True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: College Killing - Night Out Ends In MURDER | Samantha Josephson - Deep Dive

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

A promising future, a night out with friends, and a final moment caught on camera — what happened to Samantha Josephson? In this heartbreaking episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha explores the tragic case of the University of South Carolina senior whose life was cut short just before graduation and law school. Through careful research and compassionate storytelling, this episode examines Samantha’s final hours, the devastating mystery surrounding her disappearance, and the investigation that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was 2019. Samantha Josephson was 21 years old. She was about to graduate from college and just got accepted into law school. Life was good. But what no one knew was that Samantha's life was about to end. And clues to what happened to her in those last moments were caught on video. Hi everyone. Welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlea. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. Today I want to introduce you to Samantha Josephson. She was born August 13th, 1997, and raised in Robinsville, New Jersey. She was the second daughter born to Marcy and Seymour Josephson. Her parents met when they were in college. Seymour was working at a supermarket that Marcy went to all the time, and Marcy would purposely use his lane

when she was checking out. Two years after Marcy first saw Seymour in that store, she was introduced to him by a friend. When they walked past the store one night, Seymour was like, hey, I used to to work there. And that's when Marcy remembered that he was the cute guy behind the counter. I love love stories like theirs. Sydney is Samantha's older sister. She was born 20 months before her, and they were very close. When Samantha was first born, Sydney would only refer to her as baby. Samantha Josephson was everybody's best friend. She got along with everyone. To her friends, she was known as Sammy and her family as sweet pee. Samantha was goofy, she was silly, and she was the life of the party.

And although Samantha had a playful side, there was another part of her that was fiercely loyal and serious. One of Samantha's friends, Jessica, would always say that no one knew what Samantha was up to when she was exploring and playing, but she was an enormous amount of fun, and she was feisty and funny. So much so that Samantha's friends would call her silly antics Sammy Hisms. As a teenager, Samantha loved Justin Bieber. One concert, she covered her face and face paint in order to catch the pop stars attention. One of Samantha's college professors described her as trying to improve daily. She was always trying to better herself. In 2015, Samantha graduated from Robinsville High School and studied overseas in Barcelona in 2018.

And she took this trip with her sister. And there are so many really awesome Facebook posts that they made together. I'm going to show you some of them up on the screen. Their parents were so proud of the fact that they were traveling together. learning together and that they had such a close relationship. When Samantha was a child, she was interested in beauty and cosmetics and she even considered studying cosmetology. She practiced doing her hair and her makeup and she even did this with her mom and her sister before she decided on a completely different career path. Samantha had big dreams and big aspirations.

She was determined to change the world. Whatever Samantha's future career path might have been, she wanted to make a difference. And that's when she decided she wanted to be an attorney. Since Sydney and Samantha were so close in age and only pretty much one year apart in school, Marcy told Samantha to take everything in that she could from the schools that her sister was visiting. From New Jersey, the family flew to South Carolina to tour the University of South Carolina. While Sydney ultimately chose to go to another university, the school made a very strong impression on Samantha. Samantha knew this is the college that she was going to attend after she was done with senior high school and no one was surprised when she received her acceptance letter to the university

of south carolina the following year marcy and seymour were initially reluctant because they didn't want to send their daughter so far away she was born and raised in new jersey she was a jersey girl but they discussed it in depth and having lived in the northeast her whole life seymour knew that the south was different from the northeast he felt like samantha had to take a new journey especially as a jewish woman he thought it would be good for her to be in a world that was completely different than the one that she already knew. Marcy and Seymour also worried about their daughter's safety. What parent doesn't these days, especially when they're sending their children off to college in another state. But they agreed that the University of South Carolina was likely safer than a large

city school. And they were happy that Samantha wanted to be there. The University of South Carolina is a public research university located in Columbia, South Carolina. It was established over 200 years ago. There are over 300 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs that are offered at USC. It's actually the largest university in the state, with business, engineering, law, and medical schools on its Columbia campus. Among the university's renowned traditions are sports and Greek life. Gamecocks are the university's mascot in the name of its sports team, which are roosters bred to fight. The university's varsity teams all compete at Division 1 level in the NCAA. Approximately 30% of the University of South Carolina student body is involved in fraternities and sorority life.

Marcy and Seymour dropped Samantha off at the University of South Carolina on her 18th birthday, and she acclimated immediately. She was having the time of her life. And it was nerve-wracking for Samantha's parents because their child was so far away. New Jersey was a 12-hour drive, or a pretty expensive plane right away. And Marcy and Seymour would not be able to reach Samantha immediately if she knew. needed something or if something were to happen to her, they could only hope that they had prepared Samantha for the real world. And Marcy and Seymour did. Samantha was a bright, responsible girl. During her first year of college, Samantha's entire family traveled to South Carolina to come see her. It was on parents' weekend. They watched a football game. They had a great time together. And Sydney

said it was really great to see her sister so comfortable at this university. Samantha was proud to show her parents and her sister her dorm room and her school. She fit in perfectly. While Samantha was enrolled at the University of South Carolina, she joined Alpha Gamma Delta, which is a sorority on campus. It was founded on May 30th, 1904 at the University of Syracuse and New York, and their mascot is a squirrel, and their colors are red, light brown, and green. The sororities charity focuses on fighting hunger, and there are over 201,000 members

in the over 199 college chapters and more than 250 alumni chapters across North America. So being in the sorority was kind of a big deal for Samantha. By her senior year, she was living at a place called The Hub with some of her closest friends, Carly, Jordan, and Jenny, and her best friend, Tegan Berry. The Hub is a really nice off-campus housing building, and let's take a look. Okay, this place is very nice. My college definitely didn't have anything like this. Wow.

