The 1983 Murder of Timothy Coggins
In 1983, the world lost Timothy Coggins, a young Black man whose life was brutally taken away because he was accused of flirting with a white girl. The girl’s boyfriend and his friend, Frankie Gebhardt, and Bill Moore Sr., both white, viciously murdered Coggins and left his body in the woods. Shockingly, the police did nothing to bring justice to Timothy’s family, and it was later revealed that some officers were even members of the Ku Klux Klan.
It took decades for the case to be reopened, and finally, the two white men responsible for Coggins’ death were held accountable for their heinous crime. It’s truly unsettling to think that such a tragedy could occur and go unpunished for so long, but it’s a reminder of the importance of standing up for what is right and fighting for justice, even in the face of systemic corruption.