BENJAMIN D. COKER
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Griffin Judicial Circuit
08/16/2018
PRESS RELEASE
Today in front of the Honorable W. Fletcher Sams, defendant William “Bill” Moore entered a guilty plea for the murder of Timothy Coggins on October 7, 1983. He entered a plea to Voluntary Manslaughter and Concealing the Death of Another. He was sentenced to 20 years to serve, followed by 10 years on probation. He is banished from the Griffin Judicial Circuit. The family of Timothy Coggins and law enforcement were all in agreement with this guilty plea.
Timothy Coggins was killed over 34 years ago in a field off Minter Road. Law Enforcement closed the original investigation after two months. Special Agent Jared Coleman with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Captain Mike Morris with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office opened the case in December of 2016 and conducted hundreds of interviews. These two agencies, along with the Spalding County District Attorney’s Office, and the Fire Department used a Hydrovac system to excavate a well on the defendant’s property. It was the first time in the State of Georgia that such a system was used for well excavation. In the well, a white tank top, shoes, a chain, and a knife were some of the items recovered. Moore’s co-defendant, Franklin Gebhardt, was convicted by a Spalding County jury in June of this year and sentenced to life in prison.
District Attorney Coker said of the result, “[t]oday marks the end of a long and arduous journey for the family of Timothy Coggins. 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.”
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