And the way that it's advertised on the site is just so inviting. There's a spa, a gym, a nice big pool. I mean, look at this. It looks like they even have a projector to play movies while you swim. That's awesome. There's a real sand volleyball court, plus lots of places to tan and hang out. It was perfect for Samantha and her roommates. On the site, it also says it's a luxury living in a college town.

They boast a pool and sundack, work and study areas, technology and security, and lots of activities for students. They even have VIP apartments. And that gives you a lot more amenities like a private hot tub. Wow. Walk in closets, pretty awesome. And it looks like they've just thought of everything. Look at this virtual tour video. I want to live there.

It's like take my money. There's hammocks, a pool table, this place is so cool. And they go up to five bedrooms. I mentioned Samantha's roommate and close friend Tegan. Well, they really hit it off, both being from New Jersey. Tegan is from Clinton, New Jersey, and she did one year of community college before transferring to USC and she was set to graduate the very same year as Sammy in 2019. Teagan's friend and roommate Jacqueline was also transferring to USC and her older brother went there so she knew him, of course,

as well as some of his friends. And Jacqueline was the one that ended up introducing Teagan to Sammy, Carly, Jordan, and Jenny. And Teagan became very good friends with Sammy. They lived together at the hub their senior year. Teigen thought of Sammy as caring, compassionate, easygoing, and goofy. They'd hang out all the time. They'd go to football games, they'd eat together, go out to bars, everything. They went to a popular college party area that's in town called Five Points, and they went there very often, and they were very familiar with this area. This is a small area consisting of bars and restaurants in Columbia, South Carolina.

It's only a three-minute drive from the university, which makes it an ideal place for students to grab a bite to eat or have a few drinks or hang out with their friends when they're not in class. The main street in the middle of five points is called Hardin, and it's a very good place. right here on the map. There's all kinds of fun places to go for food, like Home Team Barbecue, this sushi place, where you'd probably find me, Blue Pizza, Breakers Bar and Grill,

and then there are bars like the Five Point Saloon, Rooftop Bar and the Bird Dog, as well as a whole bunch of cute shops. Clothing stores, smoke shops, fast food, it's got it all. It's perfect for college students, and it's only a seven minute drive from the hub, which is ideal for the girls.

Aside from making many close friends, Samantha also had a boyfriend at the University of South Carolina. His name is Greg Corbishly. As a matter of fact, the two of them met at five points. He's from Charleston, South Carolina, where he graduated from high school and eventually ended up attending South Carolina University. He was a year ahead of Samantha. And he and Samantha met one night when they were out having fun at the bars and five points, and they really just hit it off.

They started talking, and the friendship ended up evolving into something more, into more of a seeing-e-e-e-e-other-type thing. They were really just enjoying each other's company for about a year until they officially became girlfriend and boyfriend in the spring of 2017. And they did everything together. They were in constant contact, even more than the average couple. They only lived five minutes apart and they would be face-timing each other all the time checking in and they'd hang out almost every day. Going to restaurants, bars, football games. They were in love and they just wanted to spend all of their time together.

Greg was studying marketing with a minor in sports management, and he did end up graduating from USC in 2018. Samantha was a political science major with aspirations of going to law school. She was expected to graduate in the spring of 2019. And by 2019, Samantha and Greg had been dating for two years, and they were happy together. They were even planning on moving close to one another. They just wanted to wait to see what would happen after Sammy graduated. The next step was law school. So Greg was currently living back in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, but he would come see Samantha on a regular basis, even though it was like a two-hour drive. I think it was 120 miles away. Although Samantha did not want her senior year at University of South Carolina to end, she knew it was

time to begin preparing for law school. She applied to Rutgers University in New Jersey and Drexel University in Philadelphia. Samantha ended up being awarded a partial scholarship from Rutgers University and a full scholarship from Drexel. Despite liking what both schools had to offer, Samantha found it really hard to turn down a full scholarship to one of the country's top 40 premier research institutions. And as a result, Samantha chose to enroll at Drexel University in the fall of 2019.

And like I mentioned, Drexel is located in Philadelphia. So once Greg knew that Sammy chose Drexel, their plan after graduation due to the difficulty of law school would be that Greg was going to move. to Philadelphia and look for work. And they would not live together, but they would be close enough so that they could still spend a lot of time together and see each other whenever they could. Law Student Acceptance Day was held in Philadelphia and Samantha was flown there by the university. Her whole family met her there. And afterward, Seymour, Marcy, Sydney, and Samantha enjoy their

day at a winery. They spent a lot of time together, celebrating and getting excited about Samantha's future. And I love this picture of them. They look so happy. And they look so happy. And they were happy. On March 25th, 2019, Samantha Josephson returned to the University of South Carolina. Samantha only had one month to go before she graduated from college. It was a joyous time. She and her friends were ready to celebrate. They decided that they were going to take a break from their studies on Thursday, March 28th, and go hang out at five points. Thursdays was like Fridays for them because they only took classes from Monday to Thursday. And no matter where they started the night, every student seemed to somehow end up at five points. And after a night of

partying, the typical way to get home was good old Uber. The plan was that the girls would pregame at the hub, go to their friend's house to park their car. It's close to five points, only a few minutes walk, and they'd hang out at the bars and take an Uber back to the hub. Typical night. That day, Greg was in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. He started his day going over to his brother's house. He was looking after his dog because he had to work. The March Madness game, were happening that night, so he was watching them around 7.30 p.m. But Greg was in constant contact with Samantha the entire day as usual. They FaceTime together, called each other, texted, but Samantha really wanted him to come visit her that night. Her and her roommates, they had already

