SC girl is murdered after getting in wrong car

[ajax 2596]

 

She thought she was getting in an Uber.

A South Carolina man was charged Saturday with the kidnapping and murder of University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson; police say they believe he picked her up in a vehicle, killed her and dumped her body in a wooded area.

 

Police learned that after leaving the bar, Josephson requested a ride from Uber and was last seen getting into a black Chevy Impala.

 

About 3 a.m. Saturday, a canine officer with the Columbia Police Department detected a black Chevy Impala about two blocks from where the victim was last seen.

Holbrook said the officer initiated a traffic stop and asked the driver -- people have identified him as Rowland -- to step out of the vehicle.

The suspect took off but was taken into custody after a short pursuit.

Upon returning to the vehicle, the officer observed what appeared to be large amounts of blood inside. Police got a search warrant and found similar samples in the trunk and passenger side of the car. Subsequent testing confirmed that the blood belonged to Josephson.

Police also discovered the victim’s cellphone in the vehicle, along with bleach, germicidal wipes and window cleaner. Holbrook said the child safety feature on the rear car doors had been activated, suggesting that Josephson might have been unable to escape.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/south-carolina-man-charged-with-kidnapping-and-murder-of-university-of-south-carolina-student

 

[gecko 1104]

Hate crime?

[orange dream 1241]

Saw some of this over the weekend.  The thing that strikes me as a bit odd is that even if she gets in the wrong uber  car  at 3 am, I think/hope that 99.9% of the population would stop significantly short of murder and dump the body.  Really terrible coincidence to get the wrong .01% of the population pulling up at the same time you are expecting your Uber.

Very sad for her family.

Edited April 1, 2019 by orange dream

[Pato del Muerto 52409]

Weird phrasing to say a canine officer detected a black impala, and then initiated a traffic stop. Reads like the dog did it. 

[Blotto 23468]

Not that I'm particularly concerned about my safety, but I always double check the license plate on the car picking me up when using rideshare  to/from bars, airports etc... mainly to make sure it's my ride, and not intended for someone else. Bad luck indeed that she jumped in a car with a psycho.

[gecko 1104]

Long story.....friend of mine in Chicago went to pick up his daughter (no pics) on Rush and had 2 separate occasions where people tried to get into his car thinking it was their Uber.  I told him that's what he gets for driving an Accord.

[Drew 2378]

10 minutes ago, gecko said:

Hate crime?

You know how this works. Not a hate crime unless it's reversed.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21807]

11 minutes ago, gecko said:

Long story.....friend of mine in Chicago went to pick up his daughter (no pics) on Rush and had 2 separate occasions where people tried to get into his car thinking it was their Uber.  I told him that's what he gets for driving an Accord.

Did they ever find the bodies?

[WBT 20510]

17 minutes ago, orange dream said:

Saw some of this over the weekend.  The thing that strikes me as a bit odd is that even if she gets in the wrong uber  car  at 3 am, I think/hope that 99.9% of the population would stop significantly short of murder and dump the body.  Really terrible coincidence to get the wrong .01% of the population pulling up at the same time you are expecting your Uber.

Very sad for her family.

Not such a coincidence if the guy was trolling the bar area hoping for a drunk girl to get in alone.

[irishtexan 11459]

13 minutes ago, Drew said:

You know how this works. Not a hate crime unless it's reversed.

kind of the point of hate crime laws...

[crash_davis 23090]

this happens more often that most people realize.  scums of the earth pose as uber drivers to pick up single women.  many cases of rapes from women getting into the wrong car.  i believe there's been one or two other cases of women being kilt.

[smwhorn 481]

10 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

this happens more often that most people realize.  scums of the earth pose as uber drivers to pick up single women.  many cases of rapes from women getting into the wrong car.  i believe there's been one or two other cases of women being kilt.

This.  That is why I ask the driver who they are picking up before I get in the car.

[Llano Estacado 1257]

Not such a coincidence if the guy was trolling the bar area hoping for a drunk girl to get in alone.

Yep, has to be a fairly high hit rate.

Per Gecko’s story: I have some friends that live near Rice Village in Houston. Always been sensible with cars, he drives an Altima she drives an Explorer. They keep the auto door locks on all the time as they said it’s pretty much every weekend that someone drunk or careless approaches them randomly with a few attempting to open the back door.

[clapclapclap 9000]

Not a tame Impala.

