From DNA evidence to weapon, here are 10 critical moments from Rowland murder trial

In a little more than a week, prosecutors outlined their case against Nathaniel Rowland, a 27-year-old Columbia man accused of killing University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson in March 2019.

Their case relied on expert witnesses, who testified about the forensics they believe link Rowland to Josephson’s death.

Now, after prosecutors and defense attorneys gave their closing remarks, the jury will have to weigh all of that evidence and decide whether they believe Rowland is guilty of murder or kidnapping.

Here are 10 pivotal moments from the seven days of the Rowland trial:

1. Rowland tries to fire attorneys

Before the trial even began, Rowland tried to fire his three court-appointed attorneys Monday in favor of a private lawyer.

“I just feel like she is not fighting for me,” Rowland said of Tracy Pinnock, the lead public defender on the case.

Judge Clifton Newman noted that Rowland’s request came on the eve of the highly publicized trial. The defense and the prosecution had spent two years preparing for it.

Further, Newman stressed, Rowland and his family did not have money to hire a new lawyer or expert witnesses to help make his case.

By the end of the day, Rowland agreed to stay with his original lawyers.

2. Opening statements paint gruesome picture of Josephson’s death

During his opening statement Tuesday, lead prosecutor Byron Gipson told the jury that Josephson had been stabbed more than 100 times, throughout her feet, throughout her torso, throughout her face, her neck, her hands.”

Gipson laid out the evidence that would be presented in the following days that would link Rowland to Josephson’s death: cell phone location data, DNA analysis, fingerprints, autopsy findings and video footage.

The defense argued in its opening statement that Rowland was innocent. Public defender Alicia Goode stressed that there was no DNA found on Josephson’s body or clothes that specifically linked Rowland to her murder.

Goode pointed to DNA found that was never linked to a known person.

“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.”

3. Josephson’s boyfriend takes the stand

Greg Corbishley, Josephson’s boyfriend, took the stand Tuesday and described talking to Josephson before she headed to Five Points the night before her murder.

Corbishley testified that Josephson was bothered by some news she got recently about a family member’s health, and he encouraged her to have a fun night in Five Points, one of Columbia’s entertainment districts, to get her mind off of it.

Once she was out with friends, Corbishley described using an app called Find My Friends to track Josephson’s location. When she mistakenly got into a car she thought was her Uber, Corbishley noticed the car was going in the wrong direction and tried to reach Josephson by text and by Snapchat, but was unsuccessful. Corbishley stopped receiving Josephson’s location at about 2:40 a.m., and the last location she shared was on Montgomery Avenue in Rosewood.

Corbishley also described the aftermath of Josephson’s disappearance. He reached out to her roommates, her job, local hospitals, the jail and filed a missing person’s report. They searched Montgomery Avenue multiple times and asked Five Points businesses to share their surveillance footage.

After viewing footage from Bird Dog and seeing Josephson, they contacted Columbia police, who began to investigate.

4. Ex-girlfriend testifies she saw Rowland cleaning weapon

On Wednesday, Rowland’s ex-girlfriend Maria Howard testified that she saw him cleaning a knife and blood out of his car hours after Josephson was killed.

Howard testified that when Rowland drover her to work hours after Josephson was killed, she could see blood in the back seat of his black Chevrolet Impala. She asked Rowland why there was blood in the car, but he told her to “mind my business,” Howard testified.

Later, after Howard returned from work, she took a shower. When she finished, she said she saw Rowland washing out his car and said she smelled chlorine.

After, Howard and Rowland were driving to Howard’s mother’s home, and Rowland put on blue surgical gloves and began cleaning his multi-tool with wipes.

5. Rowland tried to sell Josephson’s phone

The owner of a Columbia phone repair company testified Thursday that Rowland tried to sell him Josephson’s phone just hours after the student was killed.

Osharmar Williams, the owner of Cellular City on Monticello Road, pointed directly at Rowland in the courtroom and recounted the encounter, when Rowland tried to sell him a rose gold iPhone 7+ on the morning Josephson was killed.

Williams said he remembers seeing a picture on the phone, apparently taken at Christmastime that included a white woman, a detail that brought gasps from the section of the court where Josephson’s family was seated.