started pre-gaming before they headed out, and she was still begging Greg to make that drive and come hang out with her. That day, she had actually confided in Greg about a family member that found out some medical issues, and she was not in a very good headspace mentally. She was upset. So Greg told her, you know what, get your mind off everything. Just go out, enjoy some time with your friends. She had just worked really hard to get into law school. He told her she deserved to just have a carefree night, have fun, and celebrate. The NCAA game had just ended, so Greg headed out to the gym around 9.30 p.m. And he talked to Samantha a couple times while he was at the gym. She was still trying to convince him to come out that night. If he had, maybe things would have been different. But like I

said it was a two hour drive. And though he usually did say yes, this particular night he didn't want to because she was supposed to come see him two days later. They had plans for her to go up there to Charleston. They had a whole entire trip planned out. So it really didn't make sense for him to go all the way there just for her to be coming all the way back

a couple days later and it was also getting late. Greg got home from the gym around 11.30 p.m. And at this point, Samantha was still asking him to come out the night. Her and her friends were heading to their friend Edgar's house, which was only two minutes away from five points. Everything was going as planned. They left Edgars and they walked straight to the Bird Dog Lounge.

They got there around 12, 15 a.m. And that was their go-to place. They had really cheap drinks. It was just a typical normal bar. They were listening to music, talking, laughing, hanging out. Everyone's just enjoying each other's company. They had gone to the Bird Dog numerous times before this. And Samantha and Greg were in contact throughout the night.

just small talk via text about who was there, what she was doing, just casual conversation. After hanging out with her friends until about 2 a.m., Samantha decided she wanted to call it a night. Although the bar was closed around 3, Samantha had to work. She worked at Liberty Tap Room, and she had to be there next day around 11 o'clock, and she was punctual and diligent about her work. So for this reason, Samantha found herself waiting on an Uber outside of 5 points around 2 a.m. Her dad had given her his credit card number because he wanted to make sure that any time she needed a ride home, she could easily call an Uber. She didn't have to worry if there was no money in her account. He didn't want her to take any chances driving with someone who had been drinking or hitchhiking home or trying to walk home in the middle of the night.

And that made sense. Because Greg and Samantha were dating long distance, they decided to install this app called Find My Friends on their phones to make sure that they both got home safely when they weren't together. All of their friends also had this app installed, and it was super common for them to track each other to make sure they were safe. I do this with my friends and family and my boyfriend as well. I just use the Find My iPhone app, but the Find My Friend app is very precise, like up to the second. For example, if you're in a car, you can actually see it moving. After Samantha told Greg that she was leaving the Bird Dog lounge to catch an Uber, he wanted to ensure that she got home safely.

so he began to track her on the Find My Friend's app. As Greg watched, he noticed that Samantha was traveling in the opposite direction of her apartment complex. She was going south of the bird dog. As you can see on this map, this is where the bird dog is, and this is where Samantha was supposed to be headed back home. At first, when he saw this, he really didn't think much of it. He figured, okay, maybe she's going back to Edgar's. He didn't even know maybe she was with someone, a friend, but he kept tracking her phone. and it was still going in the wrong direction.

At this point, Greg was thinking, is Samantha mad at me? Maybe she's going somewhere and she didn't want Greg to know. So he texted her, but he didn't get an answer. So he called. Again, no answer. When he tried to call again, it went straight to voicemail. That's when he noticed that his text messages were marked delivered, but not read. And they both always had red receipts on.

Samantha read his messages. There wasn't a time she didn't. Either she was purposely not opening his texts, or she couldn't for some reason. So at this point, Greg was worried. He thought there might be something more serious going on. This would be absolutely terrifying to me. Not being able to get a hold of someone that I'm close to,

that I care about, that I love, I would be worried sick. Greg then attempts to contact her on Snapchat, and she didn't answer there either. But what's even more terrifying is when he goes back to the app, he can no longer track her location. It stopped. That had never happened, not even once, and their entire relationship, never. So what's going on? This is around 2.30, 2.40 in the morning, and the last place her phone tracked was at Montgomery Avenue. And this is in Rosewood,

which is pretty far out of the way from where she was supposed to be headed. And at this point, he wasn't sure what to think. He thought, okay, maybe she left her phone in an Uber, and it was just tracking where the driver was going. Greg just kept calling and calling to see if she would eventually pick up, but she didn't. It was time to dig deeper. He wanted to know what was going on. So Greg contacted Samantha's roommate and best friend Tegan, and he sent her screenshot showing where Samantha's phone had last been tracked in Rosewood, a suburb of Columbia. After talking to Greg, Tegan pulls up the Find My Friend app and she sees that her app track Samantha to the same location that Greg mentioned. So she and her other friends decided they're going to go to that location

and look around. They're looking on the grass. They're looking on the road. They don't see any sign of her phone or any sign of Samantha. They're still not able to get in contact with her. So eventually they decide to go back home to the hub. When they get there, Samantha was not there when they arrived. The room to her door was actually still open and her bedroom was empty. Her bedroom was before Tegan's down a hall. So Teagan had to pass it on the way to hers and she noticed Samantha's work shoes were still outside of her room. She knew that Samantha had to work the next day. So she kind of took a note of that. And then she proceeded to go her room and go to bed, still assuming that Samantha just maybe left her phone in an Uber, even though Samantha was not home at this late

