Samantha Josephson was reportedly last seen alive around 2:00 a.m. in the Five Points region of downtown Columbia, South Carolina, on March 29, 2019. According to reports, Josephson got into the back of a black Impala, but “then her Uber was cancelled.”
When police pulled over Nathaniel David Rowland, who was nearby and driving a car that matched the description, they found blood all over the vehicle. Rowland is currently on trial in for Josephson’s kidnapping and murder.
Last week, evidence was introduced that was procured from the defendant’s ex-girlfriend’s house. Maria Howard, the ex-girlfriend, took the stand and seemed to muddy the waters even more with various accounts of her activities with the defendant on March 29. The evidence, which includes bloody trash bags, a weapon, and clothing have also raised questions about her involvement.
In a recent interview on Law & Crime Network, Denver defense lawyer Jeff Wolf was asked whether the defense or prosecution utilized Howard’s recent testimony best:
“I think they both utilized it well,” explained Wolf. “Because what you have is the prosecution laying out all of these suspicious things that were going on during this interaction with her… obviously she’s his friend, maybe a little more, we don’t really know. And then from there you have the defense trying to poke holes in the timeline: what was going on here? How much time was there really for all these things that you say happened to happen? And why were you just going along with this…noticing all these strange things and then you just go to work? You don’t call anybody? You don’t do anything? There’s clearly some evidence of something going on in the back of this car…you did nothing about it…you gave him [Rowland] a key to your house, you went home to him…and so maybe she doesn’t have as clean of hands as she would say she does.”
Watch the full video for extended commentary from Jeff Wolf or for more details about the case.
