, Mr. Roland had already been arrested. The investigation was still ongoing. Myself and our team went to their hotel early that morning before 8am to catch them and introduce ourselves before they left town.

[Sydney]

I remember telling them, this is what I want. I want the death penalty. I want him to fry. So I remember saying, all that means nothing, but I remember saying it. But the whole group met with the solicitors after. I remember my one cousin was like, we need to start planning the funeral, Seymour. You really need to start doing this. We need to. We need to get this done. And I didn't want to, because.

[Lieutenant]

Who.

[Sydney]

The hell wants to. Who the hell wants to bury their baby? You're supposed to die before them, right? So who wants to do that?

[Narrator]

This morning, the man accused of kidnapping and killing a University of South Carolina senior is behind bars. It's just really scary to think that, like, that can happen to anyone.

[Sydney]

Today on campus, some students saying they'll.

[Detective Odom]

Continue to be vigilant. I'm definitely going to be checking, like, who's my Uber driver? Checking the license plates, all that stuff. I've been telling all my friends that.

[Narrator]

I'm definitely, definitely gonna check the car plates, like the car plate number and not. I'm not calling a newborn alone.

[Prosecutor]

Investigators still had challenges in front of them in that they found Samantha. They knew how she died, and the Impala appears to be where she was killed. But there wasn't anything yet that put Nathaniel Roland inside the vehicle at the time that Samantha was killed. So investigators were challenged with gathering as much evidence as they could that could be pieced together to show that he had to be the one in the car.

[Detective Odom]

When Nathaniel's vehicle was first searched, there were several documents that were located inside the vehicle. One was an eviction notice, and it had the name Maria on it with a Mountain Brook address, which was in Columbia. And we knew that that was important because that could be a person who was an associate or somebody who knew Nathaniel. So on the afternoon of April 3rd, myself and an investigator with the Columbia Police Department went to that address on Mountain, Brooklyn. I knocked on the door and a lady came to the door and she told me that she was Maria. I introduced myself, and she agreed to come and talk with us. We took her back to the Columbia Police Department annex and sat down and had an interview with her. I believe Blackman was slated. That's the camera that's set up for audio video recording. Okay. Like I said, we just want to get some information from you.

[Lieutenant]

Maria tells us she does know Nathaniel, that they're somewhat of an item.

[Detective Odom]

On the morning of the 29th, she had to be at work at a certain time. And her ride to work was going to be Nathaniel. He arrived late, and she was going to be late for work. And by this time, you're downstairs at your neighbor's house waiting on him. Waiting on him. He comes, he pulls up, and you get in the car. Tell me what you saw in the car and that. Listen to me. I want you to be completely, 100% honest with us. What did you see in the car? Something across the seat. What did it look like?

[Narrator]

A sheet.

[Detective Odom]

Kind of sheep. A white sheet.

[Lieutenant]

She sees something and thinks it's blood.

[Detective Odom]

What did he say when he asked about it? Why? Asking about his questions. She sees him again that afternoon at her residence. What happened to the sheet? Do you have it? No. Where's it at? I don't know. I don't know what he did with that.

[News Reporter]

What we learn is that Nathaniel started cleaning his car out at Maria's.

[Detective Odom]

It just looked like something was clean. And I was like, what you cleaning? And you asked him questions like this? And he said, what? I had to clean the car. I was like, no.

[Prosecutor]

Light or serum would blow up.

[Detective Odom]

She saw him cleaning those things at her residence, and he was disposing of those things in trash cans at our residence. Where's that trash at? It's in my trash can. When did they take up?

[Marcy]

Next?

[Detective Odom]

Monday.

[Narrator]

So whatever trash was there Thursday, Friday.

[Marcy]

Saturday, Sunday was building.

[Detective Odom]

So we're getting a search warrant for your residence. And what we're going to have is our crime scene units go to your house and search house. Okay. We found all kind of cleaning supplies and bloody sheets, bloody towels, bloody gloves, and eventually the multipurpose tool that had hair on it, had blood on it. The information that came from the autopsy. We knew we were looking for a unique type of weapon, one that had two blades on it. And when we found the weapon that we found at Maria's house, we knew that we had found the weapon, no doubt that had caused those injury. And it was proven forensically to be so.

[Lieutenant]

At this point, it's like we're checking boxes. Every time we find one thing, we find another thing.

[Detective Odom]

Our analysts that were studying Samantha's phone saw where it was powered on at a business that buys and sells used cell phones. And they've marked that as a place of interest that we needed to go check out. I went there and spoke to the store manager who was Actually able to pull up video and we see Nathaniel Rowland enter into that store with Samantha Joseph's phone in his hand. He passes it over the counter in an attempt to sell the phone.

[News Reporter]

We're able to see Nathaniel in that 2017 black and brown. You know, pulling up to the place, were able to see a sheet that has blood marks on it inside of.

[Detective Odom]

The car.

[News Reporter]

That matches up with something Maria said. When you start putting all of these pieces together, they put the puzzle together perfectly so that we know we've got the person who did this thing. We were going to do everything possible to make sure that he spent the rest of his life behind bars.

