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University Student Killed After Getting Into Car She Thought Was Her Uber To Be Honored With Posthumous Degree
Samantha Josephson, 21, was scheduled to graduate from The University of South Carolina in May before attending law school.
The South Carolina student who was killed last month after getting into a car that she thought was her Uber will be awarded a posthumous degree by the university she was set to graduate from before her death.
Samantha Josephson was heading home in the early morning hours of March 29 after a night out at a bar with friends when she got into a car that she mistakenly believed was her Uber. Hunters discovered her body in a rural area the following day, and police have since charged 24-year-old Nathaniel David Rowland with kidnapping and murder in relation to the case.
Josephson was 21 years old and was only weeks away from graduating from the University of South Carolina when she was killed. Following her death, the university has decided to award her a posthumous degree, a spokesperson for the school confirmed to The State.
University President Harris Pastides spoke on the decision while addressing the Rotary Club of Aiken on Monday, according to the Aiken Standard.
“Her parents contacted me on Sunday to tell me they’re coming down for what would have been her graduation,” he said. “And I said, ‘We’ll be there waiting for you.’ She had been accepted for law school — a free ride at Drexel University.”
Josephson would have graduated in May with a degree in political science before heading to law school to pursue her dreams of practicing international law, The State reports.
Hundreds gathered to mourn Josephson at a funeral held in her hometown of Robbinsville, New Jersey last week, where her father, Seymour Josephson, delivered a moving eulogy.
“I will always love you, think about you, worry about you, and I will always have your voice inside my head saying ‘Dad,’” Seymour Josephson said to mourners the Congregation Beth Chaim. “You had so much more to do. You will not be forgotten. You could never be. We will never forget your name: Samantha Josephson, Samantha Josephson.”
Rowland’s parents have expressed shock at their son’s arrest, and believe that he was at a party when the kidnapping and murder occurred, Fox’s WACH reports. But his father, Henry Rowland, said that his son should pay the consequences if he is proven guilty.
“If he did it, I'll be the first one to put him behind bars, lock him up, and throw away the key, but he didn’t do it, ain’t no way,” he said.
