Naval officer killed girlfriend after she refused abortion, Virginia officials say
A naval officer is sentenced in the 2022 death of his pregnant girlfriend who was found along a road in Virginia, officials said.
Emmanuel Coble, 27, was sentenced July 18 to two life sentences plus eight years, according to Hanover County court records.
Attorney information for Coble was not immediately available.
“This murder indicates someone who has a depraved mind,” Hanover County Judge John Harris said during the sentencing, according to WTVR. “I think he’s an extremely dangerous person, and I think he needs to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
The body of 20-year-old Raquiah King, Coble’s girlfriend, was found along a road in Glen Allen, about a 15-mile drive northwest from Richmond, the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 2022 news release, McClatchy News reported.
One day before her body was found, Coble took King to an abortion clinic in Virginia Beach, but she refused the abortion procedure, according to court documents, WRIC reported.
The couple was having problems because Coble didn’t feel prepared to be a father, according to court documents reviewed by WRIC.
Coble was arrested about a month after King’s body was found, according to court records.
He was convicted in April of first-degree murder, murdering a pregnant woman with intent to terminate pregnancy, the premeditated killing of another, concealing a dead body and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, McClatchy News previously reported.
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Naval officer killed girlfriend after she refused abortion, Virginia officials say."
