LAKE OCONEE, Ga. — It has been 17 days since teachers Gary Jones and Joycelyn Wilson went boating on Lake Oconee and never came back.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills who says despites rumors, he still believes Jones’ body is in the lake.
Sills is one of the only people who has seen the autopsy report on Wilson’s body after she was pulled from the lake the day after their disappearance.
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He says that most of the evidence in that report points to Jones being somewhere in Lake Oconee.
“I know people are asking, ‘Why can’t they find him?’” Sills said.
He says it isn’t as easy as it seems because of tree limbs and other things under the surface of the water.
Sills says he has heard all of the rumors with people questioning if Jones is actually in the water or alive somewhere else.
“Is that a possibility? Yes, but there’s no evidence of that. His phone isn’t working,” he said.
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In the meantime, crews were back out on the lake on Tuesday continuing the search for Jones. This time, taking advice from his family and attaching a small camera to a pole typically used for painting to get around underwater trees.
Investigators hope this works better than some SONAR equipment.
Fishing guide Mark Smith says the fishing line, hooks and lures in the trees make it impossible for divers to get through.
Searchers tell Fernandes they have narrowed down the area where they think Jones is located.
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