The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Truck-dragging death case goes to trial
Two men allegedly bragged about killing black man 35 years ago.
The trial for one of two men accused of dragging a young black man behind his truck begins today — 35 years after the crime that shocked Spalding County.
Brothers-in-law William Moore Sr. and Frank Gebhardt allegedly bragged about killing 23-year-old Timothy Coggins, even arguing over which of them deserved the most credit for his death, prosecutors said at a hearing last November. The two men were initially to be tried together, but the defense was able to sever the charges.
Gebhardt will go first. With physical evidence lacking, prosecutors are expected to use his own words against him. According to investigators, Gebhardt told a girlfriend she better be careful or she might “wind up like that (racial slur) in the ditch.”
Another witness, a 10-yearold boy at the time, told police in 1983 he overheard Gebhardt say Coggins was targeted because he had been “messing around with his old lady.” Another said they believed Coggins and the two men were involved in a gun deal gone bad.
But race was unquestionably a factor, GBI special agent Jared Coleman testified at a pre-trial hearing for the two suspects.
“They were proud of what they had done,” said Coleman, who works with the GBI’s cold case unit. “They felt like they were protecting the white race from black people.”
The case was revived in March after a crucial tip from a witness that “filled in the gaps,” Spalding Sheriff Darrell Dix told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It was information from someone who knows exactly what they were talking about,” he said.
The tips began pouring in after that. From March to early October, investigators from Spalding and the GBI interviewed between 60 and 70 people.
The two suspects — who at the time of the crime worked as laborers in the local pulpwood mills — were spotted by multiple witnesses talking to Coggins outside a gas station that was just across the street from People’s Choice. They were later observed driving away in Gebhardt’s gold Mercury Comet.
But otherwise, there is little to connect Gebhardt and Moore to the crimes. Gebhardt’s attorney, Larkin Lee, has noted the lack of any DNA evidence, even though Coggins was stabbed repeatedly.
Gebhardt allegedly told a witness that he disposed of the knife down a well on his property. Coleman said authorities didn’t excavate the well because it would compromise Gebhardt’s home. And the chain used to drag Coggins back and forth up to seven times under the power lines off Highway 19 also was never found.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, with jury selection beginning today. Moore’s trial date has yet to be set.