10-03-2025
Family of missing teacher ‘can finally grieve' after Gary Jones' body pulled from Lake Oconee
After a month of searching Lake Oconee, Gary Jones' body has finally been recovered.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with friends and family of the beloved Westminster teacher who say it has been a difficult month.
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Jones and his fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson, vanished while boating on Lake Oconee in early February. Wilson's body was recovered the next day.
Mike Jones says these have been some of the worst days of his family's lives.
'My parents can finally grieve now that Gary is coming home,' he said.
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Bekitembe Eric Taylor told Fernandes he graduated with Gary Jones from West Lake High School in 1993 and Clark Atlanta University four years later.
'He was one of the people who was not only great in sports and great at academics but his character was always solid. He spoke to everybody,' Taylor remembered. 'I really hope none of the people who said anything negative about him ever have to experience what it's like to wait almost a month to find your friend.'
Taylor said the best way to honor the teacher's memory is to get out and help someone, something Gary Jones always aspired to do.
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Gary Jones' body was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation headquarters in DeKalb County where investigators will perform an autopsy.
