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CNN Live At Daybreak
Georgia Murders
Aired January 09, 2004 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is a case spanning two days, four killings and three abductions. It begins in Georgia and ends in Tennessee. Among the victims, four children ages 10 months to 10 years. And the man police say is the cause of this family tragedy is in critical condition this morning after shooting himself in the face.
CNN's Martin Savidge has the whole story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tip from a motorist, a highway chase, a crash and self-inflicted gunshot wound, three children alive and well. For authorities, this wasn't the sort of ending that they had just hoped for, but in this part of Georgia, one they had prayed for.
JOHN BANKHEAD, GBI SPOKESMAN: Georgia officers located him on I- 75 heading north towards Chattanooga. They got in a chase with him. Several agencies joined into the chase. It went over into the Tennessee line. He took the first exit, the Ringgold exit, and then apparently had a traffic accident. There was apparently a gunshot heard and we don't know any more than that. The kids apparently are fine. But he apparently is in bad condition.
SAVIDGE: Jerry Jones was not only a wanted man in Georgia, but by the end of the day, had become the most desperately sought after man in America, wanted not only for the murders authorities alleged he committed, but also for the three young children he reportedly had taken with him.
It began late Wednesday night with a phone call that led police to this rural community in north Georgia and the discovery of the bodies of three adults and a 10 month old infant. A number of the victims had been shot several times, the infant apparently strangled. And then the discovery, three other children, all girls -- 10, 4 and 3 -- were missing and believed kidnapped by the suspect. An amber alert was issued across the region.
Authorities were gravely concerned for the children's safety.
SHERIFF JERRY DAVIS, GORDON COUNTY, GEORGIA: The statement was made if you notify the officers, I will harm the children.
SAVIDGE: That statement was made by Melissa Peeler, the mother of the three missing children, estranged from Jones. She was the one that had called police from Oregon Wednesday evening, saying that Jones had called her, telling her what he had done. It was that phone call that led police to the gruesome discovery.
VERNON KEENAN, GBI DIRECTOR: We do not know where he is at. We do not know where he's headed to.
SAVIDGE: The dragnet for Jerry Jones not only spread across the Southeast, but then went across the nation. For the sheriff of the small community in Gordon County, the murders were not just a terrible crime, they became personal.
DAVIS: The way that he's treated these people, I want him bad.
SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Calhoun, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 9, 2004 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is a case spanning two days, four killings and three abductions. It begins in Georgia and ends in Tennessee. Among the victims, four children ages 10 months to 10 years. And the man police say is the cause of this family tragedy is in critical condition this morning after shooting himself in the face.
CNN's Martin Savidge has the whole story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tip from a motorist, a highway chase, a crash and self-inflicted gunshot wound, three children alive and well. For authorities, this wasn't the sort of ending that they had just hoped for, but in this part of Georgia, one they had prayed for.
JOHN BANKHEAD, GBI SPOKESMAN: Georgia officers located him on I- 75 heading north towards Chattanooga. They got in a chase with him. Several agencies joined into the chase. It went over into the Tennessee line. He took the first exit, the Ringgold exit, and then apparently had a traffic accident. There was apparently a gunshot heard and we don't know any more than that. The kids apparently are fine. But he apparently is in bad condition.
SAVIDGE: Jerry Jones was not only a wanted man in Georgia, but by the end of the day, had become the most desperately sought after man in America, wanted not only for the murders authorities alleged he committed, but also for the three young children he reportedly had taken with him.
It began late Wednesday night with a phone call that led police to this rural community in north Georgia and the discovery of the bodies of three adults and a 10 month old infant. A number of the victims had been shot several times, the infant apparently strangled. And then the discovery, three other children, all girls -- 10, 4 and 3 -- were missing and believed kidnapped by the suspect. An amber alert was issued across the region.
Authorities were gravely concerned for the children's safety.
SHERIFF JERRY DAVIS, GORDON COUNTY, GEORGIA: The statement was made if you notify the officers, I will harm the children.
SAVIDGE: That statement was made by Melissa Peeler, the mother of the three missing children, estranged from Jones. She was the one that had called police from Oregon Wednesday evening, saying that Jones had called her, telling her what he had done. It was that phone call that led police to the gruesome discovery.
VERNON KEENAN, GBI DIRECTOR: We do not know where he is at. We do not know where he's headed to.
SAVIDGE: The dragnet for Jerry Jones not only spread across the Southeast, but then went across the nation. For the sheriff of the small community in Gordon County, the murders were not just a terrible crime, they became personal.
DAVIS: The way that he's treated these people, I want him bad.
SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Calhoun, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
