PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. – After 29 long days of searching, the body of Atlanta educator, Gary Jones, has been found on Lake Oconee.
This comes a month after Jones and his fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson, vanished during a boating trip, and exactly one week after part of the search effort was suspended.
Where is Gary Jones?
What we know:
Sheriff Howard Sills told FOX 5 Atlanta he was out searching for Jones at 9 a.m. on Sunday, alongside Keith Cormican – owner of Search and Recovery Consulting and founder of the non-profit Bruce’s Legacy – and Cormican’s assistant.
At approximately noon, they found Gary Jones using a roving device. Sills said Jones was around 75 to 100 yards away from where Wilson’s body was located a month ago. He was in about 45 feet of water.
At 1 p.m., he was retrieved from the water.
What they’re saying:
Sheriff Sills said he was incredibly grateful to everyone who participated in the search for Wilson and Jones.
What happened to Gary Jones, Joycelyn Wilson on Lake Oconee?
The backstory:
Jones and Wilson were at the lake on Feb. 8 to celebrate Jones’ 50th birthday.
Their empty boat was discovered that afternoon near the lake’s dam.
A search team found Wilson’s body the following day. Jones’ shoes, wallet and other personal belongings were also found.
Since then, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills has activated what he called the county’s largest search effort to find someone believed to have drowned.
For 22 days, cadaver dogs and diving teams from multiple states have given their time to find any trace of Jones.
Search efforts had to be suspended multiple times due to weather concerns. Last Sunday, Sills announced the dogs and divers would be sidelined indefinitely.
“It’s conceivable it could be months before this body surfaces,” he said at the time.
Wilson and Jones were planning to get married this month, according to their friends.
