Joe Kovac Jr.

1 month ago | ajc.com | Joe Kovac Jr.

MACON — A block from this Georgia music mecca’s City Hall, precisely 120 paces from the front doors of the City Auditorium where Otis Redding’s funeral was held 57 years ago, a new 15,000-square-foot arts center that bears the soul-singing legend’s name was christened Tuesday. The Otis Redding Center for the Arts, a roughly $11 million undertaking spearheaded by his family and largely funded by donations, sits on hallowed ground here.

1 month ago | ajc.com | Joe Kovac Jr.

DANVILLE — Here along I-16 over the weekend, 20 or so minutes southeast of Macon, the sheriff’s department’s annual Operation Wrong Exit reeled in scores of unsuspecting motorists who couldn’t resist the urge to elude the law. Instead of evading detection, 62 drove themselves into handcuffs. The setup was simple, and for more than a decade and a half it has worked like a St. Patrick’s Day charm.

1 month ago | ajc.com | Joe Kovac Jr. |Alexis Stevens |Ashley Ahn

LAKE OCONEE — The extensive search for a beloved metro Atlanta coach ended Sunday when his body was pulled from Lake Oconee. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Gary Jones’ body was found at about 1 p.m in about 45 feet of water. It was not far from where the body of Jones’ fiancee, Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Wilson, was found.

1 month ago | ajc.com | Joe Kovac Jr.

LAKE OCONEE — Each day for the past month, save for a couple of Sundays and a handful of weekdays, Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputy J.D. Turk has climbed aboard a 19-foot Sailfish patrol boat and cruised the southern reaches of this 19,000-acre reservoir in search of a missing boater. Ordinarily, Turk, 62, who for much of the past half decade worked as a police officer in Alaska, is a drug-crimes investigator.

1 month ago | ajc.com | Joe Kovac Jr. |Rosana Hughes

Investigators believe Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Wilson snapped several photos as she and her fiancé Gary Jones went on a boat ride in Lake Oconee last month, with the last picture being taken just one minute before the couple’s phones both stopped transmitting. Wilson’s body was recovered from the lake Feb. 9, the day after the boat was found near Wallace Dam, empty and circling. Jones has yet to be found.