and that was the case with the murder of timothy coggins. mr. african-american male. his body was found in a clearcut area adjacent to a power line on the northern part of spalding county in an area known as sunnyside. he had been tortured. he was partially stripped and chained and drug up and down the power line behind a vehicle before his body was abandoned in a wood line. >> the death of tim was hard on my family. my mom, the way she raised us, to be strong. but with tim, death was -- it took a toll. 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. >> my memory of tim that always stick with me is the fact that he was very sweet, and he was a very outgoing person. and a lot of tim friends was white. but, you know, tim was the type of person he'd get along with anybody. the coggins are well known, so he is a coggins. everybody knew him. so he had friends, friends and more friends. if you was looking for tim, you knew to go to the p

and according to the autopsy report, timothy coggins was stabbed in the back seven times. >> reportern october 2017, authorities charged frankie gephart and bill moore senior with murder. >> the victim's 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 don't know who the killer is. to lose two brothers, i've 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. >> that's what he told you. >> yes, ma'am. >> 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, agg

. >> timothy coggins was a young black man back in 1983 who refused to follow societal norms.uld infuriate you and anger you to the point where timothy coggins became a target. a target that needed to be eliminated. >> reporter: but there were no arrests. just rumors about klansmen and police turning a blind eye. then the case went cold. >> you just feel that you are 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. >> did that haunt the family, not having those answers? >> absolutely. absolutely. it haunted our family 26, 2016 when sheriff dix said i think we'll re-open the case. >> my motivation to solve the case without a doubt is the fact that it's the right thing to do. >> reporter: in 2017 a new sheriff promises a fresh look at the cold case. his department and the georgia bureau of investigation begin looking for new evidence. and what they find will lead to answers and closure for the coggins family. [ applause ] >> reporter: after 35 years this case was far from a slam-dunk for pr