Inset left: Samantha Coppola (obituary). Inset right: Robert Edward Rathmann (Pitt County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The mobile home park in Grimesland, N.C., where Rathmann killed Coppola (Google Maps).
A North Carolina man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend shortly after the couple moved in together.
On Friday, a Pitt County jury found 37-year-old Robert Edward Rathmann guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Samantha Coppola.
Shortly afterward, 1st Judicial District Superior Court Judge Andrew Womble sentenced Rathmann to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The killing took place sometime during the second week of October 2022.
Family members told The Daily Reflector that Rathmann and Coppola had only recently begun dating.
The couple had been living with Rathmann’s aunt, who asked them to leave because of aggressive behavior, the newspaper reported, citing testimony from a bond hearing.
They moved into a mobile home in Grimesland on Oct. 10, 2022. The small town is about 12 miles east of Greenville.
Evidence presented during Rathmann’s four-day trial showed that he beat Coppola to death with a curtain rod inside the mobile home.
Coppola’s obituary remembered her as a loving and generous person.
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“A free spirit, Samantha was a devoted mother, had a good heart and was loved by all,” the obituary said.
Coppola is believed to have died around Oct. 12, 2022. According to a courtroom report from New Bern-based ABC and Fox affiliate WCTI, that morning was the last time her friends or family heard from her.
On Oct. 17, 2022, Coppola’s family requested a welfare check. After no one answered the door, authorities entered the home and found her body. Investigators believed she had been dead for several days.
“We do have evidence that provided us with the probable cause in the ability to go ahead and make the arrest for murder,” Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance said after the discovery, WCTI reported.
Rathmann was charged soon afterward, though he was already in custody.
On the night of Oct. 13, 2022, he had been arrested on a burglary charge after allegedly driving Coppola’s car to Fayetteville, threatening a man with a knife and demanding to see the man’s girlfriend.
Although investigators did not identify a specific motive for the killing, authorities classified the case as domestic violence.
During a 2023 bond hearing, Coppola’s family said they had never met Rathmann.
“He brutally murdered my daughter,” Coppola’s mother told the court through tears. “Please don’t let him go.”
Bond was denied, and Rathmann’s life sentence means he will never be eligible for release.
