CAUTION: Some language used during the live streaming trial testimony may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
GRIFFIN, Ga. -- The murder trial of one of two men accused of brutally killing Timothy Coggins in 1983 could go to the jury as early as next Tuesday.
On Friday, jurors heard a profanity laced audio recording between Frankie Gebhardt, one of the men accused in the murder, and police. Gebhardt repeatedly denied any involvement in Coggins' murder.
Another man, Bill Moore, Sr., is accused in the case, and his trial will take place at a later date.
Throughout the week, jurors heard testimony from witnesses who said Gebhardt told them about committing the murder, and that Gebhardt claimed it was he and Moore who did it together.
Coggins' brutally beaten body was found near power lines off Minter Road in the town of Sunny Side in Spading County on Oct. 5, 1983. Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said Coggins was murdered after socializing with a white woman.
Investigators said the murder remained unsolved for years. In late 2017, the GBI reopened its investigation after receiving new leads. After new interviews, law enforcement officers were able to make five arrests which included a detention officer from Spalding County and a police officer from the town of Milner, located to the south of Griffin.
The Spalding County Sheriff's Office charged Milner Police Officer Lamar Bunn, his mother Sandra Bunn and Spalding County Detention Officer Gregory Huffman with obstruction in the case.
On Thursday, several witnesses day testified about their conversations with Gebhardt, with one witness alleging that Gebhardt said he threw the knife down a well.
Willard Sanders testified he has known Gebhardt since the defendant was about 6 years old. Sanders said after Coggins' body was found, Gebhardt told him that he and Moore killed him and put the body there.
Sanders alleged Gebhardt provided details of Coggins being stabbed, chained behind a vehicle and dragged down the road.
On Thursday afternoon, GBI agents testified about the excavation of a well last year on Gebhardt's Spalding County property. The knife from the murder was never recovered originally. The victim's top shirt, shoes and socks were also missing.
When the well was excavated, what appears to be part of a shirt, along with a burned shoe and sole were found. Also recovered was a wooden handle and two pieces of a knife blade.
The well was inside a shed and had been filled with trash and other items over the years.
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In their opening statements, prosecutors said they would show how defendant Gebhardt along with Moore, murdered Coggins, detailing more than 30 injuries, including stab wounds to the chest and back and lacerations from being dragged behind a truck.
The state says the murder took place 10 years before DNA evidence and over the course of 34 years, a good amount of evidence was lost -- a burden they will need to overcome.
Before he was killed, Coggins was seen arguing with Gebhardt, and the prosecution says since then Gebhardt has told several people about the murder.
Gebhardt's attorneys asked the jury to pay close attention to each person who will testify in the case.
