COLUMBIA, S.C. — The trial of Nathaniel Rowland began this week and will continue Monday.
He is accused of killing University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson in March of 2019.
Here's a look back at what we've seen so far in the trial that consisted of over 20 testimonies, multiple pieces of evidence presented, and a lot of information for the jury to sift through.
Monday was a day full of jury selection that didn't wrap up until Tuesday. The prosecution and defense landed on 12 people and four alternates consisting of 10 women and six men.
Tuesday, the prosecution and defense gave their opening statements: the state said that Rowland had his eyes fixed on Samantha and that they will prove his connection to the murder weapon, location of her body, their phones tracking together, and more.
The defense said that although the death of Samantha is tragic, Rowland was not responsible. Their main argument: Rowland's DNA was not found on Samantha's body despite her apparent struggle.
Wednesday, testimonies began with the turkey hunter who found Samantha's body, 25-year-old Anders Sullivan Lee.
"I guess we didn't expect to see something like that, you know, turkey hunting - especially, you know, out in the middle of nowhere like that," he said. "I mean, it's not somewhere you just end up."
Testimony continued with body camera video of Rowland's arrest that prosecutors said show him being pulled over and then running from police.
A former girlfriend of Rowland, Maria Howard told jurors she saw blood in his car hours after the murder. She also said there was blood on part of her work uniform that she left in Rowland's car and she saw him cleaning out his car with what she said smelled like bleach.
The last testimony, Wednesday, was from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agent Todd Schenk who went through multiple photos and items of evidence he collected at the site of Samantha's body as well as in Rowland's car.
"There was - one of the first things we noticed was suspected blood on the rear passenger side rim of the vehicle," Shenck said. "The outside of the vehicle."
Thursday, the court began with a Columbia cell phone business owner who testified that Rowland tried selling a rose gold iPhone to him after the killing.
Another SLED agent, Delilah Cirencione, also took the stand and went through many items of evidence collected from Rowland's car as well as from the trash at Maria Howard's home. That Included a multi-tool that prosecutors said is the murder weapon, bloody items including a bed sheet and clothing and cleaning supplies. She also recalled not seeing any marks or wounds on Rowland when she was tasked with taking photos of him for evidence.
Another SLED agent Dawn Claycomb went through the item of clothing Samantha was wearing when her body was found also on Thursday.
Court finished up Thursday with testimony from SLED agent Britt Dove who said the rose gold iPhone found in Rowland's car was registered to Samantha.
"I was able to acquire a name for the user account of that phone," Dove said, "I was also able to get names from the computers that that phone had been synced with also.
He said Josephson's Mac Book Pro username was one of them.
"Sami's MacBook Pro 421 - user Sami Josephson," he said.
Friday, the court started with an ATM video of someone using Josephson's debit card at two different ATMs - one in Sumter and another in Columbia.
An expert testified that cell phone tower locations place Rowland and Samantha's phones together leaving five points and then Rowland's phone traveling to Clarendon County near where the body was found and then back to Columbia.
Print analysis showed Samantha's footprint on the back window of Rowland's car and Rowland's prints on an envelope found at the location of the body.
But the last testimony may have been the hardest to follow so far. SLED DNA analyst Ryan Dewane testified many things but most importantly:
-Samantha's DNA was found under the suspect's fingernails
-However, Rowland's DNA was not found under Samantha's fingernails
-Samantha's blood was found on the blade of the multi-tool that also had Rowland's DNA on it
-But one other man's DNA was also found on the handle
"The partial YSTR profile of the major contributor to this mixture is from unidentified male individual B," Dewane said. "The partial YSTR profile of the minor contributor to this mixture matches the YSTR profile of Nathaniel Rowland."
The court will resume Monday with more testimony from the state.
WLTX has coverage of the proceedings here on WLTX.com, the News19 YouTube page, and on WLTX's Roku and Amazon Fire apps.