Racism theory confirmed in ’83 death of black man
GRIFFIN, GA. • When 23-year-old Timothy Coggins was found dead and disfigured beside a Georgia highway in 1983, the young black man’s family and neighbours whispered that his killing may be linked to racism.
“It was always mentioned, and it was always suspected,” said his niece, Heather Coggins, who still lives not far from where he was killed.
Now, more than three decades later, authorities say it’s been confirmed.
A Georgia district attorney says Timothy Coggins was killed for “socializing with a white female.” Prosecutor Ben Coker told a judge Wednesday that Coggins was dragged behind a truck through the woods, news outlets reported. Arrest warrants say he was stabbed and sliced to death and suffered “severely disfiguring” wounds.
A break in the cold case came in mid-October when local and state law enforcement officials announced the arrests of five longtime local residents on charges stemming from the slaying. All five are white; two worked in policing.
Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix was emphatic about the motive during an Oct. 13 news conference in Griffin, about 60 kilometres south of Atlanta.
“Based on the original evidence recovered in 1983 and new evidence and interviews, there is no doubt in the minds of all investigators involved that the crime was racially motivated, and that if the crime happened today it would be prosecuted as a hate crime,” he said.
Two men are charged with murder: Frankie Gebhardt, 59, and Bill Moore Sr., 58. Arrest warrants accuse them of stabbing and slicing Coggins to death and giving him “seriously disfiguring” wounds.
Moore and Gebhardt were just a year or two older than the victim, and Heather Coggins says she believes her uncle was acquainted with them. But she said the rest of the family didn’t know them.
“This is the first time we’ve heard their names and seen their faces,” she said in a recent interview.
Three other suspects — Sandra Bunn, 58; her son Lamar Bunn; and 47-yearold Gregory Huffman — are charged with obstructing the investigation. Sandra Bunn worked as a Spalding County detention officer until her arrest, when the sheriff fired her. Huffman was also a detention officer and later a police officer in nearby Milner. He’s charged with revealing the identity of a confidential informant who was being used against Gebhardt.