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Two indicted in slaying of hostage hero's husband

Smith has said her husband died in her arms after being stabbed during a melee in 2001.

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(CNN) -- A grand jury indicted two men Wednesday in the 2001 stabbing death of Daniel McFarland Smith, husband of the woman hailed as a hero for turning in a man accused of killing a judge and three other people in Atlanta.

Columbia County Police Maj. Rick Whitaker said Cory Blaine Coggins, 22, of Grovetown, Georgia, and Barry Keith Tabor Jr., believed to be in his 20s, of Augusta, Georgia, were each charged with murder. They were being held without bond at the Columbia County Detention Center in Appling, Georgia, after their arrests Wednesday evening.

Coggins was picked up at the Augusta Diversion Center, and Tabor was arrested at a home in Grovetown, outside Augusta, Whitaker said. Both were taken into custody without incident, police said.

Whitaker didn't know why Coggins was at the diversion center, which he described as a halfway house.

Smith was killed August 18, 2001, after he and his wife, Ashley, went to an apartment complex in Martinez, Georgia, to confront some acquaintances. He was stabbed during a melee in the parking lot, and Ashley Smith said her husband died in her arms. The reason for the meeting was unclear.

"Some new evidence has come forward in the last few months," Whitaker said about the killing. Asked whether the recent publicity surrounding Smith's widow had led to new leads, the officer said he didn't know.

Investigators are still working on the case, he added. He knew of no court dates.

"I'm not sure what tips, what developments, came forward after the Ashley Smith incident," Whitaker said. "This case has not been on the back burner."

Smith has received more than $72,000 in reward money for her role in leading authorities to Brian Nichols, who is accused of killing three people at a downtown Atlanta courthouse and later killing a federal agent who was working at his home.

In May, Nichols pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to the case. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

Smith said Nichols took her hostage outside her apartment in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth and held her for seven hours. He agreed to release her after she spoke to him about her 5-year-old daughter, God and hope, Smith said.

At one point, she said, she read Nichols a portion of the popular inspirational book "The Purpose-Driven Life."

Nichols surrendered to police without incident, and authorities credited Smith with defusing what could have been a deadly standoff.

Ashley Smith's mother, Mary Jo Davis, who lives in Norcross, northeast of Atlanta, told CNN Wednesday night that her daughter is "very excited and very happy" about the arrests.

Davis said the family was in North Carolina for a family reunion.

CNN's Michelle Cumbo contributed to this story.