The prosecution showed surveillance video and photos from his store as a man in a black Nike-brand hoodie came in and tried to sell the iPhone. It was hard to see the man’s face in the surveillance video, but Williams identified the man as Rowland and pointed to him in the courtroom.

Later Thursday, the prosecution entered into evidence a black Nike hoodie that resembled the one seen in the surveillance video.

6. Investigator shows court the suspected murder weapon

Thursday, in perhaps the most emotional moment of the trial, State Law Enforcement Division Agent Dalila Cirencione showed the jury what investigators believe was the murder weapon.

Cirencione held up a multi-tool, which police found in a trash can at Rowland’s girlfriend’s house.

The tool resembles a pair of pliers with Swiss-Army-like tools embedded in both handles. Those tools include two different blades.

As Cirencione announced she would be revealing the suspected murder weapon and unwrapped the evidence from its opaque packaging, Josephson’s family hung their heads, fidgeted uncomfortably, reached across aisles to other family members.

7. Cell phones put Rowland, Josephson in Five Points

Former State Law Enforcement Division agent Eric Grabsky testified Friday that cell phone data collected from Josephson’s and Rowland’s phones put the pair together in Five Points during the early morning hours before she was kidnapped.

Grabsky is a forensic expert in cell phone location tracking, and worked with SLED for three years to help track and apprehend dangerous suspect using their phone data. He also mapped out historical cell phone data.

Using a Powerpoint with maps showing where cell phone towers used by their phones were located at and pointing toward, Grabsky detailed Rowland’s cell phone movements during the morning hours before Josephson was killed.

While in Five Points, Rowland and Josephson’s phones were using “similar towers in a similar area,” Grabsky said.

Grabsky went on to testify that Rowland’s phone late traveled east through Columbia and through Sumter. He also showed that at about 4:30 a.m., Rowland’s phone accessed two towers facing the direction of where Josephson’s body was located. “It’s possible,” that someone located where the body was used those towers based on a technique that uses distance from tower indicators to determine an approximate location, Grabsky said.

8. DNA evidence found on murder weapon, Rowland’s nails

DNA evidence was the focus of the day Friday, with South Carolina Law Enforcement Division forensic scientist Ryan DeWane taking the stand.

DeWane testified that Josephson’s DNA was found underneath Rowland’s fingernails, inside his black Impala and on the suspected murder weapon, a multi-tool found by investigators in Rowland’s ex-girlfriend’s trash.

DeWane testified that SLED also found “very strong support” that DNA found on the heel of Rowland’s black socks matched Josephson. They also found “very strong support” that DNA found on Rowland’s bandanna matched both him and Josephson.

Her DNA was also found inside of the rear passenger door of the Impala, the same door where a footprint matched to Josephson by a fingerprint expert was found. Investigators also found “very strong support” that Josephson’s DNA in the rear passenger side seat of the Impala, the back of the front passenger side headrest and the center console, DeWane testified.

SLED does not use the word “match” when it comes to DNA analysis, DeWane explained. Instead, they use a scale in which “very strong support” is the highest level of confidence.

During their cross examination, the defense focused on DNA found by investigators from people who went unidentified. On most of the items tested by State Law Enforcement Division investigators, multiple DNA profiles were found. The profiles were tested against a number of known samples, but, for many of those samples, some or all of the people involved in the case were ruled out as DNA donors.

9. Pathologist links Josephson’s wounds with suspected murder weapon

Medical University of South Carolina Forensic Pathologist Dr. Thomas Beaver testified Monday that during Josephson’s autopsy, he noticed several parallel stab wounds.

“That’s unique,” Beaver said. “It’s very difficult to put wounds exactly spaced apart and exactly parallel. It made me think that we were dealing with an odd weapon that could be easily identified.”

Prosecutor Byron Gipson handed Beaver the multi-tool, which prosecutors believes to be the murder weapon. Beaver held it up on the stand and described the blades.

“They are relatively parallel,” Beaver said. “They are bent at the tip and they are the size appropriate for the wounds that I saw.”

“This is the weapon,” Beaver said.

10. Defense rests its case without calling any witnesses

Just minutes after the prosecution decided to rest its case Monday afternoon, Rowland’s defense team followed their suit.

The team did not call a single witness or expert, and Rowland did not take the stand.

Reporter Lucas Daprile contributed to this report.