LAKE OCONEE — In a heartbreaking update, an Atlanta teacher and track-and-field coach who vanished on Lake Oconee has been found, Sheriff Howard Sills confirmed to Channel 2 Action News.
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Yesterday marked one month since Gary Jones and his fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson, vanished while boating on Lake Oconee.
They recovered Wilson’s body the next. The 47-year-old was a senior instructor at Spelman College. Wilson joined Spelman’s Department of Mathematics in 2007.
Jones is a faculty member and varsity track-and-field coach at Westminster, a private Christian school in Atlanta.
It took an out-of-state dive team to find Jones.
Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was at Lake Oconee on Saturday morning as a Wisconsin-based expert and his specialized search team joined the search to help the family get results and some closure.
Keith Cormican runs a nonprofit called Bruce’s Legacy, which is funded by donations and named for his late brother.
Cormican started searching on Friday and found Jones on Sunday afternoon.
Channel 2 Action News was the only Atlanta station to speak with Cormican at the Putnam County Coroner’s Office.
Channel 2′s Brittany Kleinpeter asked Cormican how he was able to find Gary.
He said it was a combination of the sonar that he uses and just the experience he and his team have, following weeks of searching.
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Jones’ brother shared with Kleinpeter that he and his family are just ready to move forward, saying they knew this day would eventually come following weeks of speculation from the outside community.
Now, they’re just asking for privacy moving forward.
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