hour of the night into the early morning, not answering any of their calls or texts. And her phone was no longer tracking after going in the totally opposite direction from home. I personally would not be able to sleep that night, but I don't want to judge what a particular person was going through because I have no idea. It's never happened to me. But that's how Greg felt. He couldn't sleep. Throughout the night, Greg called and called and texted Samantha. And after convincing himself that he was freaking out for no reason, he decided to try to get some sleep, a restless sleep at that. But he told himself Samantha would call him, the next day. And it was probably a big misunderstanding and they would have a hilarious laugh about it

and there was probably a story behind everything and it was going to be just fine. That's what Greg hoped. He finally got to bed somewhere between 5 and 5.30 that morning. That same morning though, hours later, Friday, March 29th, Teigen wakes up. It's around 10.30 and when she comes out of her room, she sees Samantha's door still open. Samantha is not there. And that's when she's, she really became concerned. She starts a group chat with all the roommates via text, and they come out to the living room, and they start to come up with a plan. Around 11 o'clock in the morning, Greg wakes up to his phone ringing. He had missed three calls already from Samantha's roommates, and the phone was ringing again. It was Carly. She informed him that Samantha was

still not at the apartment, and they were getting very concerned. After talking to Samantha's roommates, Greg immediately got into his car and started driving towards Columbia. Samantha's his roommates called the local hospitals and Greg just made his way down there to help them. Her roommates even went back to Montgomery Avenue, but they still didn't see any signs of Samantha. At this point, they called the jail, the police station. They wanted to check if maybe she literally got arrested the night before and that's why she couldn't have access to her phone. At that point, they also believed they had to wait 24 hours before reporting somebody missing. That is not true, but that's what they thought. So they were just kind of conducting their own research

until they finally called the police. They went back to the apartment, and that's when they decided to try her laptop to see if they could get into it, and they did. They were able to get into her email account, and they go to the most recent messages, and they locate a message from Uber, and it's a receipt from the night before.

It showed that Samantha had requested an Uber to pick her up from five points around 2 a.m. But get this, the ride was canceled. Not by Samantha, but by the driver. they see the $5 cancellation charge. The driver stated that Samantha never showed up. The car she was supposed to get picked up in was a charcoal color Dodge Charger.

After discovering what they found on Samantha's laptop, they called Greg in a panic. With no other option, Greg decides to finally call Seymour and Marcy in New Jersey to let them know their daughter is missing. Greg called Marcy first. She was out having lunch with a friend, and he told her nobody had been able to contact Samantha since the night before when she was at the bird dog lounge at 2 o'clock in the morning. Marcy hangs up the phone in a panic and she calls her husband.

This is her and her husband's worst nightmare. She asked Seymour if he had heard from Greg and he says, no, why? She said Greg had just called and said Samantha was missing and he's like, what do you mean? So she explained that she hadn't come back the previous evening and Seymour told Marcy to get home right over. away because they're driving to South Carolina. I don't know why they didn't just fly because it is a 10 hour drive. But Samantha's sister, Sydney received

that phone call from her father as well. It was around 1.20 p.m. in the afternoon and he told her to get home immediately. When Sidney asked why, her dad said that her sister was missing. But Sydney couldn't understand why her parents were freaking out so badly. Samantha's phone probably just died. And Sidney thought she was fine.

But Seymour insisted that Sydney get home now. When she finally did reach home in Robbinsville, New Jersey, Seymour and Marcy already started their 10-hour drive to Columbia, South Carolina. So while Seymour and Marcy were traveling there, Greg was arriving there. And by this time, he and Samantha's friends reported her missing to the police. And they all started to search for her themselves. Officer Amanda Muskeidas came out to the hub apartments, and she was the one that took the missing persons report that to.

It was around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. She took all of their information and then she started calling places. She did reach out to Liberty Tap Room and they were able to confirm that Samantha had not shown up for work that day. While she's sitting there writing up the report, she's approached by Greg. He had just arrived and he also provided her with information. That is when the officer was able to confirm that none of the roommates nor Greg had heard from her since the night before.

And she got in touch with Samantha's parents and they let her know that they did not know where She was. They had not heard from her either and that they were on their way there. She also obtained a photo of Samantha from Teagan. They wanted this for Ebola report. And this was sent out to the public and to the Columbia Police Department. After the officer left, Greg and Samantha's roommates decided to go back to the Rosewood area again, where Samantha's phone last pinged. And they knocked on doors. They went around the whole town. They wanted to see if anyone had heard or seen anything suspicious the night before. But no one had. They did the same thing they did before. Before, they looked at the roads and the grass.

They were really looking everywhere for Samantha's phone, but there were no clues left behind at that location. Everyone was also making social media posts. They were begging their friends to share information about Samantha in case anyone had heard from her or seen anything the night before. And the word was traveling fast. The campus was buzzing. Students were scared.

Everyone was wondering what could have happened in their close-knit college community. But they were holding on to hope. They were praying that Samantha would turn up. Some of her friends, like the family friend I told you about, her name is Jessica. She actually found out that Samantha was missing from Instagram. And I cannot imagine opening an app and seeing a bunch of posts about someone that I know. It's terrifying. But this became reality for friends like Jessica.

She immediately jumped out of a business meeting to call her mother and ask her, is this true? Is Samantha really missing? And her mom did give her the devastating news that Samantha's mom and dad were already on their way to South Carolina and that Jessica should probably come home from work. It's almost like they just had this feeling that this was not going to turn out well. The drive for her parents seemed to drag on for an eternity, even though Seymour was going over 80 miles an hour. And they were in constant contact with the police department. They were looking for updates minute by minute, as many as they possibly could get.

