We start tonights broadcast with breaking news, sad news. One of the giants in americas long battle for civil rights has tied. Congre congressman john lewis has passed away. He was 80 years old. Months ago he announced he was battling stage four pancreatic cancer. This was a man who participated in the civil rights era. He was on the front lines of so many vital moments of our nations history. He was as kind as he was tough. A rare fixture in washington. This was a man who many people may have disliked his politics, but it will be hard to find a Single Person who did not like the man. Again, congressman john lewis of georgia has died. We now turn to our original report to begin this broadcast tonight. It is the story of race, justice delayed but justice finally received georgia. Here now, deborah roberts. Hi, welcome. Reporter its a hot sunday afternoon at the restaurant in griffin, georgia. Todays special, heather coggens famous egg rolls. Chili cheese egg roll, taco egg roll. Reporter the family roots run deep and wide in this small, southern town. We always tell everybody we dont have many friends because we have so many family members and so many cousins. Reporter a former miltown, griffin, 40 miles south of atlanta is no stranger to racial tensions. It may not be as much as it was back then. But theres still some pockets here, hot possibilities of racism here. Reporter and racism he suspects was behind the brutal killing of his 23yearold brother tim in 1983. Stabbed almost 30 times, tim was chained to a truck and dragged along the power lines. For almost 35 years his family lived with the agony. When he was brutally murdered, how did that affect the family . How did that affect you . Well, for me, it was terrible. To this day, im 53 years old right now, and it still affects me to this day. Reporter tims mutilated body was found with the symbol of the Confederate Flag bloodily etched into his chest and back. Those close to him suspected his murder have everything to do with the color of his skin. Had to be a terrible thing out here in the black dark. Know no ones coming. Nobodys coming to your rescue. I know he at some point in time he had come to the point where he realized theyre not only trying to hurt me, theyre going to kill me. And thats exactly what they did. Thats exactly what they did. Worst part about it, didnt kill him. Autopsy showed he bled out. This is the place. This is the place. I can feel it. We were shocked, like who would hurt this guy . This was tim, this was the smooth 200guy, the guy that nev bothered nobody, always helped somebody. Reporter jesse gates, just one of a handful of black deputies at the time of murder knew tim well. Tim told me he was dating a caucasian girl. I said you better watch yourself dating those sisters, some people dont accept things like that. Timothy cogen begi black man. Any of those things would infuriate you and anger you to the point where timothy cogence became a target. Reporter gates and oscar jordan both deputies working at the Spalding CountySheriffs Department say their investigation led them to a notorious trailer park on the whiteside of town. Where tims body was found i knew those people came from the trailer park, because who else knew about that secluded place. You had a lot of vicious people in that trailer park. For weeks, several of us worked on that case. When they took me off, they told me that it wasnt my job, because i was a road deputy, and i wasnt a, socalled, investigator, all because i was getting a little bit too close, along with oscar jordan. Reporter jordan says i handed off all his information to the Spalding CountySheriffs Office and Georgia Bureau of investigation. I reported back to the gbi at that time, and the sheriff. I was sharing everything that i learned, but i wasnt privy to whatever they were finding out. Next thing i know it ended abruptly. Its coming to me saying okay, weve reached a dead end. We cant go any further. I dont think the attention that should have been put on this case was put on this case probably due to, you know, the color. They didnt care about bringing the media in to try to figure out what happened, because it was just another black person dead. Reporter for three decades, the coggens case went cold. 30something years, no answers, no arrest. What was that like for your family . You just feel that youre in a small, racist, south georgia town and nobody really cares about the justice for your family and what had been done to your loved one. Reporter no arrest in tims case was hard enough for the family, then another stunning blow in 2001. I remember, i was laying down, and then i heard my mom scream as she burst into my room, and i asked her what was wrong, and she said he was dead. Reporter Eugene Coggins was timothys oldest brother. He had come down the street to my grandmothers house hallucinating from something i guess he had taken. He had been beating on my grandmothers door the and th grandmothers door, and they called the police on him. Reporter when officers showed up, they say 46yearold Eugene Coggins put up a struggle. In a failed attempt to restrain eugene, a 526pound officer laid across his back. Another pepper sprayed him in the face. He was transferred to the Spalding County jail. Deputies got involved and another struggle ensued. Eugene cogence was found in an isolation cell. He was found dead about two hours later. There was a lawsuit that resulted from the death of my brother eugene. With my brother tim, he being murdered. Then 2001, my oldest brother eugene cogence. Hed get killed here. All i can tell you is that my family have been having a hard time with this department in Spalding County. Reporter after eugenes death, they filed a civil suit. The medical examiner found eugene had been choked while at the jail. The suit was eventually settled with the family receiving more than 450,000. We really dont know what happened to eugene in that jail cell. Reporter over three decades, and after the wrenching loss of two brothers, the coggins family moved on with their lives. These and all things we ask in your precious and holy name, amen. Reporter but never forgot about finding justice for tim. This case had already gone through maybe three or four sheriffs, and no one would reopen it. Reporter until 2016, when agents from the gbi, along with the newlyelected sheriff, began looking for new clues in this old case. We were looking for some of the missing evidence. We came up with this small black notebook right here. Reporter it would be a notebook full of secrets. But would it point to tims killers . So im gonna hold on promoting you this quarter. Cool . Drop the taco. Get in the car. 