Crime Junkie - CAPTURED: Timothy Coggins Killers

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

In 1983, a young Black man named Timothy Coggins is found brutally murdered in Spalding County, Georgia. But just as promising leads are uncovered, the case is inexplicably closed. And it remains that way for more than 30 years, until a new investigator comes across the file and realizes just how solvable this murder could be.blackandmissinginc.com/audiochuck For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/.Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/captured-timothy-coggins-killers/

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and today I have a really important and tragic story to tell you all. It's a case that was left cold for decades until a new team of investigators finally unearthed evidence that would help bring the truth to light. And this case has given all of us here at Audiochuck a special mission to help drive social change. This is the story of Timothy Coggins. On the morning of Sunday, October 9, 1983, a group of hunters are walking through a large

open field just north of Griffin, Georgia. It's early fall, so I imagine they're probably expecting a pretty relaxed day spent enjoying the outdoors. But that all changes as they approach this absolutely massive oak tree, the hanging tree. There, on the ground near the hanging tree, the hunters discovered a body. And there's absolutely no question about what they found. No mistaking it for a mannequin or anything like that. This body is horribly disfigured and completely lifeless. So these hunters know that they've just walked into a bloody horrifying crime scene. They immediately alert the authorities. When officers from the Spalding County Sheriff's Department arrive to the scene, they waste

no time getting to work and processing whatever evidence they can find. They see that the victim is a black male. His body is only partially clothed. He is shirtless, and his pants and underwear have actually been pulled down to his knees. And they also see what looks like multiple stab wounds on his torso. According to a Cold Case Files episode about the murder, investigators also notice tire tracks throughout this open field, creating a large square. In one of the tracks, they find a bloody sweater that's been turned inside out. And all through the tracks, they find even more blood. So even at this early stage, investigators are starting to think that whoever committed this heinous crime likely dragged the victim behind

their vehicle before abandoning the body. They don't find a knife or any type of weapon. The only other items found at the scene were a Jack Daniels whiskey bottle and a wooden table leg that had been wrapped in black electrical tape. The victim's body is sent to the coroner's office for autopsy, which reveals that he had been stabbed seven times in the back, as well as once behind his knee. And investigators think that stab behind his knee was done to sever the tendon so that he couldn't run away. He also had defensive wounds on his arms and had been severely bludgeoned in the head with some kind of club, possibly that wooden table leg. Now, the detail that sticks out to me the most from the autopsy is that

an 11-inch X had been sliced into the victim's chest. And investigators believe this was meant to symbolize the Confederate flag. So without a doubt, investigators know that they're dealing with a hate crime, and one where their victim was tortured. The autopsy report revealed that the victim likely died about 36 hours before his body was discovered. So that would have been the night of Friday, October 7th. But they still don't know who this guy is. All that they know is that he was a black man in his early to mid-20s, about five foot seven, and he had this small tattoo on one of his hands. To help move the investigation along, they decide to bring in a patrol officer, this guy named Oscar Jordan. Now, a patrol

officer wouldn't typically be working a homicide investigation. But you see, Oscar is a black man. And by putting him on the case, the investigators are kind of hoping for two things. One, as a member of the black community in this relatively small town, he might be able to help identify the body. And two, they're hoping that Oscar can act as kind of a liaison between the share of office in the black community, because in Georgia in 1983, the relationship is about as bad as you can get. According to a GQ article filed by Wesley Lowry, there were regular rallies and parades held for the Ku Klux Klan in that area at the time. So I can only imagine how isolated and unsupported the black community there felt. Not to mention the fact that they're

pulling in this patrol officer has me pretty sure that there is any single person of color on their detective squad. So Oscar is given a photo of this victim that they have, and he goes door to door asking if anyone can tell investigators who this young man is. And eventually this leads Oscar to a young woman named Talisa Coggins. Now, at first, when she sees the photo, she says she doesn't recognize the person. But then she notices that small tattoo on one of the hands. And that's when it suddenly all clicks. The person in that photo is her big brother, 23 year old Timothy Coggins. Just take that in for a second. He was so severely beaten

that his own sister didn't even recognize him. But now that investigators know who the victim is, they can start trying to piece together what happened to Timothy and who was responsible for his murder. Talisa tells investigators that she last saw Tim on Friday night. That's the night that they believed he was attacked. They were both at a nightclub in Griffin called the People's Choice, which is kind of a hotspot for Griffin's black community at the time. And Tim was there a lot in fact. I mean, he even helped out a lot with random odd jobs around the club, kind of like a handyman for them. So she said this should have been just a typical fun Friday

