A search for missing Georgia boater Gary Laron Jones continues as new details about the couple who went missing while boating Feb. 8 emerged. Joycelyn Nicole Wilson’s funeral was Thursday, but Jones is still missing. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says it has become a “death investigation.” Photo courtesy Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
A search for missing Georgia boater Gary Laron Jones continues as new details about the couple who went missing while boating Feb. 8 emerged. Joycelyn Nicole Wilson’s funeral was Thursday, but Jones is still missing.
Wilson was a Spelman college instructor whose remains were found Feb. 9. She and Jones were engaged and were last seen at a hotel at Lake Oconee, where they had come to celebrate Jones’ birthday. Advertisement
Their empty boat was found on the water roughly two hours later.
Wilson’s remains were found in the water while Jones’ shoes, wallet, driver’s license and hotel room key card were also found by investigators.
Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Stated Patrol dive team have used SONAR scans, divers, aviation and a K-9 team in the search for Jones.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told reporters earlier this week that the couple’s boat showed no evidence of crash damage or that it had been struck by another boat or capsized.
He said Jones is still considered a missing person by the National Crime Information Center until his body is found.
Sills said his office is conducting the investigation with assistance from the state DNR and it is now a “death investigation.” Advertisement
He said the deadly incident may have happened due to a mechanical issue with the boat’s motor.
The cowl the boat’s engine cowl had been removed suggesting Jones could have been working on it.
“If he had the throttle wide open and all of a sudden it cranked, that thing’s going to turn, and both of them could’ve gone out of that boat just like that,” Sills said.
According to multiple media reports, when Wilson’s body was recovered from the lake she still had her cell phone in her hand.
Jones may also have fallen from the boat and died of hyperthermia in the lake water that was below 50 degrees.
