"He had a violent history, a violent temper. And he's just an idiot."

[gofaster]

... and he blew his "substantial settlement" award money on drugs.

I'm glad to see the girls ok.  If this guys lives to trial, he'll probably be found to be insane.  His drug addiction sure didn't help his diminished capacity either.  What cheezes me is that We The Taxpayers get to pay for his treatment.

Link to the story here.

Three Ga. Girls Safe After Manhunt Ends    
30 minutes ago  Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
 

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

ELLIJAY, Ga. - The frantic manhunt for a jealous ex-husband who allegedly killed three former in-laws and his infant daughter before fleeing with three girls ended near the Tennessee line when the suspect shot himself in the face during a police chase.

The girls — his former stepdaughter and two of his daughters — were in the vehicle with him. One was splattered with his blood, but they were unharmed following the pursuit late Thursday, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.


The suspect, Jerry William Jones, 31, was hospitalized in critical condition and under armed guard, but "he does not have a life-threatening condition," Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said Friday.


The girls, ages 3, 4 and 10, were being released to the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services, Keenan told CBS's "The Early Show."


The girls' aunt, Kathy O'Donnell, said family members hoped the children would be returned to them soon.


"They are beautiful little girls," O'Donnell told The Associated Press at her home in Ellijay on Friday. "Brittany, the oldest one, is very smart. I'm sure she did whatever she could to take care of her sisters. She always does."


O'Donnell, whose parents, sister and infant niece were killed, said she wants Jones to survive the gunshot.


"I want to see him in the courtroom," she said. "I want him to have to live with this everyday. I would want to know why he did this and what my mother did so bad that he had to put her through the hell he did. And my 10-month-old niece. Why would he do that to her?"


Jones, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for burglary and auto theft, is accused of shooting to death his ex-wife's parents, Tom and Nola Blaylock, and her sister Georgia Bradley, and strangling his infant daughter, then driving off with his two older daughters and his 10-year-old former stepdaughter in a stolen sport utility vehicle.


Authorities said the motive appeared to be jealousy.


Jones had called his ex-wife, Melissa Peeler, late Wednesday and told her of the killings, said David O'Donnell, his former brother-in-law. Jones told her he would "start killing the kids one by one" if she alerted authorities, he said.


Peeler, who had left the children with her parents and sister before leaving for Oregon to visit her boyfriend over the Christmas holidays, notified police, David O'Donnell said.


After a public alert was issued, police in Whitfield County got a tip that Jones' vehicle had been spotted headed north on Interstate 75 toward Tennessee, about 50 miles north of Ranger, where the slayings occurred.


Keenan said deputies spotted the car and saw the children, but Jones refused to pull over. He drove a short way off the interstate when a state trooper bumped the back of the car, forcing it to spin and crash into a telephone pole.


The 10-year-old got out and ran, and officers saw Jones slump in the front seat, Keenan said. They pulled the other children out, one of them covered in Jones' blood, he said.


The girls, Brandy Jones, 4, and Tammy Jones, 3, and Brittany Phelps, 10, were released from a Chattanooga hospital late Thursday.


Their mother was trying to fly home from Oregon, but her flight was delayed by an ice storm and she had not arrived by Friday morning. Relatives said FBI (news - web sites) officials planned to meet her at the airport.

   



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

David and Kathy O'Donnell both said Jones was constantly threatening the family with violence and that Peeler had been trying to get away from him.

David O'Donnell told CBS he believed Jones would have killed the girls if he hadn't been caught so quickly.

"I was surprised that he didn't," he said Friday. "He had a violent history, a violent temper. And he's just and idiot. He's capable of doing anything."

Georgia Bradley's 16-year-old son, Terry Baker, was at a friend's house when his mother was killed.

"I want him to sit and rot in jail," Baker said of Jones. "Why'd he killed my mama and my grandparents? They wouldn't hurt nobody."

Officials say Peeler and Jones were never legally married but had a common-law marriage.

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

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

[Dnil]

guy truely was a scumbag.


Quick question.  What was the mother doing across the country seeing her boyfriend and leaving her kids alone at Christmas?  Sounds like the complete Jerry Springer family.

I cant imagine missing my kids first christmas.

[lazs2]

wonder how many carreer criminal who get shot during a burglary say..woulda ended up just like this guy.

Drugs and bad people.   can't seem to get rid of em.   Best thing to do is just be prepared and hope you don't run into em.

lazs

[Wanker]

Originally posted by Dnil
guy truely was a scumbag.


Quick question.  What was the mother doing across the country seeing her boyfriend and leaving her kids alone at Christmas?  Sounds like the complete Jerry Springer family.

I cant imagine missing my kids first christmas.

I see nothing wrong with taking a break from four kids and leaving them with her parents. Its not like she left them with complete strangers.

Besides, if she would've still been here, she'd be dead, too.

[moot]

"he's just and idiot. He's capable of doing anything"

[lord dolf vader]

well i dont think doing a complex japanese tea ceremony was under the heading of "anything" in this case. just a feeling admitedly:)

[moot]

probably. Can't tell for sure with just the article.

[Dnil]

sure take a break from you kids....but not Christmas...and missing your 10 month olds 1st Christmas?  Pretty crappy parenting to me.

Its not like these kids are teenagers.  Small kids who need their parents, especially at Christmas time.  She chose her boyfriend across the country instead of her kids.  

I doubt the 10 month was his....probably why he killed her.


*edit*  you know what, it said the christmas holidays I think, not actually christmas day.  Thats kind of different, well a lot different.

Maybe she was there for christmas then flew off.

[gofaster]

Peeler, who had left the children with her parents and sister before leaving for Oregon to visit her boyfriend over the Christmas holidays, notified police, David O'Donnell said.

I'm thinking they all did Christmas together at her parent's place with the kids, then she let the parents babysit afterwards while she flew out to Oregon for a few days.

What I want to know is, why did she have 2 kids by a lunatic father?  No awards for good judgment it sounds like.