Ex-boyfriend Convicted in Teen’s Murder

Aug. 7, 2022 – A Criminal Court jury deliberated about an hour Sunday before convicting a 25-year-old man in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend whose body he left on a North Memphis street corner in 2020, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Amy Weirich.

Keedrin Coppage was convicted of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He was automatically sentenced to life in prison for murder and will be sentenced later on the tampering conviction.

According to testimony, Coppage and 18-year-old Sabrina Nguyen had dated for about a year starting in the fall of 2018, but when she tried to end the relationship Coppage became angry and aggressive.

In December of 2019, he was arrested on several occasions for making threatening phone calls, assaulting Nguyen, and kidnapping her outside of 201 Poplar where she was going to seek an Order of Protection.

At about 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2020, witnesses saw Coppage pull up to the curb at Jackson Avenue and Maple Drive, remove her body from the trunk of the car, place it near the stop sign, and then drive away in her car. Police obtained neighborhood watch camera footage that confirmed these witnesses’ accounts

The medical examiner reported she had been stabbed 38 sharp-force injuries, including two fatal stab wounds.

At the time, Coppage had outstanding warrants for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated stalking, and theft of property which was Nguyen’s car. He was arrested the day after the murder and admitted placing her body at the intersection and discarding the clothing he was wearing at that time.

The case was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Marianne Bell and Venecia Patterson of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit which prosecutes cases involving homicide and domestic assault committed by intimate partners.