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Without a doubt, its the right thing to do. I want to give closure to the coggins family. I want to let Timothy Coggins rest in peace. Reporter heather remembers her grandmother calling out to tim from her death pedestriabed. She was like oh, tim, help me tim. She always wanted js tustice fo him. Reporter in 2016, agents from the gbi reached out to sheriff dix. Within the bureau of investigation, field agents are assigned cold case files, and i was assigned the cold case file of Timothy Coggins. I was able to identify a couple of investigative leads in the case. I came and met with sheriff dix at the Spalding CountySheriffs Office. Reporter together, two agencies which had failed to solve the murder case decided to look for new evidence. We came up with a small, black notebook right here. Reporter that little black book shed light on both the sheriffs and Police Departments in the 80s. Nothing in the diary helped solve the murder but did reveal shocking details about the departments. In this notebook, it there are some indications that there were things going on with the klan that some people here at the Sheriffs Office knew about. Reporter the notebook turned out to be the diary of a former sheriffs deputy, written about a year before tims murder. His writings detailing how he had infiltrated the local ku klux klan to gather information. 1982. 15 minutes after midnight, myself and deputy [ bleep ] were sworn into the order by johnny knowles. Johnny knowles then stated he had a number of good klan in the police and Sheriffs Departments. Star, at this point unsure who to trust. Kind of sets the tone for the climate that was here, you know, back, you know, youre talking about a little bit around a year from the time from this writing till the time that Timothy Coggins body was found. As we went out in the community and began to really shake the bushes, things started to come together on the case. Reporter many of the witnesses pointed investigators to two men, frankie again hart and bill moore senior. Coming up through the 70s and 80s, both of them had pretty good reputations of being pretty rough people. Reporter witnesses like Willard Sanders said said said d admitted his role. He said i hear you found that body. I said yeah, we found it. He said well, me and bill put him there. Bill stabbed him and i tied the chain to him and drug him over to the power line. And i did report him, after he told him he and bill put him there, thats why i wonder why theyre making such a big todo about it now. If they wanted to do something, like to me they would have done it 30 years ago. Reporter many witnesses pointed to an old well on gepharts property. Reporter when Law Enforcement went digging, they found what they hoped would be strong physical evidence, including an old shirt. In the back of that shirt were what appeared to be seven stab wounds. And according to the autopsy report, Timothy Coggins was stabbed in the back seven times. Reporter in october 2017, authorities charged frankie gephart and bill moore senior with murder. The victims friends and family say now they can rest a bit easier. Reporter tyrone, what was that like for you to see two men, two white men, arrested in this case. 34 years went by, and you dont know who the killer is. To lose two brothers, ive always had this fear, hey, man, is something going to happen to me . Reporter gephart went to trial the next summer. It would be the first time the family heard the details of his death. When the trial went on, i was so interested because i wanted to know really what happened. And to hear what happened was awful. At one time he told me they stabbed him 18 to 30 times, drug him up and town tdown the power and stabbed him again. Thats what he told you. Yes, maam. Reporter finally, three long decades later a verdict is in. We unanimously find count one, malice murder, guilty. Count two, felony murder, guilty. Count three, aggravated battery, guilty. Reporter a moment tims mother never lived to see. A jury finds frankie gephart guilty of the murder of her son. He is sentenced to life plus 30 years. We are completely grateful to be here today. It has been 34 years for us to be here, and we are finally here. Reporter bill moore senior took a plea deal, and in august 2018 he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Today Heather Coggins has a message for the men who killed her uncle. You thought you got away with it, but you didnt. And now the days that you should be home, enjoying your family, living the rest of your days out on a rocking chair on the porch drinking your coffee, you are in a maximum security confinement, with no one. I think its a different time in Spalding County. Were a long way away from where we were in 1983. Ke tng better the best of our ability. Father god, we would like to thank you for allowing us to come together in celebration of Timothy Wayne coggins. Amen. Thank you for allowing the sun to beautifully set over all of us this morning. Yes. And the joy we feel is so profound. Yes. [cheers and our thanks to debra. You can watch more about the coggins family quest for justice on the cold dark night on hulu. Well be right back. S . Ok . Thats 15 percent on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . Dj khaled to be your motivational coach . Yo devin remember to brush in a circle motion. Thank you. Dj. Khaled. Tiny circles, devin. Do another one. Another one. Is this good . Put in that work, devin. Dont give up. Geico. Save an extra 15 when you switch by october 7th. Save an extra 15 when you switch struggling to clean tough messes with wipes . Try mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. Just wet, squeeze and erase icky messes in microwaves and on stovetops for an amazing clean, get the power of mr. 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Im so excited for this because i didnt have to wear spanx or shoes. Do not pan down. With the world in crisis, and science being questioned in a violently divided country, i jumped at the chance to Say Something that potentially ends my career. Having said that, lets talk about cancel culture. Please dont cancel me. When the internet first started it was a whimsical way to chat with your friends, send your life savings to a nigerian prince, and limewire entire third eye blind albums. It came to your house on a cd and it was enjoyed sparingly. But then came twitter. And things got messy. People got messy. At first we were excited. We were like, oh, wow, i can tell quiznos they suck while im on the toilet . What Alien Technology is this . And we began to publicly post whatever we thought whenever we thought it. A 700tweet thread about which del taco sauce is the worst . Go for it. Some dick is kicking your seat on a delta flight to houston . The world must know about this. That dress is black and blue, you idiots. Tweet oh, no, she brought up the dress. It all seemed like a good idea