[DallasHorn26 586]

I've done a little bit of Uber driving myself, and as a driver, I always ask passenger what their name is to confirm they are the right person. I've had a few instances where the wrong person tried to enter my car. 

As an Uber passenger, I've had someone hop in the car designated for me and I've had to cancel that ride to request another.  I've had one other time where the correct driver showed up to pick me up, but he was in a completely different car than what the app showed.  I canceled that ride and requested another just to play it safe. 

Always confirm driver's name and license plate before getting in.  

[ztejas 43385]

17 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Not a tame Impala.

Honestly the less I know about this story the better. 

[WhatTheBuck 28730]

1 hour ago, orange dream said:

Saw some of this over the weekend.  The thing that strikes me as a bit odd is that even if she gets in the wrong uber  car  at 3 am, I think/hope that 99.9% of the population would stop significantly short of murder and dump the body.  Really terrible coincidence to get the wrong .01% of the population pulling up at the same time you are expecting your Uber.

Very sad for her family.

It probably increases the chances of your getting caught if you don't murder them before dumping the body. 

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Weird phrasing to say a canine officer detected a black impala, and then initiated a traffic stop. Reads like the dog did it. 

[hopkinsnhorns 533]

Wow, hadn't even thought about the child locks.  Driving through a bar area late at night and just parking on the curb, you're almost assured some drunk is going to get in thinking it's their Uber/Lyft/etc.  If you're a deranged murderer, that's literally stealing candy from a baby.

[wutang75 435]

1 minute ago, hopkinsnhorns said:

Wow, hadn't even thought about the child locks.  Driving through a bar area late at night and just parking on the curb, you're almost assured some drunk is going to get in thinking it's their Uber/Lyft/etc.  If you're a deranged murderer, that's literally stealing candy from a baby.

Surprised we don't hear about this more often.  

[elfenix 34207]

the question is how many times has this guy done this before?

[Deej 76652]

Ann Kitchen is saying, "I told you so!" to anyone who'll listen. 

[MissingInAction 24875]

I enjoy hopping into random cars and pulling my pants down.

[Nivek 16887]

There are more bad people in the world than most people realize.
A modicum of situational awareness can go a very long way.
To convince anyone of this is extremely difficult and they accuse you of being paranoid or of living in fear.
I've quit doing so outside of my family and most of them are 100% in, which is great as 75% of them are females. 
Bad shit happens to guys too.. but it's typically easier to see it coming.

To convince people that bad shit happens isn’t difficult. To convince me that it is statistically significant is. I have dropped my wallet, phone, and had it returned with the money. I have taken Uber rides before without issue. I have staggered home drunk before no issue. I wrecked a motorcycle and got help from strangers who were less concerned about me bleeding than I was.
I have fixed a few cars on the side of the road before, given rides to random folks and refused payment. I haven given back wallets, called a credit card company when I found a card, and returned over $1500 in cash when I was 19 and broke and no one would have known if I had taken the money.

It was 3 Puerto Rican dudes who helped me push my car to a gas station and offered me money to fill it up... then they left. I barely had time to thank them, but I remember them 25 years later. I have had a few items stolen, including an inch worm when I was a little kid, and professional assholes (insurance, lawyers) have done me more financial harm than any stranger did.

[taybo20 2825]

The sheer panic she must have felt when the she couldn't get out of the car. Fucking horrible. 

[Continental Op 3934]

So the dad is out there demanding changes to lyft/Uber to make it more safe. Exactly what changes would have kept his dumbass daughter from hopping in the wrong car?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

8 minutes ago, Continental Op said:

So the dad is out there demanding changes to lyft/Uber to make it more safe. Exactly what changes would have kept his dumbass daughter from hopping in the wrong car?

If she didn't check the car, driver, and license plate number, it's kind of in Darwins hands.  And, don't they all have that little illuminated blue shield now ?

[Beau Vine 54073]

3 hours ago, hopkinsnhorns said:

Wow, hadn't even thought about the child locks.  Driving through a bar area late at night and just parking on the curb, you're almost assured some drunk is going to get in thinking it's their Uber/Lyft/etc.  If you're a deranged murderer, that's literally stealing candy from a baby.

literally?

[CooterBrown 17953]

So the dad is out there demanding changes to lyft/Uber to make it more safe. Exactly what changes would have kept his dumbass daughter from hopping in the wrong car?

