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This article was written by WTOP’s news partner, InsideNoVa.com, and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
A Spotsylvania County man has been sentenced to 75 years in prison with 30 years suspended for the 2020 murder of his friend Brian Trotter, an aspiring rapper from Triangle.
Robert Coltrain, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on June 28 and was sentenced July 7, the Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He will serve a total of 45 years in prison.
Trotter, 25, of Kilmer Lane in Triangle was last seen by his father getting into a car with Coltrain to go to D.C. on Oct. 17, 2020. He was an aspiring hip hop artist who went by the stage name Kent Won’t Stop.
“Mr. Trotter gave his son a hug and said goodbye as Trotter left his residence with Coltrain,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth said in the release.
A Miami-Dade police report said Florida Highway Patrol responded to a crash on the Palmetto Expressway Oct. 25 involving Coltrain and his silver Acura.
Troopers towed the car to a nearby parking lot and became suspicious of Coltrain when he asked to remove his belongings from the car, which included a gun case, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said they were also suspicious because they noticed buzzing flies and foul smell around the car. Troopers opened Coltrain’s trunk and found Trotter’s body “wrapped in a piece of fabric and in an advanced stage of decomposition,” the AP reported. Trotter had been shot several times.
The investigation revealed Trotter was killed in Prince William County. The two had been friends for more than a decade, the AP reported.
“This was such a troubling case because of the lack of motive and the friendship that the victim and defendant shared.” Ashworth said. “My heart goes out to the Trotter family for the loss of their son. Although nothing will bring Brian back to his family, we can rest assured that justice has been served for his murder.”
