The body of a teacher from Atlanta was found a month after he and his fiancée went missing during a boating trip in February.
According to local media outlets Fox 5 Atlanta and WGXA News, Gary Jones was found in Lake Oconee on Sunday, March 9.
The Associated Press reported that the educator was recovered not far from where his fiancée Joycelyn Wilson was found dead the day after they went missing on Feb. 8.
According to the outlet, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionthat Jones’ body was found in around 45 feet of water.
Joycelyn Wilson.
Spelman College
His family reportedly hired search-and-recovery expert Keith Cormican of Wisconsin to help in the search for the teacher. Sills told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, per AP, that Cormican used an underwater sonar.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Sills and Cormican found Jones’ body around noon on Sunday, about 75 to 100 yards away from where Wilson was found. The teacher was then recovered from the water at 1 p.m. local time.
The outlet reported that Jones had been celebrating his 50th birthday with his fiancée Wilson at the lake on Feb. 8.
An emergency dive response team on Lake Oconee in Georgia.
Their boat was found unoccupied near the lake’s dam later that afternoon. Wilson’s body was then found the next day near Jones’ items, including his shoes and wallet.
In a statement on Facebook on March 3, Sills said the search for Jones, which included dogs and diving teams from multiple states, had to be suspended due to weather conditions.
“We have deployed aircraft, all available underwater technological devices, and professional divers in our efforts,” Sills said. “I cannot remember such an extensive use of government and civilian personnel and resources for an incident such as this on Lakes Oconee and Sinclair in the last 40 years.”
Jones and Wilson were reportedly planning on tying the knot this month. According to AP, they had been staying at a hotel on the lake at the time of their boat trip.
Sills told Fox 5 Atlanta that while the cause of Jones’ death has not yet been determined, he likely died after a boating accident.
“All the evidence at this time, that’s what it points to, yes,” he said.
