Mourners to say goodbye to student killed after getting into a car she mistook for an Uber

03 APR 19 10:00 ET

By Meridith Edwards, Darran Simon and Faith Karimi, CNN

(CNN) — A community attended a candlelight vigil to mourn University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson, who was found dead in a field after getting into a car she mistook for an Uber.

Crowds gathered Tuesday night at a park in Robbinsville, the New Jersey town where she grew up, CNN affiliate WPVI reported.

“I don’t want anybody else to go through it as a parent,” said Seymour Josephson, her father.

Her boyfriend, Greg Corbishley, said through tears that he had been on the phone tracking Josephson early Friday morning to make sure she got home safely.

“(I) immediately knew that there was something wrong,” he said, according to WPVI. “Unfortunately I was two and a half hours away. I’d do anything to go back.”

Her funeral will be held at noon Wednesday at Congregation Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, her father posted on Facebook. She will be buried in Perrineville, New Jersey.

Josephson, 21, called an Uber around 2 a.m. Friday in Columbia, South Carolina, and was last seen getting into a black Chevy Impala, said Columbia Police Chief W.H. “Skip” Holbrook.

Turkey hunters found her body in a field 14 hours after she got in the vehicle. It had multiple sharp force injuries, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said. Her body was found in the field in Clarendon County, about 90 miles away.

Suspect Nathaniel David Rowland was arrested Saturday.

Video shows moment she got into a car

Surveillance video showed Josephson outside a bar standing by herself on a curb on the morning she disappeared. She takes several steps toward a black vehicle that pulls up to a parking spot. She reaches for the door handle of the vehicle as it slows down and gets inside.

Josephson and her roommates got separated the night they went out, Holbrook said. Her roommates grew worried the next morning and called Columbia police around 1:30 p.m. Friday to report her missing, Holbrook said.

A suspect is arrested the next day

Police arrested Rowland, 24, in Columbia after an officer saw him driving an Impala that matched the description of the vehicle seen in the surveillance video. Police found Josephson’s blood in the car’s passenger side and trunk, authorities said. Her cell phone was found in the passenger compartment, police said.

Investigators also found a container of liquid bleach, germicidal wipes and window cleaner in the car, Holbrook said.

Rowland faces charges of murder and kidnapping in connection with Josephson’s death.

He waived his right to a scheduled court appearance on Sunday. Fielding Pringle, his public defender, declined to comment. Rowland was listed as being held in jail in Columbia. Arrest warrants listed his home as New Zion, an unincorporated community in Clarendon County.

Josephson planned to study law in the fall at Drexel University in Philadelphia, according to her father.