night out dancing. But now that she's looking back, Talisa realizes that not everything was quite right that evening. For one, Timothy was dancing with a young white woman. And we might not bat an eye at that today. But in 1983, it's a different story. And although it stood out to her and kind of put her on edge, this wasn't the first time Talisa had seen Tim dancing with this woman. So she decided to let it be. The other thing Talisa remembers about that night is as she was on her way to use the restroom, she overheard a piece of a conversation. And what she heard was that two white men were outside the club looking to speak with Tim. Now, when she left the restroom a few

minutes later, she saw Tim following two white men outside. And that was the last time she saw her brother until Oscar Jordan showed up with that photo in his hands. Although Tim didn't come home during these couple of days, no one had actually reported him missing because it wasn't really that out of the ordinary for him. Tim would often disappear for a couple of days at a time, usually staying with friends. So it never even occurred to anyone that something could be seriously wrong. But with this new information about where Tim was on that Friday night, investigators at least have a place to start. So they question other people who were at people's choice that night. And those people

back up to Lisa's story. They say he was dancing with a young white woman and eventually he left the club with her and two white men. But no one knows who these three people are. Now as if the loss of their loved one in such a horrific way wasn't enough for the Coggins family to try and process, they also have to do this while dealing with terrifying gruesome threats. According to a 2020 episode about this case called in the cold dark night, Timothy's stepfather receives an anonymous phone call in which he's told that more people will be murdered if the investigation isn't dropped. And then as the family is watching TV together another night, a brick is thrown through their living room window. And when they examine

it, they find the words your next written on it. And finally, a decapitated black dog is left on their front step. Again, with a note saying your next. The family has no idea who is making these threats. Maybe it's the same people who killed Timothy, but also maybe not, which honestly could be even scarier. Now a couple of months after Timothy's body was found, Officer Oscar Jordan is still on the case and he's been hearing rumors about a possible motive. What he's heard from people around town is that apparently Timothy had accepted some money, maybe like $600 from a couple of white men in exchange for some marijuana. But as it turns out, Timothy never delivered the drugs to these two guys. And so the rumor

is that he was scared of retribution. But that's not the only rumor that Officer Oscar Jordan hears. He also receives a tip that he should pay a visit to a place called Kerry's Trailer Park where someone has been bragging that they know what happened to Timothy Coggins. When Oscar visits Kerry's Trailer Park, he speaks with a woman named Sandra Bunn. And according to her, on the night of Timothy's murder, she saw him at the Trailer Park with three people. Her brother, Frankie Gebhart, Frankie's girlfriend, Mickey Guy, and Frankie's brother-in-law, a man named Bill Moore. Sandra says that she saw all of them pile into a truck with Timothy Coggins and drive off toward the hanging tree, which is super close to

the Trailer Park. Now, obviously, this is a pretty big development in the case, right? I mean, they not only have a witness who saw three people taking Timothy to the crime scene that night, they also have the names of those three people. So this could be it, right? Our road cop has just busted open the case. He is on the right track and is about to solve a complicated homicide. Gold star, right? Eh? Wrong. Because when Oscar takes this development back to the sheriff's office and says that he has potential suspects in the case, he is pulled off of the case and assigned back to traffic duty. He's basically told that the investigation had just reached a natural dead end. And if you're like, hey, Ashley,

that's literally the exact opposite of what happened. If anything, the case just got its best lead, then boo, I hear you. Something deeply shady is going on here. So all of a sudden, a new investigator is assigned to the case, which is an awfully weird thing to do, right? Like the case was done with, you literally pulled the investigator off because there's no work to be done. And now you bring in this new guy who you want to work it. So to me, it's clear that they just didn't want Oscar to work it. So they get this new investigator and the new investigator does interview Frankie Gebhart. But Frankie says he has an alibi. He was with his girlfriend, Mickey Guy that entire night. And don't forget,

it's the same Mickey who was also seen driving off to the hanging tree with Timothy. So rock solid alibi, right? Now, clearly these two being each other's alibi doesn't assuage all my suspicions. So let's talk to the third person that the tipster mentioned, that guy, Bill Moore. But here's the thing. This new investigator decides to just not interview Bill Moore. And after that, the case goes completely cold. And it stays cold for decades. And all that time, the Coggins family never gets any kind of closure or peace. They aren't even able to put a headstone on Timothy's grave because after all of the threats that they've endured, they're worried that it's just going to be defaced or destroyed. And

