Judge Andrew Womble sentenced Robert Rathmann to life without parole for the murder of Samantha Coppola.

Life without parole is the sentence on Friday's first-degree murder verdict. WITN reported the term and did not name the judge. WCTI and The Daily Reflector both name Judge Andrew Womble. Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 are the two dates those accounts give for the move to Grimesland. A curtain rod is in the Reflector's account of previous reports. It is not in WITN or WCTI.

WITN, in a story by the WITN Web Team published Oct. 30, 2026, at 3:23 p.m. EDT, reported that a Pitt County man was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of his girlfriend in 2022. It reported Robert Rathmann was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury Friday, according to the Pitt County District Attorney's Office, and that he pleaded not guilty on Monday. Monday, in a story dated Friday, Oct. 30, is Oct. 26. The story does not print Oct. 26. WCTI, by News 12 staff, timestamped 4:56 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, without a zone on the page, reported that Robert Edward Rathmann was found guilty of first-degree murder that day after a four-day jury trial, according to the Pitt County District Attorney's Office, and that Judge Andrew Womble sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Daily Reflector reported Oct. 30, 2026, that Robert Edward Rathmann, 37, was convicted in Pitt County Superior Court after a four-day trial, according to District Attorney Faris Dixon, and that Judge Andrew Womble sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. WITN printed Robert Rathmann. WCTI and the Reflector printed Robert Edward Rathmann. Age 37 is the Reflector's figure. WITN and WCTI did not print an age. Without parole, which WITN printed, and without the possibility of parole, which WCTI and the Reflector printed, are not the same phrase. The Reflector's opening says he was charged with killing her with a curtain rod. WITN and WCTI did not name a weapon.

WITN reported that in October 2022, Pitt County deputies were called to a mobile home on Highway 33 and Weston Road for a welfare check after Samantha Coppola's friends and family said they had not heard from her. It reported her body was found in the home, that the district attorney's office said there were clear signs of someone cleaning up around the scene, and that officials believe the 39-year-old woman had been killed several days before being found. It reported Rathmann was charged with her murder on Oct. 21, 2022. WCTI reported the two moved to the Grimesland area on Oct. 10, 2022, that friends and family last heard from her in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2022, and that they requested a welfare check on Oct. 17. It reported deputies found her body concealed inside the residence she shared with him, that investigators found evidence someone had attempted to clean up the scene, and that they suspected she had been killed several days before she was discovered. It reported the investigation was led by Pitt County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Travis White. The Reflector reported her body was discovered Oct. 17, 2022, at 592 Weston Road outside Grimesland, according to previous reports, and that Dixon's office said Friday the body was concealed in the home and there were clear signs of clean-up. It quoted the announcement: "Given the state of the scene and injuries the victim sustained, it was suspected homicide, which investigators believed happened several days before the welfare check." It reported detectives led by Sgt. Travis White found evidence indicating Rathmann had killed her. It reported they moved to Grimesland on Oct. 11, 2022, and that her family last heard from her a day later. Oct. 10, which WCTI printed, and Oct. 11, which the Reflector printed, are not the same move date. A day after Oct. 11 is Oct. 12, which is the last-contact date WCTI printed. Highway 33 and Weston Road, which WITN printed, and 592 Weston Road, which the Reflector attributed to previous reports, are not the same address line. WITN did not print Grimesland, Oct. 17, or the word concealed.

What a 2023 hearing contained is in the Reflector, not in WITN or WCTI. The Reflector reported, from statements at a June 2023 bond hearing, that the two met after Rathmann moved to Pitt County following his release from prison in Michigan, and that they had last lived with his aunt, who told them to move out due to aggressive behavior. It reported that on the night of Oct. 12 he took Coppola's car to Fayetteville, and that on Oct. 13 he was arrested for a burglary in Pitt County, where he allegedly threatened a man with a knife and demanded to see the man's girlfriend. It reported a prosecutor said in 2023 that deputies arrested him after chasing him through the woods, and that he was in jail on the burglary charge when deputies charged him in Coppola's death. Oct. 13, in that account, and Oct. 21, 2022, the charge date WITN printed, are not the same day. It reported the bond modification was denied, and that he had been charged twice for attempting to assault detention officers. It reported Coppola's mother told that hearing, "He brutally murdered my daughter," and, "Please don't let him go." It reported he was transferred to Central Regional Hospital in Butner for psychiatric treatment, and that his lawyer told the court at the time that he has a family history of bipolar schizophrenia as well as a traumatic brain injury. Those are the Reflector's sentences about a 2023 hearing. They are not testimony WITN reported from Friday. A family history a lawyer described, and a diagnosis a court found, are not the same thing. The Reflector did not print a finding.

WCTI reported Assistant District Attorneys Jordy McCaffity and James Antinore prosecuted the case, and that the district attorney's office thanked Sgt. Travis White, Detective Nathan Hollingsworth, Lt. Wallace Moore, the Pitt County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit, and the North Carolina State Crime Lab. The Reflector reported the same two assistant district attorneys and did not print that thank-you list. WITN did not print the prosecutors' names or the judge's name. Friday's finding, in all three accounts, is guilty of first-degree murder. The term, in all three, is life without parole. The not-guilty plea on Monday is WITN's sentence. It is not a sentence WCTI or the Reflector printed. A plea of not guilty on Monday and a guilty verdict on Friday are the sequence WITN reported. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.