[Prosecutor]

Our team knew what was at stake going into this trial.

[Samantha's Mother]

The trial I dreaded because of COVID it was put off because the courts were not open. I was very, very nervous prior to going because I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid of hearing things that I didn't want to hear.

[Marcy]

It was really long and stressful and tiring and just draining. Having to relive everything.

[Prosecutor]

She was dragged into the woods and left alone, covered in her own blood.

[Narrator]

On behalf of Mr. Rowland's family, I would just like the court to know that they have stood behind him 100%.

[Detective Odom]

From the day of his arrest.

[Narrator]

They have believed from the beginning that.

[Detective Odom]

The wrong person had been charged and.

[Narrator]

They still hold that belief today.

[Sydney]

It was tough looking at him. What kind of animal does this? And then shows no remorse?

[Detective Odom]

After just an hour of deliberation, the jury found Roland guilty of three counts. Murder, kidnapping and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

[Sydney]

When they read it, the arm pump of saying yes, and then I know the three of us were crying.

[Marcy]

It's just nice to finally get some type of, like, can't even say closure. But just some part of it was finally, like, done.

[Prosecutor]

The judge, he sentenced Mr. Roland to life in prison because that's exactly, quite frankly, the type of sentence that was appropriate for this kind of horrific act.

[Samantha's Mother]

I have to thank, you know, the judge and the jury, they were, they were fair.

[Narrator]

Today's a brand new day.

[Timothy Boddy]

The big part of the takeaway for people was that we will not forget Samantha Josephson's name.

[Narrator]

It's never hopeless if you don't think it is.

[Marcy]

That's really all in how you're looking at it.

[Timothy Boddy]

This whole thing caused Uber and Lyft to come out of the woodwork, making statements about what they're planning to do with their own companies.

[Detective Odom]

For us, it's a reminder that we have to constantly do Everything we can to raise the bar on safety.

[Sydney]

New Jersey actually reached out to Marcy and I and wanted our input on a bill.

[Detective Odom]

It starts right here.

[Prosecutor]

We tried to come up with a way of ensuring that at a minimum, when somebody gets into that Uber or.

[Detective Odom]

Lyft, it is verified that is your.

[Prosecutor]

Driver, and they know this is their rider as well. We did share our bill with our state, the state of New Jersey, and they took it almost verbatim with a.

[Detective Odom]

Few tweaks almost immediately. The notion of passing a law that would do everything we could to prevent something like this from ever happening in New Jersey was an immediate impulse, both by the legislature as well as by my office.

[Samantha's Mother]

It's called Sammy's Law. And that law did go through where you had to have a QR code on the car window so that you could confirm your ride before getting in.

[Narrator]

To the love of a free.

[Detective Odom]

To the love of a free.

[Prosecutor]

We passed a Sammy's Law in the.

[Detective Odom]

Last Congress that was comprehensive.

[Prosecutor]

It was held up in the Senate like so many bills are. No matter how it gets passed, Sammy's Law has to become law. So be it.

[Detective Odom]

Let's just get it done. Love over fear.

[Sydney]

I actually have quit my job. All I do now is the foundation.

[Marcy]

My family and friends put a lot of time and energy into making this foundation, the what's my name? Foundation. Instead of saying, oh, are you here for Sydney? You'd say, who are you here for? Or what's my name?

[Samantha's Mother]

Since we've started the foundation, we've gotten so many emails and messages from people either saying, you know, thank you because, you know, this saved me, or asking us how they could spread the word. I'm just so proud of who she became. Proud to be her mom, you know, my heart's broken, but I do have great memories.

[Marcy]

I miss her laugh. I miss being able to text her when my parents are annoying me or send her a picture of the dog when he does something cute. I think just having that person there that you know is going to be there is big.

[Sydney]

I want her to be remembered as a bright, fun, loving, great friend, great daughter.

[Deborah Roberts]

This is Deborah Roberts. In 2023, Sammy's Law was enacted, requiring rideshare corporations to prominently display illuminated company signage and a scannable QR code in the hopes of increasing the safety of drivers and their passengers. The law also makes it a crime to misrepresent oneself as a rideshare driver. In 2024, the South Carolina courts denied Nathaniel Rowland's request to appeal his conviction. Next week, we'll be closing out season one of Death in the Dorms with an episode about a new first year student from Western Kentucky University and a horrifying attack that leaves investigators scrambling for clues. Death in the Dorms was produced by ABC News Studios with the Intellectual Property Corporation and yes, Like a River for Hulu Originals. The entire series is streaming on Hulu. And of course, make sure to tune in to ABC Friday nights at 9 for all new broadcast episodes of 20 20. Thanks for listening.

[Detective Odom]

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[Sydney]

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[Detective Odom]

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[News Reporter]

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[Sydney]

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[Lieutenant]

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[Detective Odom]

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[Sydney]

Continue bill credits or credit stop and.

[Detective Odom]

Balance and required finance agreement is due.