ATLANTA — The search for a missing high school coach has ended after authorities found the body of Gary Jones on Lake Oconee a month after his disappearance, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.

Authorities said Jones’ body was found Sunday by Keith Cormican, founder of Bruce’s Legacy, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that had stepped in to assist with the search over the weekend. 

The organization used its advanced sonar equipment to locate Jones after over a day of searching.

According to our sister station WMAZ, Sheriff Sills was on the lake when Cormican and his team found the body. 

Authorities said Jones was found approximately 45 feet down, in close proximity to where his fiancee Joycelyn Wilson’s body was found. 

Jones and Wilson were last seen on Feb. 8 heading out onto Lake Oconee in Jones’ 12-foot jon boat to celebrate his 50th birthday. 

Hours later, their boat was found empty, idling in circles near Richland Creek. The following day, Wilson’s body was recovered floating in the lake, her phone still in hand. Jones’ shoes were later found floating near the shoreline on the opposite side of the lake, but there had been no sign of him since.

Before Bruce’s Legacy became involved, crews had spent three weeks conducting the most extensive search in Putnam County’s history, using sonar, cadaver dogs, helicopters, and drones to no avail. 

After suspending daily searches on Mar. 3, Sills elected to bring in Cormican and his team to help with the search. 

“He’s very successful, very well known around the country, and he’s literally traveled the world finding bodies,” Sills said.

Sills has informed the family of the discovery, who has funded the search thus far. 

Jones’ brother, Michael Jones, says getting the call was bittersweet, but he hopes his brother’s legacy lives on. 

“He was a game and life changer for a lot of people. And that’s why so many folks have come in to support,” he said. “Gary has been a servant of God since his early years as a teenager, and he has done probably what people have done in 85, 90 years – Gary’s done in 50 years. And so we just hope to carry his legacy on.”

 Authorities say they do not suspect foul play in Gary’s death.