This trip just could not go by fast enough. They wanted to get there. They wanted to find their daughter. Back in South Carolina, Samantha's friends go down to the five points area. Now they're going to different establishments and asking the managers if they could look at the surveillance videos that they had. They wanted to see if they could spot Samantha. They wanted to see if she got into a car. And if she did, what did it look like?

Did she walk somewhere? They wanted anything they could get that would guide them in a direction to find her. They went to a place called the Breakers because it had a pretty big view of Main Street, but they didn't have anything for them. And after that, they visited the Bird Dog Lounge. This is where Samantha's friends saw her last. When they reached the bar, Greg talked to the owner and asked that they could view the CCTV footage

from the previous evening. They explained how their friend had gone missing and they wanted to track her movements and see if she got into someone's car. The bar owner recognized Samantha's friends and knew they were in distress. So he let them see the surveillance footage. The owner brought them into a room filled with screens.

And Greg pointed out the camera that pointed towards the street where the Uber drivers typically pick people up. It's right here in this area under this tree. This is where everyone in that area knows to stand so that their Uber can quickly stop and you can jump in and head out. As Greg and Samantha's roommates are reviewing the videos, they see Samantha. They see her enter the bar at 1243 a.m. since they knew her so well and she was wearing a bright colored shirt that night, it was easy for them to spot her in the footage. She was wearing a reddish-orrent top, black jeans, platform sandals, and a white braulette. Samantha could be seen drinking, dancing, and having a great time at the bird dog.

She appeared to be acting completely normal. Greg asked the owner if he could fast forward the footage to about 150 a.m. That's when Samantha was on the phone walking out of the bird dog and she called for an Uber. They watched closely. They saw Samantha outside the bird dog and they wanted to see. if she was being followed. But everything seemed perfectly fine. And I'm going to be showing you all of this footage. Here's Samantha. She comes out of the bar. She's standing in the designated Uber area or lift area, the ride share portion of the sidewalk that everyone goes to. This is where cars know to come pick up

the patrons. And nothing seems out of the ordinary. There's no creepy person following her. There's no one even near her. She's just standing there alone waiting for her ride. At one point, a gray sedan pulls up and as you see, it's kind of slowing down in front of that ride chair area. Samantha walks forward, she reaches for the door, but then the car drives away. The Uber either didn't see her or it wasn't actually her Uber. And to be fair, she had been drinking, so it's not uncommon for you to get a little confused. There's a lot happening. Lots of cars going by, lots of people outside. But then at 212, a black four-door sedan pulls up, pulls right into this little handicapped spot right under the tree. And once again, she steps off the curb, walks towards a vehicle, reaches out to open

the back passenger's door. And this time, she was able to open the door and she gets into the vehicle. However, her friends know the Uber canceled. So was this the Uber? Did she get inside? And then the driver canceled the trip and kidnapped her. It was so hard to watch this footage, especially since I know what's going to happen. After the traffic cleared, the video captured the car pulling out of that parking spot and then driving off. Greg and Samantha's roommates felt sick to their stomachs. They knew that Samantha's Uber ride had canceled, and they knew it was supposed to be a charcoal gray dodge. If Samantha's Uber was truly canceled, then whose car did she get into? Had she called someone else, there's just a series of crazy scenarios that begin to play out in Greg's head and they'd be playing out in mind as well.

Whoever drove away with Samantha, Greg hoped they had not hurt her. He immediately contacted the Columbia Police Department and he informed them about what he saw on that disturbing CCTV footage. Investigator Chris Odom from the Columbia South Carolina Police Department led the investigation into the dark vehicle that Samantha entered. She contacted a company called Statewide Security, and they have cameras throughout the Five Points area. So they requested the footage for the specific time that Samantha was outside the bar. Statewide security had video of the parking lot that was next to the Bird Dog Lounge, and I have this footage. From this angle, it shows Samantha standing outside the bar, but there was something unsettling about this recording. As the investigator watched, she noticed that in the 15 minutes prior to the second minutes prior to the bar,

Samantha entering that black Chevy Impala, it had circled the Bird Dog Lounge a number of times. The driver of this vehicle would stop for long periods of time, which was strange, then drive around, make U-turn after U-turn to come back to that area where these Ubers typically pick people up. It was though they were scouting for people. They were stalking, waiting. At one point in the video, Investigator Odom noticed that the driver of the Chevy Impala was positioned in that parking lot that I showed you in a way that would give them a clear view of Samantha. She was directly in their line of sight. She was clearly looking for her Uber and a person driving Madamella was able to see her.

To see her try to get into the gray car before he decides to pull around and pull into that spot. And this investigator noticed that the driver was so eager to get to Samantha. He actually jumped the curb to get into that parking spot. It was like a shark circling. It's a little. prey. As investigator Odom examined the video closely, she recognized Samantha entering the car at 209. Then she pulled up other video surveillance from this same security company and was able to track the vehicle. She also tried to zoom in so she could see details, but she could never actually make out who was driving. She couldn't see their face or any details about who they were. She did notice, however, that they were sitting pretty far back, like reclined in their seat.

That was apparent. And you can see it right here. If you look clearly, the chair, the actual seat of the car is leaned back. And I will outline the line right here of where it is. As far as she could tell, no one else was in the car except for this driver and Samantha. However, whoever was driving that car was the main suspect in Samantha Josephson's disappearance at this point. The investigator doesn't think it would have taken Samantha that long to realize her driver was not headed in the right direction. She also believed that the driver had to engage the child locks.

