Wisconsin-based underwater search expert Keith Cormican on March 10 located the body of a missing Westminster School teacher and coach, putting to end a month-long search in the waters of Lake Oconee.
According to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the body of Gary Jones was found at about 1 p.m in about 45 feet of water, not far from where the body of Jones’ fiancée, Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Wilson, was found.
A remote-operated vehicle brought Jones’ body to the surface, tethered to the recovery boat by a power cord.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the body was clad in a Westminster Wildcats shirt and a denim jacket.
Jones, whose small fishing vessel was spotted circling north of the Wallace Dam on Feb. 8, was missing for a month. The body of his fiancee, Joycelyn Wilson, a math instructor at Spelman College, was located Feb. 9, with her phone still clutched in her right hand.
The search had been paused because of high winds and cold conditions on March 2, but Cormican was brought into the search, along with investigators, K-9 dogs and volunteers, and it resumed on March 7.
Cormican’s volunteer-based nonprofit Bruce’s Legacy, has been involved in 300 searches around the world and has recovered 58 drowning victims.
Cormican, 65, founded the organization in 2013 in remembrance of his brother, Bruce, a volunteer firefighter who died in 1995 while trying to recover the body of a drowning victim.
Richard Pickering of the Emergency Dive Response Team has been posting updates on social media about the daily search for Jones. On March 5, Pickering said Bruce’s Legacy is “a nationally recognized sonar team who specialize in this type of recovery.”
Pickering added in the post that a K9 team based out of Pensacola, FL had “full responses from their dogs in the same area that we have been searching – but in deeper water. We will investigate this area in much more detail over the coming weekend.”
A few days earlier, Pickering had posted a tribute to Jones, saying that he was a teacher, mentor and friend to many.
“Students recalled his infectious enthusiasm in his teaching, his knack for making even the most complex topics engaging,” Pickering wrote. “Parents remembered his patient demeanor during parent-teacher conferences, his genuine concern for each child’s well-being.
“Now, that vibrant presence was gone, swallowed by the vast, cold waters of Lake Oconee,” Pickering said.
During the month-long search, investigators used aerial units, dozens of boats, cadaver dogs, sonar equipment and divers in their search for Jones. Sills said the effort was of of the largest missions ever conducted on Lake Oconee.
Editor’s Note: a previous version of this story incorrectly identified the search expert as Kevin Cormican.