for a long time, it seems like Timothy will be yet another black victim of white supremacy who is denied justice. But then in December of 2016, Timothy's case is put in front of a new investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Now, it's not totally clear to me why now. But apparently, according to Wesley Lowry's reporting for GQ, the GBI has a system where every six months, all of the unsolved cases are cycled around to new investigators. Basically, the hope is that having a new person assigned might offer a new perspective. And there are like 350 investigators at the GBI apparently. So it is entirely possible that Timothy's case had already landed on plenty of other investigators' deaths by

this point. But it's when special agent Jared Coleman takes a look that things start moving on the case once again. Naturally, he is as disturbed as all of us are about how little it seems Frankie Gebhart, Mickey Guy, and Bill Moore were investigated back in 1983. But he actually discovers an even more recent example of investigators not thoroughly looking into leads. In 2007, the GBI received a letter from a man named Christopher Vaughn, who was serving time on child molestation charges. In the letter, he said that he had information regarding the murder of Timothy Coggins, which again feels like a great lead, right? But apart from a couple of basic interviews, it doesn't seem like anyone from the GBI or

the sheriff's office ever did anything with it. But agent Coleman isn't letting this go. First, he decides to contact the Spalding County Sheriff's Department, where this all began back in 1983. Daryl Dix had recently been elected sheriff, and when he hears what Jared has to say, he thinks that this could be a solvable case. Sheriff Dix even sees it as an opportunity not only to find justice for the Coggins family, but to also hopefully begin mending relationships between his department and the local black community. So he's eager to get this case back in the spotlight, and he even starts doing some digging of his own. But upon reopening the case, one of the first things he discovers is that evidence has gone

missing. Things like the Jack Daniels bottle that had been found at the scene, the wooden table leg, the bloody sweater, even impressions of the tire tracks, basically f*** everything. It's all gone. And it's while searching for this missing evidence that the Sheriff's Department uncovered something that might shed some light on why this case was so abruptly closed back in 1983. In one of the department's archives, investigators discover a black notebook from 1982. That was just a year before Timothy's death. And as they read it, it becomes clear that these are the notes of an officer who had gone undercover in the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan to basically get a sense of what they were up to. Now, the officer

even went so far as to be officially inducted into the Klan. And it was at that point that he was told by one of the Klan leaders that there were already plenty of Klan members in the local Sheriff's Department and the Griffin Police Department. So if the people who are supposed to be seeking justice for Timothy and protecting the black community are literal Klan members, it's not hard to see why this case got shut down right when Oscar was on the verge of breaking things wide open. And it certainly makes me feel like it's no coincidence that all this physical evidence just vanished. But despite the fact that they've lost these crucial pieces of evidence, the Sheriff's Department and the

GBI are still determined not to let this case get ignored any longer. They begin to work together to solve it. And in April of 2017, they interview that guy in jail who wrote to them, Christopher Vaughn. And that's when some familiar names start popping up again. At the time of the murder, Christopher Vaughn was only 10 years old, and he actually lived by that trailer park near the hanging tree that I mentioned earlier. And he was actually part of the group of hunters who discovered Timothy's body. Now, Chris says that he knows exactly who killed Timothy because the murderer had confessed his involvement to Chris multiple times. And wouldn't you know it, that man's name is Frankie Gebhart. Apparently, Chris

had first overheard Frankie bring up the killing at a party not long after Timothy's death. But then, Frankie never really stopped talking about it. As the years went by, he'd still bring it up every now and then, and he had even mentioned burning key pieces of evidence and throwing them down a well in his backyard. And Chris has reasons to believe that this isn't just all talk. You see, his bedroom at the time looked on to Kerry's trailer park, and he says that the night of the murder, he saw Timothy, Bill, Frankie, and Frankie's girlfriend, Mickey together at the trailer park. And he also believes that he knows the motive behind the murder. And it wasn't money or drugs like rumored before. Apparently,

shortly before the murder, Frankie discovered that Timothy had been sleeping with his girlfriend, Mickey. And apparently, he was enraged by this, not just by the idea of an affair, but by the sheer fact that Mickey had been sleeping with a black man. Now, investigators believe that Mickey could have been that woman that Timothy was rumored to have been dancing with that night. But they can't fully confirm that because not only did Mickey leave Georgia permanently just weeks after Timothy's murder, but she actually died in 2010. But of course, that still leaves two other people that investigators are very interested in talking to. And first, they speak to Bill Moore, who not only denies involvement, but says that he's never heard

