Service set for Spelman instructor as Lake Oconee search for coach continues
Search continues for missing teacher
The search continues for Gary Jones, the Atlanta educator who was last seen on a boat on Lake Oconee with his fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson. Searchers have found her body, but he is still missing. or more than a week, search teams have scoured the late for any signs of his body.
PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. - The search for Gary Jones, a teacher and coach at Westminster Schools in Atlanta, continues as authorities scour Lake Oconee for any sign of him.
Jones was last seen on a small fishing boat with his fiancée, Jocelyn Wilson, before their disappearance earlier this month.
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Wilson, a math instructor at Spelman College, was found dead on Feb. 8, and her funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. Meanwhile, search teams are still working to locate Jones, although rain temporarily delayed them on Wednesday morning.
Search Efforts Intensify
What we know:
So far, search crews have recovered Jones’ shoes, a hotel room key card, his wallet, and his driver’s license.
On Feb. 9, the day after the couple went missing, Wilson’s body was found in the water near the location where Jones' shoes were discovered.
Since his disappearance on Feb. 8, search teams have spent days on the water, but Wednesday’s weather slowed their efforts down. The day, however, was not a complete loss because search leaders say they compiled the data they gathered over the last few days to narrow down their search area.
Richard Pickering, from the "Emergency Dive Response Team," is one of the leaders helping with the search. He says they are deploying all the high-tech gear they can, including new camera systems, later this week. His group is a non-profit that helps law enforcement and families find victims in water.
Pickering says because of Wednesday’s cold front, they are now operating without cadaver dogs, a vital part of their team until things warm up.
"If the water temperature is 53 degrees and the air temperature is 41, any scent that's coming up to the top will not dissipate," he said. "It will not allow the dogs to hit on anything. They won't alert because the scent doesn't rise up for them to be able to smell it."
The search effort for Jones is not only large, involving multiple agencies, but also a difficult one.
"There's just multiple logs down there, it's like a tornado went through," said Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills. "So they're all crisscrossed on top of each other, it would be difficult to spot a body in there.
What they're saying:
Search crews, including the United Cajun Navy, have been actively searching Lake Oconee for over a week.
Putnam County authorities reported that search dogs detected a scent in the same area where evidence was found, prompting divers to focus their efforts there.
Investigators have already recovered several of Jones’ belongings, including a pair of shoes, his wallet, a hotel room key, and his driver’s license. Despite these discoveries, there has been no sign of Jones himself. Officials say they will continue searching until his body is recovered.
"We are using the most sophisticated technology available right now," Pickering said.
Despite the lack of dogs until the weekend, the effort will not stop. They will have underwater drones and sonar scanning the water.
On Wednesday, using those locations along with other data, they believe they have narrowed the search area.
"When you get a hit, it is a glimmer of hope," said Capt. Laurence Walker with the United Cajun Navy, a non-profit group which helps with these types of searches.
What We Know About the Case
What we know:
Jones and Wilson were celebrating his 50th birthday when they vanished.
The couple had checked into a hotel near Lake Oconee before heading straight to the water.
Approximately two hours later, boaters discovered their empty fishing boat idling on the lake, setting off a widespread search operation.
Authorities are treating this as a death investigation as they work to determine what happened.
Who was Joycelyn Wilson?
Joycelyn Wilson
Dig deeper:
According to Wilson's obituary, she was born in Atlanta in 1975. She was educated in the Atlanta Public School System and graduated from Benjamin E. Mays High School in 1993. Mayor Andre Dickens, who is also a graduate of Mays, mentioned Wilson during an interview with Good Day Atlanta on Wednesday morning.
After high school, Wilson furthered her education, earning bachelor and master's degrees at Clark Atlanta University. She earned a second master's degree from University of Maryland. She was a professor at Howard University and the University of Maryland in Washington, D.C., before returning to Atlanta and becoming an instructor at Spelman.
Wilson was a lifelong member of Zion Hills Baptist Church and a member of the Voices of Oluwa Choir and New Disciples Ministry. She liked to skydive, fly planes, read, host game nights, attend New Edition concerts, cheer on the Atlanta Braves, and travel.
She is survived by her parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and others.
A Celebration of Life is being held at 11 a.m. Feb. 20 at Zion Hill Baptist Church on Campbellton Road.
Although she was reportedly engaged to Gary Jones, there is no mention of him in her online obituary.
What you can do:
The organizations involved with the search are non-profit groups that rely on donations to continue helping families and law enforcement: