A North East man accused of murdering his stepdaughter after she was found dead at her university halls of residence did not tell anyone he had visited her in the hours before she died, a court has heard.
Nathan Owens, from Hartlepool, is on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of murdering 19-year-old Carla Georgescu. The 35-year-old denies the charge, as well as charges of strangulation and GBH.
It is alleged Owens attacked Carla with a knife and strangled her before discarding her phone, laptop, bedding and sexual items in the countryside as he returned home before dawn. Prosecutors allege it was the culmination of a 'dangerous sexual obsession' with Carla.
Last seen alive
Owens was the last person to see Carla alive after driving from Hartlepool to Preston in the early hours of February 4, 2025, jurors have been told. The prosecution alleges that in the days before Carla died Owens accessed videos of himself having sex with an effigy wearing Carla's nightdress and with her toy dolls.
The court heard that when detectives examined her bedroom they discovered Owens' DNA on her body and in the room and a sex toy close to her body. On the second day of the trial, on Wednesday (October 7), the jury heard how Owens' wife - Carla's mother - was completely unaware of the early-hours visit while she was asleep at their home.
Janina Georgescu told the court she only learned her husband had left the house the day after her daughter had been discovered dead. Speaking from the witness box, she described how her daughter was 'happy and excited' when she had visited her on the weekend of January 31.
Mother's testimony
She said they had shopped for birthday gifts and spent the evening at Carla's accommodation - Ribble Hall - before Owens joined them for dinner the following day. Ms Georgescu told the jury: "I would say she was excited and very happy.
"Perhaps the most happy I have seen her since she was a child. Things were going really well for her."
She told the court how Carla was looking forward to taking her best friend to a concert in Romania and meeting up with her online boyfriend for the first time. She said she had also written a book and was speaking to agents about getting it published.
Ms Georgescu said that on February 5 she became worried that her daughter was not picking up her messages and told the jury how she had asked campus security to check on her. A few hours later, Ms Georgescu, a clinical psychiatrist, said she received a telephone call from the police saying they would be visiting her at home.
Police visit and revelation
She added: "I was on the couch and I said, 'the police are coming.' Of course I knew what that meant because I had the same experience when Carla's father passed away."
"I think he [Mr Owens] appeared sad. I'm not very sure because I was in a state and I was not very perceptive but I think his eyes welled up and he turned red. He didn't say anything."
"He got up and I knew he was coming towards me to comfort me and I said, 'don't come near me', so he went to the kitchen area to start tidying things up."
She said when officers told them Carla had died - and it appeared she had taken her own life - her husband began to cry. Ms Georgescu said she said she was 'shocked and very angry' when the police left, adding: "I don't remember what he [Owens] said to me. I remember he was crying. I went over and hugged him. I wasn't crying."
She said Owens then offered to make the funeral arrangements - but still did not mention he had seen Carla in the early hours of February 4. She said it was only when she spoke to the mortuary the following day that the defendant admitted he had been in Preston.
Ms Georgescu said Owens claimed Carla had asked him to help clear some rubbish from her bedroom and take some incontinence pants to her, and he had agreed. She said that on February 4, Owens had been 'his normal self' and they had been shopping together and taken a walk on the beach near their home.
At this time it is alleged Carla was lifeless in her bedroom at Ribble Hall, Preston, and had not yet been discovered. Ms Georgescu also told jurors how Carla and Owens had a good relationship and Carla was 'tactile' with her stepfather.
She said that when her husband said he had been to help her daughter in the night she believed it was the sort of thing he would do.
Online boyfriend's statement
The court heard a statement from Carla's online boyfriend, who said they had met through shared interests in Instagram in 2025. From November they considered themselves a couple and they planned to meet up in Romania in February 2026.
They messaged every day and spoke once on the phone, shortly before Christmas 2025, he said. In a statement to the police in Romania, where he lives, he said they had discussed sexual fantasies but from what Carla had told him he believed she was a virgin.
He said they last chatted on Instagram's messaging around three hours before it is alleged Carla was murdered. Mr Botzja messaged Carla to say goodnight, as they did every night, telling her: "I feel like I'm falling in love again. We will see how things go in the real world... love ya xxx" The jury was told how Carla replied: "Goodnight beautiful".
Carla's was described by university friends as kind and positive and was planning for her future as a child psychologist. She had discussed returning to Romania after her studies and told friends she had never wanted to move to England with her mother as a child.
In January 2025 she had asked a member of the university's Neurodiversity Society for dating advice, saying she had 'internalised purity culture' and 'needed her first time to be special.' A student counsellor, who saw her five times before she died, described Carla as 'childlike' and 'not as worldly' as other students her age.
However he said although she was naive, Carla was intelligent, articulate and philosophical. He said Carla had disclosed 'fleeting' suicidal thoughts but he had no concerns she would act on them and was satisfied she could keep herself safe.
Mr Owens, of Hopps Street, Hartlepool, denies murder; strangulation; and GBH. The trial continues.
