Family elated after white man pleads guilty 35 years after murdering Black man in racially motivated killing
Finally, justice has been served.
William “Bill” Moore, on Thursday, plead guilty to his role in the brutal murder of Timothy Coggins, some 35 years after getting away with the crime, thus finally closing the cold case.
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Moore’s plea comes six weeks after his brother-in-law Frank Gebhart was found guilty in the 1983 racially motivated murder over a white woman. The men viciously stabbed Coggins and then dragged his body behind a truck before dumping him in a field, the Daily Mail reports.
Moore was sentenced to 30 years in prison and must serve 20. Gebhardt, 60, received life in prison.
“This has been a team effort from the beginning,” the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page.
“We promised that we all would fight this fight as hard as we could to the very end to get justice for Timothy and his family. We kept that promise, finished the fight, and we will continue to stand by and support the Coggins family.”
The case went cold for decades, but was re-opened after a tip in December 2016.
Along with Gebhardt and Moore, three other people were charged with obstructing justice. Two of them reportedly worked in law enforcement at the time.
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Investigators found evidence of the murder still on Moore’s property after they torn down a well finding a white tank top, shoes, a chain, and a knife.
“Today marks the end of a long and arduous journey for the family of Timothy Coggins,” said Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Benjamin Coker.
“My heartfelt thanks goes out to law enforcement for their work on the case. May Timothy rest in peace, and may his family begin to heal.”
“We never thought that we would be here. We thought Tim had been forgotten,” Heather Coggins said. “To get a guilty verdict? We have been elated.”