And that was what was preventing Samantha from opening the door or rolling down the windows. Having realized she was trapped, Samantha must have felt so helpless. That is absolutely terrifying. Investigator Odom tracked the vehicle throughout five points. And although the investigator searched as long as she could, the last place she could locate. the car on the CCTV footage was about one and a half miles away. And after the vehicle left that area, there were no longer cameras on the streets to record it. Based on the footage, Investigator Odom concluded that Samantha was picked up in a late model Chevy Impala black in color and immediately

issued an updated Bolo. However, the investigator could not determine the license plate number of that vehicle. The Columbia Police Department enlisted the assistance of SLED. It's the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Sled Lieutenant Kristen Grant received a call from her captain, telling her that she was needed in Columbia to assist the Columbia South Carolina Department. Lieutenant Grant interviewed Samantha's roommates once again and her boyfriend, and she asked them to explain everything that happened from when they last heard from Samantha. Tegan told her the last time she remember seeing Samantha was in the corner of the bird dog lounge and she was on her phone and it wasn't uncommon for the group to kind of split up. Once they got there, they would have other friends to talk to and it was

common for them to leave their little group at different times of the night and even go home at different times of the night. Whenever they felt like they had enough, they would just call it a night and leave. Tegan had no idea that Sammy was no longer at the bar until Greg contacted her later. It also wasn't out of the ordinary for Greg to reach out to her and others in the group. if he was trying to get a hold of Samantha. After talking to Greg, she explained, she pulled up the Find My Friend app and she sees the location where Samantha last track to.

And it was the same one that Greg had mentioned, so she talks about how they went out to that location, but they didn't see any signs of her there, and no one was able to contact her for the rest of the night. While the Columbia PD and Sled searched for Samantha and the vehicle that drove away with her, Marcy and Seymour sped down to South Carolina. Samantha's parents were keeping in touch

with investigators as they made their way there. They wanted to learn as many details as they could. A few hours into this 10-hour journey, Investigator Odom called Seymour to ask what their ETA was. After that phone call, Odom called Seymour and Marcy again and asked them, what time do you think you're gonna be in South Carolina? She told them when they did arrive,

they needed to head straight to the police station as soon as they got in town. Seymour did not have a good feeling about this. He literally turned his face away from his wife and he started to curse under the police his breath. His daughter was in trouble and he just had this feeling that this would not end well. Parents do end up having gut feelings. Sometimes they just know things. Meanwhile, across town, out in the country, about an hour away from Columbia, 25 year old Andrew Lee, he was turkey hunting

with his buddy Ryan out in this area called New Zion, which he had done many times. Ryan's family had land in New Zion, so they hunted there quite a bit since it's close to his house and there's easy access. So they arrived around 1.30 in the afternoon and they went to a dirt road called Black Bottom Road. Then they went down to a farm road. This is sort of like an access road that's not on the main road. And Ander was using binoculars to scan the area for turkeys. He was walking down there for about five to 10 minutes. But it was when he turned back around to head towards Black Bottom Road again and he was looking in those woods that something caught his eye. To the left, He saw something and he couldn't really make out what it was.

He kept looking and the more he did, the more he began to realize it looked like a body. And that's when he called his friend down there. They're both standing there looking in total disbelief. They didn't want to believe what they were looking at. Obviously, neither one of these men expected to see anything like that. They were in the middle of nowhere. It's not somewhere you just end up. It's somewhere you would deliberately go.

It's just farmland and woods as far as the eye can see. For example, this nearest store is where the pin is on the map. This is far from town. So they weren't exactly sure if it was a body, but they knew it looked like it, and they didn't want to go any closer. There were a lot of dense trees, and one of them was uprooted, and it was blocking their view. But they were just a few feet away, and they were certain they were looking at a deceased human being, just lying their lifeless in the woods. point they know they need a call for help but they don't know how to relay their location to authorities they don't want to lose this spot so instead they call a man that they know named mr

bubba morris he actually works for the department of natural resources and he's very familiar with this area they call ryan's dad to get bubba's number and once they call bubba he was out there within 10 minutes bubba goes down he looks at what they're looking at and he calls law enforcement and they waited for them to arrive they never went closer to the body. This is an area where you don't see random traffic. When you do see someone, it's someone you know. It's a local. People who live in this area hunt and hang out in this area. It's not uncommon for people to grab some beers and guns and head out into these woods to hunt. Have a few cigarettes, talk, you know, kids ride their four wheelers in this area. They have little get-togethers.

So when Mr. Morris got there, he parked, he walked on to where the guys were standing, and from about 25 feet away, he could clearly see clothing on what looked like a human body. None of these men want to get any closer. They were only trying to confirm what they were seeing. And once it was confirmed, in their minds at least, they called in the sheriff. This area that they're in is known as sort of a lover's lane, if you will. And Mr. Morris, ever so often has to go down there and break up kids being kids, hanging out, drinking, doing what teenagers do. But these aren't random kids, like I said, never in 26 years of him working in DNR, has he stopped someone that wasn't from this area? So he does immediately call

law enforcement. Sheriff Thomas Huckabee was the officer notified to go to the scene. He parked his vehicle up on that main dirt road and walked down to where the guys were standing, eventually making his way towards what was believed to be a body. And once he was close enough, he was able to confirm that it was indeed a deceased female. So he calls his supervisor to let him know. However, when Officer Huckabee went back to the station, he's looking through missing persons reports, and he realizes something. There was a female that appeared to look like the body that he saw. So we brought this to the sheriff's attention. It was the clothing that she was wearing and the ones that were described in the bolo that matched what Huckabee saw. The woman also looked very out of place for that

area. It looked as though she had been dumped there, not that her death had occurred there. That is when he alerted the CPD that their missing person may be the woman he found in the woods. Going to get a lot more interesting from here. Lieutenant Todd Shank from Sled was one of the first crime scene investigators on this scene. As he walked down the main dirt road, he did not see a body. It wasn't until he got to the footpath that the body was visible. I'm going to show you this and blur the body so you can understand exactly where she was found. She was laying sort of on her side with her left arm underneath her body, and her right arm was laid across her chest near her left hip.

