Officials announced Sunday that they have halted the daily use of cadaver dogs and divers during the search for missing Westminster Schools teacher Gary Jones.
Putnam Sheriff Howard Sills said they made the collaborative decision Sunday to suspend those activities as the search entered its 22nd day. He noted that Georgia Department of Natural Resources and sheriff’s deputies will continue to conduct daily shoreline searches.
“Now, if the weather conditions improve and the water warms up some, we may bring back cadaver dogs next week, next weekend,” Sills said. “But as of today, all the searching with using cadaver dogs and divers has ceased.”
Sills said his agency is also working with the U.S. Secret Service to unlock the cellphone of Jones' fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson. They hoped to get a better idea of where they had been. The sheriff said he believed she took pictures of landmarks on the phone that may be of use to them during the investigation.
Jones, who taught science and coached track at Westminster, and Wilson, a Spelman College math instructor, were seen together on a fishing boat that afternoon. But the boat was empty when it was spotted circling a couple of miles north of the Wallace Dam at 5:24 p.m. on Feb. 8. Wilson’s body was found near where the boat was located on Feb. 9, officials said. She was still holding the phone in her hand, they added.
“But we don’t know the code to her phone, neither does anybody or her family,” Sills said. “So we have asked Secret Service to assist us and breaking the code on the phone, that’s all they’re doing.”
During the extensive 22-day search, officers from the Georgia DNR, Georgia State Patrol and sheriff’s office have been assisted by the public, including people who traveled all the way from Fort Myers, Florida, the sheriff said. Others who weren’t involved in the search also brought food and drinks to those out working during the “difficult endeavor,” Sills added.
He called it the “most expensive search that has ever been conducted on Lake Sinclair or Lake Oconee.”
Over the weekend, about a dozen divers and cadaver dogs were used to search the waters, with help from DNR equipment and helicopters. Sills said, “you name it, we’ve used it and have yet to locate (Jones).”
On Sunday morning, Sills was out on the lake amid near-freezing temperatures. He said it was likely the body would be in the deepest parts of the water, where temperatures are even colder.
“That’s just unfortunately the situation we have,” he said.
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