Rowland Trial: State and defense rest, closing arguments Tuesday

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - After day five of testimony in the Nathaniel Rowland murder trial, both the state and defense rested their case.

Rowland is accused of kidnapping and killing Samantha Josephson in March 2019 when she reportedly got into his car in Five Points thinking it was her Uber.

CASE BACKGROUND | Trial of man accused in UofSC student’s kidnapping, death set to begin

Before the state rested its case a forensic pathologist testified Josephson had over 100 stab wounds on her body, and her cause of death was multiple stab wounds.

Dr. Thomas Beaver performed the autopsy on Josephson.

He testified he took 170 photographs during the autopsy and 13 x-rays.

Dr. Beaver said Josephson also had abrasions on her cheek from where she was dragged.

He also said there were stab wounds behind her left ear that could have damaged her brain which could have been life threatening.

He also said there was a knife wound to her throat which could have been lethal.

Dr. Beaver testified there were parallel stab wounds in several areas on her body and it made him think this was an unusual murder weapon.

The defense showed Dr. Beaver the multi-tool with blood on it investigators found in Maria Howard’s trash, a location Rowland had access to according to the state.

“Now that it’s pulled apart it’s a singular weapon. So I thought it’s unusual. The knife folded in this way would make parallel wounds and it makes the single stab wounds if you hold it like this,” said Dr. Beaver.

After Dr. Beaver’s testimony, a video expert named Andrew Martin took the stand and showed video from Five Points cameras of the Chevy Impala driving around Five Points the morning of Josephson’s abduction for at least ten minutes just circling the area and at one point parallel parking and sitting with his lights off.

The video shows the Impala pulling into a parking spot just feet from Josephson standing on a curb.

Josephson tried to get into another wrong Uber, a silver car, but that car just pulls forward and Josephson goes back to the curb.

The Impala drives around and pulls into a parking spot and Josephson got into the Impala and it drives away.

The defense cross examined and asked the video expert if he ever saw Nathaniel Rowland in the vehicle and he said no.

The state rested its case and the defense had no witnesses because Rowland invoked his fifth amendment right.

Closing arguments will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Watch what happened in court Monday in the following videos:

PREVIOUS ROWLAND TRIAL COVERAGE

• DAY 1 | His DNA not found on Samantha Josephson, but someone else’s was, defense says
• DAY 2 | Suspect’s ex-girlfriend says she saw him scrubbing car with bleach
• DAY 3 | Gruesome evidence presented from night Samantha Josephson died
• DAY 4 | Her DNA was found under his fingernails, DNA expert says

LIVE TRIAL COVERAGE

Each day, look for a new story with the live stream of the trial on wistv.com or the WIS News app. Coverage will be updated throughout the day each day, until a verdict is reached.

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