of Timothy Coggins. In an interview with 2020, Agent Coleman says that he could tell right from the get-go that Bill Moore was just not telling the truth. As for Frankie Gebhart, well, investigators don't have to go far to chat with him, because as it turns out, he's already in prison. Frankie Gebhart is incarcerated at the Spalding County Detention Center on a sexual assault charge when investigators decide to pay him a visit. And his story is pretty similar to Bill's. He says this is the first time he's hearing of any kind of murder like this, and he certainly never bragged to anyone about being involved. Which is weird, bro, since

you were definitely interviewed about this back in 1983. This is not the first time. And no one's really buying this guy's story, either. In fact, they get so little out of the interview that instead, they use a wiretap to record conversations between Frankie and his sister Sandra Bunn. And in those conversations, Frankie tells Sandra that he told police he knew nothing about the murder, and Sandra advises him on how to avoid providing the investigators with DNA. Like she says, you know, make sure you don't accept any drinks in case they want to use saliva to build a profile. Now, weird twist, because if you remember, it was actually Sandra Bunn, who was the one who told Oscar Jordan about Frankie

Bill and Mickey in the first place, like back in 1983. So I'm not sure why she would give up information back then and then try to hinder the investigation now. It doesn't really compute for me. Part of me wonders if maybe back then she gave up the information because she was so confident that there wouldn't be consequences. But I don't know. Now, at this point, there really isn't enough evidence to press charges yet. It's basically just the word of Chris Vaughn, and that's it. But they feel like there are likely a lot more people out there who know what happened and have just been too scared to come forward. After all, Frankie Gebhart and Bill Moore had pretty serious reputations in the area, especially back around

the time of Timothy's murder. And if Chris is right, it sounds like Frankie talked about this murder a lot, probably to multiple people. So investigators decide to do something a little bit risky. In July of 2017, they go to the media and they say that they think they're very close to pressing charges in this case, that they have lots of great leads from lots of witnesses, but they think that there are others out there who might have even better information and they're looking for people to come forward with what they know. The hope being that if people think others have already come forward, they might feel more comfortable sharing what they know. And although this strategy with the media

was a bit of a gamble, it works. Witnesses start coming forward. Among them is a guy named Willard Sanders, another one of the hunters who initially found Timothy's body. And he says, not only did Frankie Gebhart confess to the murder, he says that he reported that confession to the authorities back in 1983. So he's as confused as anyone as to why this is only being dealt with now. One of the other new witnesses is a woman named Shirley Sisk. She was acquaintances with Bill Moore's now deceased wife, Brenda, who she says warned her that Bill was planning to murder a boy and drag him behind his truck. But Shirley says that she didn't take it seriously at the time, or apparently even after she

found out a local person was killed and drugged behind a truck. More and more witnesses come forward, many of them repeating that Frankie had boasted about the murder for years. Some are his fellow inmates. Others include an ex-girlfriend who, according to Jeff Coleman's quote in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, says Frankie was abusive and would beat her while warning her that she would end up quote, like that n-word in the ditch. End quote. Ultimately, all these new witnesses were telling a story that is already familiar to investigators, and they feel that they have enough to finally do what should have been done 34 years before. On October 13, 2017, Frankie Gebhart and Bill Moore are arrested.

And according to a CNN report filed by Elliott McLaughlin, they face charges of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and concealing a murder. In addition, Frankie's sister Sandra Bunn and her son Lamar are both arrested and face obstruction charges for the advice about how to avoid giving DNA. And then this other random dude named Gregory Huffman gets charged with obstruction and violation of oath of office because while he was working as a detention officer for Spalding County, Melissa Gomez and Matt Stevens reported in the New York Times that he had actually alerted Frankie about part of the investigation. So now, with both Frankie and Bill in custody, the focus shifts to building the prosecution's

case. And the biggest hurdle there, obviously, is the evidence that they just don't have. But they do still have one thing. They still have Timothy's jeans from the scene, but that's pretty much it. The only other thing that they have to rely on is witness testimony, which isn't necessarily unusual in a case this old, but the prosecution knows that these particular witnesses pose a bit of a problem because the majority of them are convicted felons, with some of them still serving time. Now, that doesn't mean that they can't provide honest accounts of what they know, but as a prosecutor, you're probably going to be super mindful of how that's going to be viewed by a jury. But there is one more lead that