And they could distinctively see a broken pair of platform sandals. One of them was still attached by the ankle strap, but it was no longer across her toes. Her shirt had been pulled up towards her head, and there was a drawstring that was on her shirt that was past her head. It was apparent that this woman had been stabbed. There was a very large amount of blood on the victim, and wounds could be seen all over her body. At first glance, without further inspection, there were visible wounds to her head, her shoulder, her right hand, her right leg, her neck, her back, and her right foot. They begin to look around because they're trying to ascertain whether the struggle and the killing happened at this location or elsewhere. They're looking for a knife or blood around the area, but based on where she was, how she was laying, and the lack of blood evidence at this scene, other than on her body,

they determined that the altercation did not happen at this area and that she was left at this location after her death. They don't touch or manipulate the body until the coroner gets on scene and gives them permission to do so. So until he gets there, the investigators are taking photos. They're documenting what they see. And when that coroner arrived, they continued their investigation by rolling the body over and looking at her back. And it was apparent that there were drag marks on her back, on her arms. She was dragged through the brush and the dirt on her back. They also look at her fingernails.

They take fingernail scrapings to check for DNA. They may exist underneath. And that's when they notice her fingernails were an area of interest. They looked ripped or broken or cut or torn. They did not look normal. They did not look right. And almost looked like someone had deliberately cut her fingernails off with some kind of instrument. so that maybe something wouldn't be found underneath.

They also take a buckle swab from her cheek to get a sample of her DNA, which they now call a known DNA sample. Since they know it's hers, they can now compare it to any other DNA that they find. They also take her fingerprints and her footprints. Or the same reason to rule them out when they find a crime scene if they do.

They also brought out their ALS, which is an alternative light source. This is a light that has a different wavelength than white light. Think about black lights. It enables them to see blood, bodily fluids, fibers, and bruises that cannot be seen with the naked eye. And when the victim was on the structure, they used the ALS to see a number of bruises on her sides, on various areas throughout her entire body. And there was also an ear that was in her right ear, but the one on the left was missing. So they ran a metal detector over the area to attempt to locate it, but they were not successful.

And I thought this was something they did above and beyond. I said that is so respectful to the victim to go looking for a missing earring, but I come to find out, this is actually common practice. I had just not heard about it in any of the other cases that I've covered. Although DNA testing would be required to confirm their findings, they do conclude that the body they found was that of Samantha Josephson. It was because she was dressed in the same clothes that Samantha had worn to the Bird Dog Lounge the night before. A couple hours earlier, Greg was the first to arrive at the police station. He was taken into a room. room with investigators. They were grilling him, asking him a bunch of questions. It had been 24 hours

since Samantha had gone missing. When he was done with that interview, they escorted him to the main lobby and he was surprised because all of Samantha's roommates were waiting there. He had no idea. And once they were all together, they escorted all of them into a conference room. And when they get in there, they're surprised again. That's where they see Mr. and Mrs. Josephson just sitting there looking sad and distraught. Seymour and Marcy had arrived in Columbia and headed straight to the police station as they were told to do.

And after getting there, officers led them into that same large meeting room. They looked around and that's when they noticed there was a man and they looked at his jacket and they saw the word, coroner embroidered on the back. It was obvious to them that they were not going to get good news. They were going to get news

that their daughter was no longer alive. and the investigators confirmed that even though they don't have the DNA results yet, they found a body that matched Samantha's description. Greg broke down. He fell to his knees and he actually blacked out. He was in such shock and disbelief. And Seymour and Marcy were just beside themselves. Seymour had to make the hardest phone call he ever had to make to his daughter, Sydney, in New Jersey.

He said the hearing Sidney scream, and not being able to be there for her hurt him, and it still does. When Seymour called her, she was waiting for their call at a neighbor's house. And as the neighbor answered the phone, Sidney saw her drop to the ground in tears. And she rushed to that phone because she wanted to hear it for herself. She already knew. She just wanted to hear it directly from him. She also heard her mother screaming in the background as he was telling her what had happened.

Sydney began to hyperventilate. She felt like she couldn't breathe. And for her parents, not being with her at that time was just so difficult. Marcy wasn't sure if it was a good idea that Sydney remained at home. But at that moment, she just knew she wished she could be there to hold her. An investigator with Sled, Lee Blackman, said that they needed a lead to move this investigation forward. He stepped out of that police station and this man said a prayer because he felt, feared that he would not be able to solve this case. It was then that he was told to return to

five points because they had just pulled somebody over that was driving a dark colored Chevy Impala. Every police officer in this city had been searching for a dark colored Chevy Impala for 24 hours. Since they got that bolo, they were looking. Canine handler Jeffrey Kraft patrolled that area near Samantha's last sighting that evening and before his shift, he had looked repeatedly at that footage of Samantha. Her entering that vehicle, he watched it time and time again, and he was diligently searching the streets looking for that car. Officer Kraft began his patrol in Rosewood in that community, and he started the shift Friday evening at 6 p.m. and his shift stretches into Saturday early morning. After driving around in that Rosewood neighborhood and up

