Timothy Coggins: Georgia Black man was stabbed to death for dating White women, killers jailed after 35 years
SUNNYSIDE, GEORGIA: A gruesome murder of a Black man in October 1983 in Sunnyside, Georgia shook the people in the area to the core. Timothy Coggins was stabbed multiple times and tortured for dating White women. The 23-year-old’s body was found near a power line on October 9, 1983.
According to reports, Coggins was not just stabbed multiple times, he was also tortured, chained, and dragged behind a truck in a field. “He had seven stab wounds to the front of his chest. And then he had a cross-cut across the chest. And then, [on his] back, it was the same way. I was later told that it represented the Confederate flag,” former Spalding County Sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Jordan told ABC News. “When I reported back to the sheriff ... I told him I did not know who this individual was. There was no way that I could know, because he was so disfigured.”
Jordan added: “The worst part about it [is] they didn't kill him. [The] autopsy showed he bled out. Thrown behind a pile of wood. Left to die.”
Now the brutal death of Coggins is the subject of ‘In The Cold Dark Night’ from ABC News ‘20/20’. It has been said that before his death, Coggins had been dating a white woman. At the time, after Coggins’ death, police investigated the case, but no arrests were made. “It was something that really devastated us all. because we never knew what happened or how it happened … it was just a mystery,” Coggins’ brother Ramon said. While another brother Tyrone added: “We were shocked. We’re like, ‘Who would hurt this guy?’ You know, this was Tim. This was the smooth guy. The guy that never bothered nobody. Always helped somebody.”
The suspects in Coggins' murder remained free for nearly 35 years until 2016 when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reopened the case. In 2017, two White men -- btrothers-in-law Frankie Gebhardt and Bill Moore Sr. who lived in the trailer park near where Coggins’s body was found -- were charged with the murder. They went to trial in the summer of 2018.
Prosecutor Marie G. Broder said the reason behind Coggins’ killing was his dealing with marijuana in White neighborhoods as well as dating White women. The killers wanted to send a message to other Black people through his murder.
“Timothy Coggins was a young Black man in 1983 who refused to follow societal norms. He was not following the rules of 1983, if you will. And if you were a Klan member or a racist, any of those things would infuriate you and anger you to the point where Timothy Coggins became a target … that needed to be eliminated, and a message that needed to be sent,” Broder added.
Gebhardt was ultimately found guilty of the murder in June 2018 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. He faced charges that included malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another. After the sentencing of Gebhardt, Coggins’ brother Tyrone said: “We never thought that this day would come. We always hoped that it would come, we’ve just been so happy that my brother finally, finally got justice.”
Moore was given 20 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and concealing the death of another.