This is what I don’t get. You have the car color, make and model, the license plate # and a pic of the driver. It’s fucking hard to get in the wrong car, at least sober.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13426]

Uber and lyft need to look at changes to make it easier to ID your driver and vice versa. I agree every rider should already check out the license plate but it doesn’t mean that a few changes to the app won’t hurt.  

Uber and lyft can’t prevent a psycho from killing people but  make the driver info larger on the screen for the rider. Set an easy alert process in the app if you’re in danger. If you miss a ride ( this girl must have missed her actual Uber/lyft ride), an alert goes to pre-determined friends.

Sometimes it’s about doing something to make people feel safer even if they aren’t safer.  Businesses do this everyday. 

[mulletpelini 5210]

28 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

 

This is what I don’t get. You have the car color, make and model, the license plate # and a pic of the driver. It’s fucking hard to get in the wrong car, at least sober.

 

For you, and me, and most men on here.

Not someone who is completely unaware of their surroundings, not paying attention and probably staring down into their phone.  Add in no logic and drunk, there you go.

[Beau Vine 54073]

8 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

A modicum of situational awareness can go a very long way.

 

I know this is a longshot, but I suspect that something on her cell phone was interfering with her situational awareness.  

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

3 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I know this is a longshot, but I suspect that something on her cell phone was interfering with her situational awareness.  

We need to ban cell phones.

[ztejas 43385]

How is this in any way on Uber/Lyft as opposed to the dude picking up girls and murdering them in the back seat?

People are so fucking stupid it hurts.

[Buzzrock 14884]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Uber and lyft need to look at changes to make it easier to ID your driver and vice versa. I agree every rider should already check out the license plate but it doesn’t mean that a few changes to the app won’t hurt.  

Uber and lyft can’t prevent a psycho from killing people but  make the driver info larger on the screen for the rider. Set an easy alert process in the app if you’re in danger. If you miss a ride ( this girl must have missed her actual Uber/lyft ride), an alert goes to pre-determined friends.

Sometimes it’s about doing something to make people feel safer even if they aren’t safer.  Businesses do this everyday. 

Give every car a QR code window sticker that the passenger scans before hopping in to confirm the car/driver is a match. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13426]

30 minutes ago, ztejas said:

How is this in any way on Uber/Lyft as opposed to the dude picking up girls and murdering them in the back seat?

People are so fucking stupid it hurts.

Let’s see. No one is saying that.

[hopkinsnhorns 533]

literally?

The misuse of literally is essentially a figure of speech at this point. Sounds better than figuratively too.

[ztejas 43385]

19 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Let’s see. No one is saying that.

Referring to her dad who is wanting Uber/Lyft to make changes to be safer... I get he just lost a daughter but Uber and Lyft are plenty safe. Driving yourself home after 3 beers is probably more dangerous.

The first thing I do when I open the door to any Uber or Lyft is ask "for ztejas?"

That is on top of everything the app provides to make it easy enough that a trained monkey could figure out which car to get into (and I'm only barely kidding).

It's awful that there are people like this in the world but that's the reality. Exercise caution, don't get too fucked up, maybe ride home with a friend. That's basically all there is to this story. 

(and not passing any judgement on the girl... I've done plenty of shit that could have left me dead. Just trying to be pragmatic about the situation)

Edited April 2, 2019 by ztejas

[Planet Houston 4924]

That’s just gonna kill his rating. 

[WhatTheBuck 28730]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Uber and lyft need to look at changes to make it easier to ID your driver and vice versa. I agree every rider should already check out the license plate but it doesn’t mean that a few changes to the app won’t hurt.  

Uber and lyft can’t prevent a psycho from killing people but  make the driver info larger on the screen for the rider. Set an easy alert process in the app if you’re in danger. If you miss a ride ( this girl must have missed her actual Uber/lyft ride), an alert goes to pre-determined friends.

Sometimes it’s about doing something to make people feel safer even if they aren’t safer.  Businesses do this everyday. 

Make them all drive big yellow cars with some other distinguishing characteristic, like maybe a checkerboard pattern down the side. 

[phdhorn 6224]

2 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Make them all drive big yellow cars with some other distinguishing characteristic, like maybe a checkerboard pattern down the side. 

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

16 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Referring to her dad who is wanting Uber/Lyft to make changes to be safer... I get he just lost a daughter but Uber and Lyft are plenty safe. Driving yourself home after 3 beers is probably more dangerous.