the prosecution thinks could be really helpful to pull their case together. If you remember, Chris Vaughn had told investigators that Frankie had burned key pieces of evidence and then thrown them down a well in his backyard. Well, it turns out that Chris isn't the only person who's heard this story. Some of the other witnesses who came forward have said the same thing. So they obviously want to get to that well, right? But it got a little complicated. Apparently, the well is so close to Frankie's house that they can't simply excavate it without also destroying the house itself. The prosecution is adamant. This is not going to make them give up. They want to know what is down that well. Mostly, they're looking for the murder weapon.

I mean, even all these years later, they have never been able to find the knife that was used to stab Timothy, and it could theoretically be right there. So they decide to try a different approach. Rather than excavate the well, they find a company that can flood the well. Basically, they'll flush out the well with water and vacuum up any loose debris. In the Atlanta Journal Constitution, reporter Christian Boone describes it as like using a giant water pick. So they decide to go for it. They flood the well and everything that's been tossed down there over the years gets sucked right up. Afterward, they are left with a huge pile of trash, and all that's left is to sort through it. And in and among all that garbage, they find exactly what they're looking for.

There is a size 10 Adidas tennis shoe that's been partially burned, along with a red Argyle sock. They find a knife that's been broken into multiple pieces. They find a large chain, and they find what looks to be an undershirt also partially burned. But it's when they lay the shirt out that the prosecution understands just how big a deal this discovery could be. Because the first thing they notice on this shirt are seven holes that appear to be the result of seven stab wounds. Now, whatever little DNA evidence there might have been on any of these items would have been destroyed by the process used to get them, not to mention the fact that they've been there for over three decades just degrading in a well. So nothing can be conclusively linked to Timothy's

murder. However, the items do match what Chris Vaughn said had been tossed down in the well, so that definitely gives even more weight to his statements. And the other thing to keep in mind is that Timothy's body was found without any socks or shoes. So the tennis shoe and the sock could be his since they do say the shoe and sock match items that Timothy owned. So with this new evidence on their side, the prosecution is feeling confident as they prepare for the upcoming trial. Assistant District Attorney Marie Broder told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the well was a real turning point, quote, there had been so many obstacles along the way, but after the well, we knew we got him, end quote. It's decided that Frankie Gebhardt

and Bill Moore would be tried separately with Frankie's trial beginning first. And in mid January of 2018, the trial gets underway. Marie Broder delivers the prosecution's opening statement, and she decides the most effective way to start this case is with passion. I want to actually read you part of her statement. She says, quote, when you're looking at a murder, you start with the crime scene and you let the crime scene speak to you. Sometimes things will whisper as to what happened. And then there are other crime scenes that will scream at you about what happened. And this crime scene screamed at you about the horrible things that happened to this man on this killing field, end quote. The very first witness called is the medical

examiner who provides every excruciating detail around what happened to Timothy on that October night in 1983. The courtroom is shown horrific photos of Timothy's body, both at the scene and at the coroner's office, though luckily the prosecution had taken the time to prepare the Coggins family by showing them the photos in advance. The rest of the prosecution's case relies heavily on witness testimony. The jury hears from seven different witnesses who all tell a similar story about Frankie Gebhardt, his involvement in Timothy's murder, and the way he had boasted about it for years since. Among those witnesses is Chris Vaughn, of course, as well as five other incarcerated individuals. One is a man named Patrick Douglas,

who himself is a member of the Aryan Nation, a white supremacist terrorist group. He testifies that Gebhardt had not only confessed to him about the murder, but also that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, which feels kind of like the pot calling the kettle racist. And the defense actually brings that up, like why would a white supremacist inform on another white supremacist for committing a racist hate crime? And stuff like that is really a lot of the defense's case. It revolves around trying to discredit these witnesses, pointing out discrepancies in their stories or questioning their motive for coming forward. Like when Chris Vaughn is on the stand, for example, the defense brings up his child molestation charges and asks if Chris had requested

anything in exchange for information that he provided on this case. And Chris admits that, yes, he did ask that his sentence be served concurrently instead of consecutively. But the prosecution is clear that they have not offered or promised anything to the witnesses for their testimony. Now, to the defense's point, there are variation in some of the witnesses' stories. For example, some witnesses back up the idea that Timothy was murdered because of the affair with Frankie's girlfriend, Mickey. But Willard Sanders, the man who reported what he knew to the authorities back in 1983, brings up that original rumor saying that it was all because of that drug deal gone bad. Another witness, one of Frankie's former cellmates says that

