Abducted girls rescued after family killings

Three American girls who were kidnapped, apparently by their father after he allegedly killed three of his former in-laws and strangled his baby daughter, were rescued early today.

Jerry William Jones, wanted in connection with the four murders, made a failed suicide attempt after he crashed during a police chase, a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told CNN.

It is believed the jealous ex-husband was caught near Tennessee after a tip off from another motorist.

Jones, 31, allegedly shot three former in-laws dead, strangled his 10-month-old daughter and fled with the girls in a stolen sport utility vehicle on Wednesday.

Two of the girls are his daughters and the other is a former stepdaughter.

After the killings, Jones phoned his ex-wife, who was staying with her boyfriend in Oregon.

Police said he told her he had shot her parents, her sister and killed their baby daughter Harley.

He threatened to kill the other three girls if she went to the police, said her brother-in-law, David O’Donnell.