A search is underway today in rural northwest Georgia for a man who is believed to have kidnapped three girls and killed four people, including his own infant daughter. According to his ex-wife who lives in Oregon, he called her and admitted the killings and warned that he would kill the kidnapped girls if she called police.
Gordon County, Ga. Sheriff’s spokesman Clent Harris said a murder warrant had been issued for 31-year-old Jerry William Jones. See mug shot
Authorities believe Jones has the children and is driving a 1991 red or maroon Ford Explorer. The vehicle has Georgia license plates with registration 730YFV. It was last seen traveling west on Georgia state highway 156 from U.S. 411.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said Jones has brown hair, green eyes, weighs 145 pounds and is 5 feet 6 inches tall. He also has scars on his back and a tattoo on his left arm. Jones is considered extremely dangerous and possibly armed.
Gordon County authorities are asking people to call 1-706-629-1244 if they see Jones or have any information that may help the case.
Hubert Pack, the brother-in-law of one of the victims, said that the trouble started when the children were taken away from Jones by family services for being an unfit parent, and put in the custody of one of the people found killed.
The bodies were found shot to death Thursday morning, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said the murder scenes showed that the killer was “very methodical.”
“This wasn’t quick. He clearly took his time,” Bankhead said.
At the scene of the killings Thursday, Jones’ former brother-in-law said Jones killed his in-laws, Tom and Nola Blaylock, one of their adult daughters, Georgia Bradley, and Jones’ own 10-month-old daughter, Harley.
David O’Donnell said Jones was divorced from Melissa Peeler, the mother of the missing girls and Harley. Peeler was visiting her boyfriend in Oregon and her parents and sister were caring for the children.
After the killing, O’Donnell said, Jones called Peeler in Elliott, Ore.
Jones told Peeler that if she went to authorities, he would “start killing the kids one by one,” O’Donnell said.
Bankhead said a man and a woman were found at one home, and a woman and an infant girl were found at the other home. It was unclear where the kidnapped girls were staying or if they had witnessed the killings.
O’Donnell said he thought Jones would be headed to south Florida, where his brother lives.
Officials issued an Amber alert Thursday morning for Brittany Phelps, 10, Brandy Jones, 4, and Tammy Jones, 3, all last seen Wednesday at a home in Ranger, 55 miles north of Atlanta.
Jones is the father of two of the missing girls and the oldest girl’s former stepfather.
Investigators were at the scene of the deaths Thursday. The four were killed Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., authorities said. It wasn’t known when the girls were taken.
Jones has been jailed before, for theft and minor traffic charges, said Gordon County Sheriff Jerry Davis. “We’ve had him in our jail and we’re fixin’ to put him back in our jail. We’re gonna put him back on the chain gang he was on.”
Source: Georgia Department of Corrections; The Associated Press; Gordon County, Ga. Sheriff’s Office