Search efforts for the body of Gary Jones in Lake Oconee using dogs and divers have been suspended until further notice, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills announced Sunday.
“Georgia DNR game wardens and Putnam County Sheriff’s deputies will continue to conduct shoreline searches daily,” he added.
Sills explained that the DNR and his deputies would continue to search the shoreline once daily. Still, the day-long intensified searches on the water using multiple agencies, organizations, volunteers, and equipment will end unless something new develops.
The announcement was made the day after an extensive search by a team of divers from Florida was unsuccessful. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputies, DNR game wardens, and volunteers blocked boat traffic from entering the search area, which was in a tree-laden area near where the body of Jones’ fiancé, Nicole Wilson, was found floating Feb. 9. Sills said cadaver dogs previously had “alerted” in that area several times.
“However, the dog handlers say the dogs hitting in that area could be due to methane emitting from the trees rotting under the water,” he said.
The divers on Saturday also reportedly said the mud-stained and choppy water hindered their vision from the winds.
“This has been an extensive 22-day search conducted by DNR game wardens, Georgia State Patrol, and Putnam County Sheriff’s Office,” Sills said.
He expressed gratitude to the countless civilian search and rescue organizations, individuals, divers, and dog handlers from all over Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, as well as local anglers with specially equipped boats. He noted that the search has included aircraft and underwater technological devices.
“I also want to express thanks to the many people and businesses who graciously brought food and drinks for everyone,” he said. “It was most welcome and makes me very proud of our community.”
Jones, a teacher and coach at Westminster School in Atlanta, and his fiancé, Joycelyn Wilson, a mathematics professor at Spellman College, went boating on the lake in an 11-foot Sun Dolphin boat on Feb. 8 to celebrate Jones’s 50th birthday.
Approximately two hours after their launch, a caller to 911 reported the boat was circling in the water unoccupied. The following day, Wilson’s body was found floating in the near vicinity of the sighting of the boat.
At first, the Georgia DNR was handling the search until Sills received a phone call from the GBI’s medical examiner. After hearing the preliminary autopsy report, Sills opened what he named a “death investigation,” which remains open.
Following the sheriff’s announcement, rumors began circulating on social media, opining that Jones caused his fiancé’s death and said he had left the country. Tuesday at The Eatonton Messenger’s press time, Sills quelled those rumors.
“The totality of the evidence makes me think he’s in the lake,” he said.
He explained that the Long Shoals area at Jumping Rock, where the boat and Wilson’s body were found, is next to the river channel.
“And that causes another realm of possibilities of where his body could be,” he noted.
Sills said he also continues to work with Jones’s family, who is seeking other options, including other experts in underwater searches.