LAKE OCONEE, Ga. — Search teams say they’re getting close to locating missing Westminster teacher Gary Jones, who disappeared on Lake Oconee nearly three weeks ago.
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They’ve narrowed down the search to an area that’s difficult to maneuver through.
Volunteers with the search team told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes, Lake Oconee is a small community that wants to help the Jones family get closure.
“We want closure. Everybody wants closure. I mean the family can’t put this to rest until we find him,” said fishing guide Mark Smith.
A Channel 2 Action News photographer launched NewsDrone 2 over the area where investigators are concentrating. It’s the same area the Department of Natural Resources recovered Jones’s boat, his shoes and his fiance’s body, Joycelyn Wilson.
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The area is full of submerged trees that investigators believe played a role in whatever happened to Jones.
Smith believes that if you don’t know Lake Oconee well, you don’t understand that you need to stay far away from the buoys.
The emergency dive response team has been out all 18 days. Their sonar equipment picked up a few images that were promising.
“Unfortunately we’ve looked at over 40 different hits like this or alerts. As we’re continuing to go down we’re looking at another one (and) another one and it’s frustrating and takes a lot of time. We won’t stop until we find him,” said Richard Pickering.
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