She was just like any other college student, getting ready to end one chapter of her life and begin another. But her promising future was cut short.
Samantha Josephson was set to graduate from the University of South Carolina this May, then had plans to pursue law at Drexel University in Philadelphia this fall.
One of Josephson's USC professor says the student had such high hopes of practicing human rights law or international law, and was filled with excitement when she got accepted.
However, those plans came to a tragic end when Josephson was killed weeks before walking the stage at graduation. Columbia police say she was kidnapped and killed after getting into a car she mistook for her Uber outside a Five Points bar on March 29.
Students and the entire community felt the affects of Josephson's death, and condolences poured in from around the country. Now the university plans to honor her with a posthumous degree during the university' spring commencement, a ceremony her parents still plant to attend, according to reports by the Aiken Standard.
“Her parents contacted me on Sunday to tell me they’re coming down for what would have been her graduation,” USC President Harris Pastides reportedly said during a visit to the Rotary Club of Aiken Monday.
Friends, family and classmates had countless good things to say about the 21-year-old as they shared memories during her vigil and funeral last week.
Her parents described her as being "full of life" during a March 31 bond hearing for 24-year-old Nathaniel David Rowland, the man charged in their daughter's death.
"My daughter, Samantha Josephson, was more affectionately known to her family as sweet pea," Marci Josephson said. "Let me tell you how my daughter, Samantha, was bubbly, loving, kind, and full of life. She had a plan, she worked hard, was graduating from college in May and starting law school in September. Unlike him, Samantha valued human life, and could never harm another soul. Unlike him, Samantha had love within her heart, and a purpose in her life, the life he brutally ended. He took away our daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, and a friend to so many. His selfish, unspeakable, and violent actions have created a hole in the universe, a hole in our universe, and we see the unimaginable ripple effect on our world."
Rowland is set to make his first court appearance on April 22.