The first thing I do when I open the door to any Uber or Lyft is ask "for ztejas?"

That is on top of everything the app provides to make it easy enough that a trained monkey could figure out which car to get into (and I'm only barely kidding).

It's awful that there are people like this in the world but that's the reality. Exercise caution, don't get too fucked up, maybe ride home with a friend. That's basically all there is to this story. 

(and not passing any judgement on the girl... I've done plenty of shit that could have left me dead. Just trying to be pragmatic about the situation)

Instead of asking “for ztejas” ask “which passenger are you looking for” or something similar. The driver will have to know your name vs just saying yes. Even if you aren’t concerned about your security it will help with the drivers that don’t speak English well and just say yes.

When I drive (for uber) down certain streets like Rainey or the 7th street pick up area I have to keep my doors locked with all the fools trying to jump in. Learned my lesson when some chicks did that and I couldn’t get them out. They offered cash to take them somewhere but I declined for a couple of reasons.

1. No insurance in that situation.

2. No digital record of the trip and I don’t want to be accused of anything.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Larry T. Spider

[Rip76 4919]

8 hours ago, orange dream said:

Saw some of this over the weekend.  The thing that strikes me as a bit odd is that even if she gets in the wrong uber  car  at 3 am, I think/hope that 99.9% of the population would stop significantly short of murder and dump the body.  Really terrible coincidence to get the wrong .01% of the population pulling up at the same time you are expecting your Uber.

Very sad for her family.

I thought all of this as well.

[Helobious 9503]

36 minutes ago, ztejas said:

 

The first thing I do when I open the door to any Uber or Lyft is ask "for ztejas?"

“Yes.”

Yeah welcome to your murder. Might wanna think of a better question to ask the driver.

[Vic Mackey 46981]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Uber and lyft need to look at changes to make it easier to ID your driver and vice versa. I agree every rider should already check out the license plate but it doesn’t mean that a few changes to the app won’t hurt.  

Uber and lyft can’t prevent a psycho from killing people but  make the driver info larger on the screen for the rider. Set an easy alert process in the app if you’re in danger. If you miss a ride ( this girl must have missed her actual Uber/lyft ride), an alert goes to pre-determined friends.

Sometimes it’s about doing something to make people feel safer even if they aren’t safer.  Businesses do this everyday. 

How much easier can you get? They give you the name, make and model of their vehicle, license plate number and a photo of the driver. This is an unfortunate incident but there is absolutely no reason for anyone to get into a car without verifying it is indeed their actual rideshare. 

Uber/Lyft is as safe as it gets. It's the customers that can be the ignorant ones.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Just now, Vic Mackey said:

How much easier can you get? They give you the name, make and model of their vehicle, license plate number and a photo of the driver. This is an unfortunate incident but there is absolutely no reason for anyone to get into a car without verifying it is indeed their actual rideshare. 

Uber/Lyft is as safe as it gets. It's the customers that can be the ignorant ones.

I believe it's the Uber and Lyft drivers that have been raping, and killing the passengers. Not the other way around.

[Hate 20104]

Damn, I've never once checked the license plate or photo of the driver before getting in an Uber.  Guess I'm lucky I'm not a drunk young white girl. 

[Beau Vine 54073]

41 minutes ago, Helobious said:

“Yes.”

Yeah welcome to your murder. Might wanna think of a better question to ask the driver.

Next time, go with "for Bedouin?"

If he says yes, run like hell.

[Vic Mackey 46981]

10 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

I believe it's the Uber and Lyft drivers that have been raping, and killing the passengers. Not the other way around.

I mean more of how the app and business is set up to make sure people get into the correct rides to prevent this situation. Since that was what was being discussed. I am aware of the incidents from Uber/Lyft drivers. There are shitty people in the world in all walks of life. You will never be able to prevent crime. You will get some bad apples, sure. Think of how many rideshare rides are done at any given moment of every day. There is a site that has listed all the incidents from Uber/Lyft ranging from everything. Yes, it looks bad looking at it on the site but it's a very small percentage relative to the total amount of rides given total by these companies.

[CoTex 1160]

Is it possible that some girl was going to be murdered that night, no matter what?  Don’t people get murdered at work, bus stops, in their beds and just about everywhere else?

 

this dude saw something he liked, schemed up a play and then ran his play.  I’m not convinced that he was a rational sane person who found himself with a female in his backseat and this unexpected circumstance unleashed the latent murderer.