A group of five have been arrested for the 1983 murder of 23-year-old Timothy Coggins in Sunnyside, Georgia.
On Friday, Oct. 13, Frankie Gebhardt, 59, Bill Moore, Sr., 58, Sandra Bunn, 58, Lamar Bunn, 32, and Gregory Huffman, 47, were arrested and book at a Spalding County jail for their connection to the "racially motivated" murder.
According to ABC News, Coggins was discovered dead and abandoned near a power line in Sunnyside, Georgia on Oct. 9. 1983. The Spaulding County Sheriff's Office stated in a press release that the victim died as a result of multiple forms of trauma.
The search for the Coggins murders went cold after years of interviewing and investigating but new evidence discovered around March of this year reopened the case.
New interviews with eyewitnesses were conducted revealing details that were not in the original case. Police stated that witnesses were "living with this information since Coggins' death but had been afraid to come forward or had not spoken of it until now."
"We know that there's been tireless nights and we know that you guys have put in so many hours making sure that these people were brought to justice…'” said Coggins’ niece, Heather Coggins, according to ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV. “The only unfortunate part in this is that our grandparents, Timothy Coggins’ parents, are not able to see this today."
Those arrested have been charged by the Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. Gebhardt and Moore have been charged with murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another.
Sandra and Lamar Bunn and Huffman were charged with obstruction. Huffman, who was a detention officer with the sheriff's office, has also been charged with violation of oath of office.
"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," the sheriff's office said.
