A man accused of murdering his stepdaughter, who was found dead at her university halls of residence, did not initially tell anyone he had visited her in the hours before she died, a court has heard.
Carla Georgescu, a second-year psychology student at the University of Lancashire, was discovered unresponsive at Ribble Halls in Preston on February 5 this year – on what would have been her 20th birthday.
Her stepfather, Nathan Owens, 35, is on trial accused of her murder, which prosecutors allege was the culmination of a 'dangerous sexual obsession' with her.
Alleged attack and cover-up
It is alleged that after driving from Hartlepool to Preston in the early hours of February 4, Mr 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.
Mr Owens denies the charge, as well as charges of strangulation and GBH, Lancs Live reports.
In the days before Carla died, the prosecution alleges Mr Owens accessed videos of himself having sex with an effigy wearing Carla's nightdress and with her toy dolls. When detectives examined her bedroom, they discovered Mr Owens' DNA on her body and in the room, and a sex toy close to her body, the court has heard.
Wife unaware of visit
On the second day of the trial at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday (October 7), the jury heard how Mr Owens' wife – Carla's mother – was completely unaware of the early-hours visit while she was asleep at their home in Hopps Street, Hartlepool.
She only learned her husband had left the house the day after her daughter had been discovered dead, she told the court.
Speaking from the witness box, Janina Georgescu described how her daughter was 'happy and excited' when she had visited her on the weekend of January 31. They had shopped for birthday gifts and spent the evening at Carla's accommodation – Ribble Hall – before Mr Owens joined them for dinner the following day, she said.
"I would say she was excited and very happy," Ms Georgescu told the jury. "Perhaps the most happy I have seen her since she was a child. Things were going really well for her."
Defendant's behaviour after alleged murder
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 had also written a book and was speaking to agents about getting it published, she said.
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.
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 was 'shocked and very angry' when the police left, adding: "I don't remember what he [Mr Owens] said to me. I remember he was crying. I went over and hugged him. I wasn't crying."
She said Mr Owens then offered to make the funeral arrangements – but still did not mention he had seen Carla in the early hours of February 4.
It was only when Ms Georgescu spoke to the mortuary the following day that the defendant admitted he had been in Preston, the witness said.
She said Mr 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. On February 4, Mr Owens had been 'his normal self' and they had been shopping together and taken a walk on the beach near their home, she said.
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 Mr Owens had a good relationship and Carla was 'tactile' with her stepfather.
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, she said.
Online boyfriend's statement
The court heard a statement from Carla's online boyfriend, who said they had met through shared interests on 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"
Carla replied: "Goodnight beautiful", the jury was told.
Carla 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.
