Search continues for missing man
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has now taken over the investigation of the abandoned boat found Saturday on Lake Oconee, the woman whose body was recovered by the Dept. of Natural Resources game wardens, and the missing man who was believed to have been with her on the boat.
“The case is now officially a ‘Death Investigation’ and is continuing with the assistance of DNR,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said.
When questioned, the sheriff said it should have been a death investigation from the start.
“All unattended deaths, meaning those unattended by a physician, in the State of Georgia are required by law to be investigated pursuant to Title 45,” Sills explained. “As I became more aware of the circumstances and events of yesterday [Wednesday], it made me determine that it’s time we step in and take over this investigation.”
As previously reported by The Eatonton Messenger, an unoccupied boat was reported to DNR Saturday evening, which launched a search of Lake Oconee waters by game wardens. Sunday morning, a volunteer who was assisting DNR in the search, saw the woman’s body floating “out there in the standing timber right there close to the Jumping Rock.”
The volunteers, Jeff and Kristy Everett, notified DNR they’d found the woman and they helped DNR pull her from the lake. The woman was identified as 49-year-old Joycelyn Nicole Wilson of Atlanta. At the time of her death, Wilson was a mathematics professor at Spelman College, where she’d taught since 2007, according to reports.
Wilson was boating on the lake with Gary Larson Jones, a track and field coach at Westminster Day School in Atlanta. Authorities continue to search Lake Oconee and the area for Wilson.
Sills said the couple came directly to Putnam County from somewhere in the Metro Atlanta area and “almost immediately launched the boat.” After they launched the boat, Wilson checked into The Lodge hotel, he said, “and within a matter of minutes, both of them left the hotel in this boat.”
The boat was an 11-foot Sun Dolphin with an 18-horspower engine. Sills said the unoccupied boat was initially found still running at an idle speed and going in circles, “which is consistent with what a boat with an outboard motor would do if nobody had control of it.”
The plastic Sun Dolphin had a motor that was almost twice as big as the manufacturer’s specifications, Sills noted. He said the manufacturer specified a maximum horsepower of 10 and the motor on the boat was 18 hp. He said life jackets were on board, “but obviously not used.”
The person who reported the boat had called 911, which went to the Green County Emergency 911 Center. Those authorities notified the Georgia DNR dispatch center in Grovetown.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputies and DNR will continue the search for Jones Thursday on Lake Oconee with their sonar-equipped boats, Sills said. Meanwhile, he has prepared search warrants for Jones’ pickup truck and the couple’s other belongings, to assist in their search and investigation.
Anyone with information or who may have seen Jones or his body should call Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, 706-485-8557, or dial 911 and ask to be transferred to Putnam County 911 if you reach another county’s dispatcher.