A throng of more than a thousand mourners gathered to bid farewell to the New Jersey co-ed who was stabbed to death after getting into a car she thought was an Uber.
“I will always love you, think about you, worry about you, and I will always have your voice inside my head saying ‘Dad,’” grieving father Seymour Josephson said during a tear-filled eulogy for his slain daughter Samantha at Congregation Beth Chaim in West Windsor.
“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.”
At the mention of her name, many of those in attendance broke down in sobs.
The dad lamented how his bright daughter’s promising future was cut short. She was set to graduate from the University of South Carolina in June and had already been accepted to two law schools.
“She told me she had gotten a [partial] scholarship to Rutgers and I was very, very happy. Then she called about 10 minutes later and told me she had been offered a full ride at Drexel. I started screaming!” he said.
The Garden State native’s body was found by turkey hunters just over 12 hours after she was spotted getting into a car outside a bar in Columbia, South Carolina’s Five Points area. Police have arrested Nathaniel Rowland, 24, and charged him with kidnapping and murder for the grisly slaying.
Samantha’s boyfriend revealed Tuesday that he knew something was wrong moments after she got into the car.
“I was on the phone tracking her to make sure she got home safely and immediately knew there was something that was wrong,” beau Greg Corbishley said during a vigil in South Carolina.
It was not immediately clear what method he was using to track her.
Rowland’s dad, Henry, meanwhile, defended the accused killer, saying “he’s a good kid” and there “ain’t no way in the world he could do this,” but added that “I know it’s my child, but if you’re wrong, you’re wrong — period. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it — you got to pay the consequences.”
In the wake of the tragedy, South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill requiring Ubers and Lyfts to display an illuminated sign to make them easier to spot. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has said he would welcome such a law in the Big Apple.
Samantha will be interred Wednesday at Perrineville Jewish Cemetery in Perrineville, NJ.
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