PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. — More friends, coworkers and loved ones are joining in the search for metro Atlanta teacher Gary Jones.
It’s been 10 days since he disappeared while out on Lake Oconee with his fiancé.
Search crews told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes said the biggest obstacles they’ve had to deal with is a combination of trees under the water and the water being so cold.
One diver said the weather is ideal for searching but it could be weeks or months before anyone finds Jones.
Laurence Walker is with the United Cajun Army and specializes in searching for bodies in the water.
He said Lake Oconee looks one way from the shore, but it’s a different body of water once you get out of a boat.
“The problem here is with the amount of timber in this lake. When the Corp flooded this lake – they left most of the timber standing,” Walker said. “So, you can imagine someone drowns and they go down in that environment, the chances of getting hung on what’s left of a tree is just a very tough situation for search and recovery.”
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That may be part of the reason why investigators have been looking for Jones for the last 10 days.
Department of Natural Resources officers found the body of his fiancé Joycelyn Wilson the morning after they found the empty boat.
Investigators told Fernandes that they found Jones’s belongings on the boat while Wilson was clutching her phone and had her wallet in a fanny pack.
Deputies said the boat the couple took out on Feb. 8, was registered to Jones.
Investigators said the boat had no visible damage.
Jones’s coworkers, students, and loved ones were talking to the professional dive teams on Tuesday still left wondering what happened to Jones.
Walker said the cold water is playing a role in the search and recovery.
“Instead of being two or three days in Florida or warmer water temperatures, it could be a couple weeks, it could be a month,” Walker said.
The Putnam County Sheriff said last week that he has expanded the search to looking into things that aren’t out on the water.
He’s not prepared to share those things just yet, however, he said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has completed the autopsy of Wilson.
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