Girls In Ga. Murder-Kidnap Safe

A jealous ex-husband suspected of shooting three former in-laws to death with a rifle and strangling his infant daughter, then kidnapping three little girls and fleeing in a stolen sport utility vehicle remains hospitalized after shooting himself at the end of the bizarre chase, authorities said Thursday.

The girls were found unharmed Thursday night following a police chase on Interstate 75 near the Georgia-Tennessee line, about 50 miles north of where the killings occurred 24 hours earlier, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The suspect, Jerry William Jones, shot himself in face, after Georgia State troopers forced his vehicle to hit a utility pole, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Vernon Keenan on CBS News' The Early Show.

"He does not have a life-threatening condition. He is under armed guard," Keenan said.

"The girls are fine. We're very thankful that they are not harmed," he told Early Show co-anchor René Syler. "They have been examined by the hospital and are being released to the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services."

Jones faces murder and kidnapping charges and false imprisonment, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

Two of the children were from Jones and his common-law wife, Melissa Peeler — Brandy Jones, 4, and Tammy Jones, 3 — and the third was Peeler's daughter from a previous relationship, Brittany Phelps, 10.

The victims were found dead in two homes down the street from each other in the rural Georgia town of Ranger, 55 miles north of Atlanta.

Authorities said Jones, 31, has a long criminal history, including convictions for burglary and auto theft.

Jones, who had been living in Rome, Ga., 31 miles from Ranger, called his estranged common-law wife, Peeler, late Wednesday and told her of the killings, adding that he would "start killing the kids one by one" if she alerted authorities, according to her brother-in-law.

Peeler was in Oregon, where she had been since the Christmas holidays with her boyfriend, leaving the children with her parents and sisters. She notified police after getting the phone call.

According to the GBI, Peeler and Jones were never legally married but had a common-law marriage.

Peeler's parents, Tom and Nola Blaylock, were found shot to death in one home. In the other house, authorities found Peeler's sister, Georgia Bradley, 32, shot to death, while Jones' 10-month-old daughter by Peeler, Harley, was apparently strangled.

GBI spokesman John Bankhead said the crime scenes indicated that the killer was "very methodical."

"This wasn't quick. He clearly took his time," Bankhead said.

After Levi's Call — Georgia's version of Amber Alert — on the abducted children, police in Whitfield County got a tip that Jones's vehicle had been spotted headed north on Interstate 75 toward Tennessee.

"The Amber Alert works," said Keenan. "This is another success story for the Amber Alert."

Deputies located the car and saw the children inside, but Jones refused to pull over, Keenan said. The Georgia State Patrol and deputies from adjacent Coosa County joined in following the vehicle until it exited in the Chattanooga area and drove for about a mile-and-a-half.

Keenan said a trooper bumped the rear end, forcing it to spin and crash into a telephone pole. The 10-year-old got out, and officers saw Jones slump in front seat. They pulled the other children out, one of them covered in Jones' blood.

Kathy O'Donnell, daughter of the Blaylock murder victims, said she was relieved by news of Jones' capture.

"It's so great. I'm glad they have him on his stomach handcuffed. And I am glad those babies are safe," she told The Associated Press.

Bankhead said investigators would compare the weapon found with Jones to determine if it was used in Wednesday's shootings.

Authorities said the motive appeared to be jealousy over Peeler visiting her new boyfriend.

David O'Donnell, Kathy's husband and brother-in-law of Peeler, said he was surprised Williams hadn't harmed the children.

"He has a violent history, a violent temper. And he's just an idiot. He's capable of doing anything," O'Donnell told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.

Jones' mother and stepfather were killed in the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades, and O'Donnell said Jones got a substantial settlement.

"He blew the money almost as fast as he got it, mostly on drugs," O'Donnell said.

Kathy O'Donnell said that after the ValuJet crash, Jones began to lose control.

"He felt like he couldn't have his family, nobody else would," she said.

"He had been threatening my mother and I for the past couple of years that he was going to kill us," she said Friday on The Early Show.