and down the streets for hours, he found nothing. Officer Kraft then decides to drive back to fly points and within seconds of pulling toward the border of the town, the officer spots a black Chevy Impala. It matched the description of the car that Samantha got in. It was going down that main street hardened towards Blossom Street right here where this red star is on the map. Officer Kraft got behind the Impala at this point and he followed it towards five points. The car got into the left lane to take a left turn on Blossom Street. This is just two blocks away from the bird dog, roughly 800 feet. craft flashed his blue lights because the vehicle matched the description in the below, but the driver

kept going. He did not pull over. He kept driving down Blossom and then he tried to make a left turn down a street called Saluda Avenue. However, if you look here, this is a very unique road. It's divided by a grassy medium. There are two roads with the same name, one going in each direction. And it's very obvious to drivers, typically, which one you're supposed to travel down. I looked at the street view and it's really obvious to me. There's no light at the first street. See? There it is.

It's facing the opposite way. You would not turn left here. Besides, there's a one-way sign right here. This is the correct road that you would go down, except the driver didn't do that. The driver was going down the wrong way on the first road, on oncoming traffic, right here. There's even white lines, the turn arrows upside down.

The cars are facing the opposite way. How would he not know? But then he finally comes to a complete stop on Salute Ave, and granted, it was already pretty dark. We do have that dash cam video from the patrol car, and you see Officer Kraft following behind the car right here. Kraft immediately notifies dispatch of his find and signaled for the Impala to pull over. The whole exchange was recorded on Officer Kraft's body cam footage. However, what I find interesting is that the dash cam comes on first when you turn on the blue lights. moment you hit the blue lights, it actually starts to record the previous minutes to catch the moment

you turn on the lights, which is pretty cool. So it kind of jumps back in time and is already recording. So we get to see this vehicle make the wrong turn. Again, I don't know how he thought that he was going in the right direction. When he's pulled over, you already see him kind of rummaging around and moving in the car. So craft goes up to the driver's side of this vehicle. His primary goal at that point is to make sure everything's safe. He's also observing everything. And he too sees the driver moving around in the car. He didn't know Samantha's body had already been discovered. So he was hoping to find her alive inside the Chevy Impala. As soon as the officer got out of the vehicle to approach the car, he smelled marijuana. He gets up to the driver and he's cooperative at first. He's kind of slumped back

with his hoodie over his head, but he's answering all of Kraft's questions. Officer Kraft, asked a driver for his license, but the driver didn't have it. And the driver actually scoffs. If you listen carefully, when Kraft says, why don't you have your license? The driver says something about him leaving it at a club, but he gets very defensive right away. What's going on, sir?

You got a license on you? I'm also a credit. Columbia Police warrant K-9. No, no, license on you? No, no. When the officer inquired about who was smoking, the driver replied that he was, but it was before he left his house. Who's smoking the marijuana? I had to smoke earlier, sir, when I was in the home.

Feeling uneasy, Officer Kraft asked a driver to step out of the vehicle. The driver was still cooperative. That is, until Officer Kraft noticed his hands were in his pocket. All right, man, you got to step on out, man. Here's a deal, man. I pulled your car over because the matches the suspect. Get your hand to your pocket. What are you crazy?

Having no idea whether the driver of this Impala was about to take out a weapon, Officer Kraft ordered him to remove his hands from inside his pockets. And once the driver did that, Officer Kraft started to explain why he pulled him over, but the driver began to run. And Kraft ran after him, yelling for him to stop. Where do people think they're going to go to when they run? I'm really curious, like, why run? They have all your information, right?

because you left your vehicle behind. So it makes you look extremely suspicious to run. Get over here. As the driver fled, Officer Kraft called for backup and described his attire, his hoodie, his sweatpants. Watch carefully. As Kraft is trying to explain while he pulls him over, the driver puts his hands in his pockets,

which is one of the scariest things an officer can encounter, by the way. This person may have a weapon on them. So Crafts tells him to take his hand out of his pocket. The driver starts to turn, and Kraft tells him to get over here, and then he takes off running. With Kraft trying to keep up unsuccessfully, but within moments, the backup arrives on the scene

and runs after the suspect. Officer Kraft returns to the Chevy Impala. Other officers were called as well as that canine. Kraft goes back to the car because there was another occupant inside in the passenger side of the car. That's why he was asking who's smoking because there's two people in there.

The woman who was now outside the car was being questioned by one of the other officers on the scene. She was standing there near the front of the car providing officers with information. Now, Kraft wanted to make contact with this person because he didn't know who this driver was or why he would run. But because Officer Kraft smelled that marijuana when he pulled them over, he had probable cause to search the vehicle. He did search the interior of the vehicle and found a rose gold cell phone between the driver's seat and the center console. And he was also able to determine that there were remnants of marijuana on the driver's side floorboard. He located a set of keys with a pink key ring on it inside the car as well.

He took them and he placed them on top of the Impala along with that rose gold iPhone. Kraft scanned the back seat and he opened the trunk. But he didn't do a complete search because this was not the time to do that. He could tell something happened in this car. He needed professionals to be called in because there was a significant amount of blood. There were footprints on the windows. There were cleaning supplies, bleach in the car. it was a crime scene. And he needed a crime scene tech who was specialized in this area of expertise

to analyze and preserve the evidence. A second officer arrived at the scene when Officer Kraft asked him what kind of phone Samantha had. He wanted to know because his initial thought was that the rose gold iPhone belonged to her. And on the keychain, they noticed a USB drive and they wondered if this might be something a college student would carry. He knew the missing girl was a university, of South Carolina student.