Huge search for teacher last seen on boat celebrating 50th with fiancée — who was later found dead in the lake

A huge search is underway for a Georgia teacher last seen more than a week ago celebrating his 50th birthday on a fishing boat with his fiancée — who was found dead in the lake the next day.

Westminster Schools teacher and coach Gary Jones’ and his bride-to-be Joycelyn Wilson vanished on Feb. 8 when their boat was discovered empty and circling on Lake Oconee — a popular recreational destination about 70 miles east of Atlanta

Wilson’s lifeless body was pulled out of the water by first responders on Feb. 9 not far from where Jones’ shoes were found.

Dive teams and cavader dogs are still searching the area — on the “working theory” that both were flung from the boat, officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Both were healthy and were able to swim, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills — who blamed their small boat for not being “appropriate for this water.”

“I’m not being critical. I’m not saying that he caused this, but I’m telling you the facts of the matter,” Sills said. “So it was a dangerous kind of situation to start with.”

The day the couple disappeared, they had picked up a fishing boat, checked into a hotel and had hit the lake to celebrate Jones turning 50, officials said. The couple were last seen by witnesses out on the water around 3:30 p.m., the outlet said.

Less than two hours later, the boat was found empty and running in circles — with a cookie with icing still onboard.

Jones’ wallet, driver’s license and hotel key card were also on the boat.

Wilson, a Spelman College math instructor, was found floating the following day because she still had air in her lungs when she died — which he said could provide a key detail about what may have happened, the sheriff said..

“I’m not saying she didn’t drown — that’s up to the medical examiner, who has not finished their report—but it was enough to keep her from going all the way to the bottom,” Sills said, 11 Alive reported.

She was also still clutching her cellphone.

Richard Pickering, of the Emergency Dive Response Team, told a group of about two dozen volunteer boaters Tuesday morning that one “working theory” is that Jones and Wilson were ejected from the boat into the water when the boat’s motor banged into something, according to the Journal-Constitution.

”Every time we’re out there,” Pickering said, “we’re constantly running into these trees and bouncing off them.”

However, there’s no evidence of any damage on the boat suggesting it may have hit something.

Among those searching for the science teacher was Westminster alumnus Lauren Cherry.

“He was just like a father figure to everyone and he was the type of person that if he ever found out that any of us were missing, he would have been the first one out here to look for us,” she told Fox 5 Atlanta.

Wilson and Jones first met as students at Clark Atlanta University 30 years ago, but had reconnected, Wilson’s friend Natasha Harrison told the Constitution-Journal.

They were engaged over the holidays and were due to marry on March 14.

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