A Georgia educator was mysteriously found dead in a lake while on a birthday boating trip and the body of her fiancee remains missing, according to officials.
Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Wilson’s body was discovered in Lake Oconee, where she and her fiance, Gary Jones, had visited for Jones's 50th birthday party, 11 Alive reports.
On Saturday, February 8, the couple checked into a hotel before they went to the Fish Tale Marina in Eatonton. Security cameras spotted them boarding a boat and launching from the marina into Lick Creek around 3:30pm. At around 5:30pm, boaters on Richland Creek, which connects to the Oconee River and Lake Oconee, reported seeing an empty 12-foot boat idling in circles on the water.
Within 24 hours, another couple found Wilson's body floating in the lake.
Once she was located, crews began searching the water for Jones and deployed a cadaver dog which is trained to locate bodies underwater.
While the search for Jones continues, the county will perform an autopsy on Wilson. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the investigation is being treated as an active death and not an accidental drowning.
The fact that Wilson was found dead and floating — rather than beneath the lake's surface — may explain why the sheriff's department thinks her death was more than a drowning.
"We know for a fact that there was some air in her lungs that would have provided the necessary buoyancy," Sills 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."
Wilson was found clutching her phone. It is unclear if law enforcement found any notable data on the phone.
While Wilson's body was found in the middle of the lake, the only sign investigators have found one sign of Jones's whereabouts; his shoes.
Jones’s shoes were located on the opposite side of the lake from where Wilson's body was found, approximately 15 yards apart. According to Sills, security camera footage confirms that Jones left his shoes lightly tied, which may explain why his shoes came off.
"He routinely did not tie his shoes on tight, and we have absolute evidence of that that's visible when he launched the boats," Sills said. "So, if you were out there in the water struggling to swim or something like that kicking, it certainly wouldn't have been hard for your shoes to come off would it?"
Sills said divers are battling low visibility and dangerous underwater conditions. The lake's floor can be as deep as 80 feet, and toppled trees beneath the water have complicated their work.
"You can’t see your hand in front of your face six feet underwater, much less 80 feet," he said.
Local law enforcement received some help today from the United Cajun Navy, a volunteer group of boat owners who specialize in marine searches.
Investigators have not found any evidence suggesting that the boat the couple was in experienced a crash or catastrophic incident. The boat's contents — life jackets, paddles, a tackle box, and food — were found on board.
"There is no evidence the boat was hit or run over by another boat," Sills said. "I don't know if we'll ever know exactly what happened out there."
