Boater dead, 1 still missing after empty vessel seen circling on Georgia lake, cops say
UPDATE: A Spelman College instructor and a Westminster Schools coach have been identified as the victims in the boating incident on Lake Oconee, news outlets reported, citing Georgia authorities.
Joycelyn Nicole Wilson, 49, was a math instructor at the historically Black women’s college in Atlanta and previously taught at Howard University, according to her faculty bio on Spelman’s website. Crews recovered her body Sunday, Feb. 9.
Gary Jones, a faculty member and coach at the Westminster Schools, was identified as the second victim, though his body hadn’t been found as of Feb. 12, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is investigating.
The original story is below.
A woman is dead, and a man she was with remains missing after the pair vanished from a boat seen circling on a Georgia lake over the weekend, authorities said.
Game wardens were called late Saturday, Feb. 8, about the empty vessel on Lake Oconee near Wallace Dam in Eatonton, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The boat was “no longer under power” when game wardens arrived, authorities said.
Investigators contacted the boat’s owner and learned two people, a man and a woman, were using the boat earlier that day, DNR said.
Officers immediately launched a search of the area using SONAR in hopes of finding the missing boaters.
Crews recovered the woman’s body just before 10 a.m. Sunday, authorities said. Georgia DNR officials didn’t release her name, but the Putnam County Coroner’s Office has identified her as Joycelyn Nicole Wilson, 49, of Atlanta, The Eatonton Messenger reported.
Her cause of death will be determined pending an autopsy, Deputy Coroner Andre Williams told the newspaper, adding that there were no marks or injuries to Williams’s body when she was pulled from the water.
Crews continued searching for the male boater until 6 p.m. Sunday, and again from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, the Department of Natural Resources said.
The search for him resumed at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, according to officials.
Authorities didn’t release additional details but said the investigation is ongoing.
Eatonton is about an 80-mile drive southeast from downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 7:28 AM with the headline "Boater dead, 1 still missing after empty vessel seen circling on Georgia lake, cops say."