CAUTION: Some language used during the live streaming trial testimony may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
GRIFFIN, Ga. -- The cold case trial of the 1983 murder of 23-year-old Timothy Coggins is continuing on Tuesday after explosive opening statements took place on Monday.
Thursday, witness testimony continues .
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. Murder charges were filed against 59-year-old Frankie Gebhardt and 58-year-old Bill Moore, Sr.
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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 defendant Gebhardt, and the prosecution says since then Gebhardt has told several people about the murder.
"You see this man makes admissions over the last 34 years and those details about the crime scene though are never released," said prosecutor Marie Broder. "You'll hear that. Multiple people he tells. You'll hear that he's not ashamed."
Gebhardt's attorneys asked the jury to pay close attention to each person who will testify in the case, including a convicted felon named Christopher Vaughn. The state called Vaughn as a witness on Wednesday afternoon.
Gebhardt supposedly discussed the murder with Vaughn long ago, but he did not immediately come forward to police.
"You're going to hear that 22 years or so later, after Mr. Vaughn is in prison for child molestation that he came forward and wanted to give information about this case," defense attorney Scott Johnston said.
Johnston mentioned the witness could be hoping for a deal on his prison sentence for testifying.
While Gebhardt is on trial now, Moore will be tried for the murder at a later date. The obstruction charges against Bunn, his mother and Huffman will be tried separately.
PHOTOS | Timothy Coggins murder arrests
PHOTOS: Timothy Coggins murder arrests
Immediately after opening statements concluded, Judge Fletcher Sams asked the jury to be excused from the courtroom and asked one of the witnesses, Brandy Abercrombie, to be brought in. As a witness, Abercrombie was supposed to be sequestered and unable to see or hear any trial coverage. However, bailiff's discovered she was watching a live stream of the trial.
Abercrombie is the daughter of the Bill Moore, Sr. who will be tried separately for Coggins' murder. Sams found Abercrombie in contempt of court and sentenced her to 20 days in jail.
The jury was brought back into court and testimony began immediately.
A Coggins family friend, now a sheriff's deputy, says he had warned Tim of dating white women in Spalding County in 1983. He testified that he recalled a Ku Klux Klan presence in the county along with what he called a "racist mindset."
He said that Tim ignored his warnings and bragged about a "beautiful white woman" he was dating at the time. One of Coggins' sisters testified shortly before the lunch recess saying that family members had received three items at separate times after her brother's death.
She said they received a bloody white shirt, a brick with a note attached and a dog's headless body with a note. They took the last two items as threats as they were told to be quiet or "you're next."
Judge Sams, said he realized emotions were running high in relation to the case and cautioned supporters of both Coggins and Gebhardt before the trial got underway Monday morning. He warned against outbursts and facial expressions, including the rolling of eyes or smirks in the courtroom which he said may influence jurors.
