Inset left: Samantha Coppola (Obituary). Inset right: Robert Edward Rathmann (Pitt County Sheriff's Office). Background: The mobile home park where Rathmann killed Coppola in Grimesland, N.C. (Google Maps).
A North Carolina man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for murdering his new girlfriend just after they moved in together.
On Friday, Robert Edward Rathmann, 37, was found guilty by a jury of his peers in Pitt County of one count of murder in the first degree over the death of 39-year-old Samantha Coppola.
In quick succession, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by 1st Judicial District Superior Court Judge Andrew Womble.
The underlying incident occurred sometime during the second week of October 2022.
The couple had recently begun dating around that time, according to family members who spoke to The Daily Reflector.
Rathmann and Coppola had been staying with the defendant's aunt, who asked them to move out due to aggressive behavior, the newspaper reported, citing statements during a bond hearing.
The pair then moved to a mobile home in Grimesland — a tiny town located some 12 miles due east of Greenville — on Oct. 10, 2022.
Inside the mobile home, Rathmann beat Coppola to death with a curtain rod, according to evidence jurors heard during a four-day trial.
The slain woman's obituary remembers her fondly.
"A free spirit, Samantha was a devoted mother, had a good heart and was loved by all," the eulogy reads.
The woman's death is believed to have occurred sometime around Oct. 12, 2022. That morning was the last time friends and family ever heard from her, according to a courtroom report by New Bern-based ABC and Fox affiliate WCTI.
On Oct. 17, 2022, Coppola's family requested a welfare check. When no one answered, authorities entered and found the victim. The crime scene suggested she had been dead for several days by then.
"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 at the time of the discovery, WCTI reported.
Rathmann was quickly charged — and already in custody.
On the night of Oct. 13, 2022, he was arrested for burglary after driving Coppola's car to Fayeteville where he allegedly threatened a man with a knife and demanded to see the man's girlfriend.
While law enforcement never pinpointed a specific motive for the murder, police categorized the incident as domestic violence.
During a 2023 bond hearing, the woman's family said they had never been introduced to Rathmann.
"He brutally murdered my daughter," Coppola's mother told the court through tears. "Please don't let him go."
Bond was denied then. Under the terms of Rathmann's sentence, he will never be eligible for release.