The body of Georgia teacher Gary Jones has been pulled from the tourist lake where he vanished while celebrating his 50th birthday with his fiancée, who was found dead exactly a month earlier.
The Westminster Schools teacher and coach was found dead in 45 feet of water among timber in Lake Oconee Sunday afternoon, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told 11 Alive News.
Jones’ body was not far from where his bride-to-be, Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Wilson, was found a day after the two went missing from a fishing boat trip on Feb. 8th, the sheriff said.
His body was found thanks to Wisconsin search-and-recovery expert Keith Cormican using underwater sonar technology to find the long-missing teacher, according to the outlet.
They disappeared while on a fishing boat celebrating Jones turning 50, officials have said. The boat was found empty and running in circles with a cookie with icing still onboard hours after they were last seen.
Wilson, a Spelman College instructor, was found floating the following day because she still had air in her lungs when she died. She was found still clutching her cell phone.
Jones’ wallet, driver’s license, and hotel key card were also on the boat.
Before Cormican was brought in, authorities had already spent three weeks conducting an intensive search using sonar, cadaver dogs, helicopters and drones, the outlet reported.
“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,” Sheriff Sills told Atlanta News First.
Jones’ family, who funded the extensive search, have been informed of the tragedy, according to the outlet.
“He was a game and life changer for a lot of people. And that’s why so many folks have come in to support,” Jones’ brother, Michael Jones, told 11 Alive.
“Gary has been a servant of God since his early years as a teenager, and he has done probably what people have done in 85, 90 years – Gary’s done in 50 years. And so we just hope to carry his legacy on.”
Authorities do not suspect foul play and will conduct an autopsy on Jones and Wilson, the outlet reported.
Jones joined the staff of Westminster Schools as a middle school science teacher in 2002 and was an eighth-grade basketball coach and the head of the track and field program during his time there, Atlanta News First reported.
Wilson was a math instructor at Spelman College, “where she made an indelible impact on both her students and colleagues,” the college said in a statement to the outlet.
Rapper Ceelo Green took to Instagram earlier this month to mourn Wilson, calling his old childhood friend “practically one of three additional sisters I have.”
“No one deserves to perish in that fashion. It is more than tragic; it’s horrific, and I know personally that she did not deserve this,” he wrote.
Wilson and Jones first met as students at Clark Atlanta University 30 years ago, but had reconnected, Wilson’s friend Natasha Harrison told the Constitution-Journal.
They were engaged over the holidays and were due to marry on March 14.
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