Frankie told him he had severed Timothy's penis and placed it in Timothy's mouth after the murder, which absolutely did not happen. But there could be an explanation for these varying discrepancies. One of the witnesses says that Frankie told him that he was going to tell a bunch of people, a bunch of different versions of what happened, basically to make the prosecution look incompetent, which would be a lot more effective if you just didn't talk at all about it. But what do I know? It also would make the prosecution look a lot more incompetent if all of that evidence wasn't right where you were bragging about leaving it. Because that's the thing. It's nice to give the jury a motive or exact order of events. It ties things up in a neat bow for them. But none of that

is required to get a conviction. They have the shirt, the shoe, the chain, the knife, and naturally the defense tries to poke holes in that as well, pointing out that none of those items were able to be tested for DNA. But circumstantial evidence is still evidence. And these items definitely help flesh out the prosecution's case. In the closing arguments of the trial, defense again really tries to hammer home that there's been no hard, irrefutable evidence presented in the case. Frankie's defense attorney paints the prosecution's argument as sort of a series of apologies. He says they've spent the entire trial apologizing for how the case was handled in 1983, for how key pieces of evidence were lost, for the credibility of their witnesses. And he basically

says that the only reason Frankie is on trial is because a bunch of people serving time see him as their way out of prison, which still doesn't mean they're lying. And in the prosecution's closing arguments, they tell the jury that no one's asking them to like these witnesses. They just have to believe them. And ultimately, the jury does. On June 26, 2018, after deliberating for six hours, the jury returns with a guilty verdict on all counts. And immediately after the verdict is announced, the judge sentences Frankie to life in prison plus 20 years, telling him, quote, hopefully sir, you have stabbed your last victim. Of course, Frankie is just one of two people charged with the murder of Timothy Coggins. Bill Moore's trial hasn't even begun. And in

fact, it never does. Because in August of 2018, Bill Moore enters into a plea bargain. He pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter and concealing the death of another in exchange for a 20 year sentence, including time served, as reported by Elliott McLaughlin for CNN. Frankie Gebhart remains in jail to this day, but Bill Moore passed away in October 2021, just three years into his sentence. One of the parts of this story that sticks out to me is that shortly after Frankie and Bill were charged with Timothy's murder, his family finally felt secure enough to place a headstone at his grave. The inscription reads, in loving memory, Timothy Wayne Coggins, gone but never forgotten. And I think the reason it stands out to me is because of how easily

Timothy Coggins could have been forgotten. Not by his family or his loved ones, obviously, but by the sheriff's department, by the GBI, the very systems that should have been working to seek justice for him, but instead ignored him. It was ultimately just by chance, really, that his file was looked at by the right investigator at the right time. It breaks my heart to think about how close the Coggins family came to never getting closure and how many other Black people have been murdered, only to have their cases ignored due to systemic racism in our justice system. Their lives mattered. Timothy Coggins' life mattered and Black lives matter, which brings me to what we're going to do about it. We reached out to the Black and

Missing Foundation to learn more about all of the wonderful programs that they have. And one of them stuck out to me so much that I knew we had to help. The Black and Missing Foundation has a program that offers fellowships in communications and a scholarship for the study of criminal justice. By offering these opportunities, we, along with the Black and Missing Foundation, want to be part of the solution. Let's train people to tell these kinds of stories. Let's bring up more people in the criminal justice system who want to see all victims treated fair and equitable. Our contribution, which is only possible because of all of you listening, will allow for four communications fellowships and five different scholarships for people going

into law enforcement. I think this is the only way we can go on to prevent another case of Timothy Coggins, a story that no one talked about because the news media didn't want to talk about it back then. You create journalists who want to tell these stories. You know, they had to bring in a road detective because he was the only Black man because there are no Black detectives. Let's bring up these people to be in law enforcement to really serve the communities that they are intended to serve. If you want to donate yourself or even to apply for one of the scholarships, you can visit blackandmissinginc.com slash audio check. We are also going to link to that right in our show notes. Don't forget to visit the link in our show notes for all of the source

material on this case. You can visit our website crimejunkiepodcast.com. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crimejunkie is an audio check production. So, what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?