RANGER, GA.--A jealous ex-husband shot three former in-laws to death with a rifle and strangled his infant daughter, then kidnapped three little girls and fled in a stolen sport utility vehicle, authorities said Thursday.

The girls were found unharmed Thursday night following a police chase on Interstate 75 near the 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 the face, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said. "Apparently he is going to survive," Bankhead said.

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

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

Jones called his estranged common-law wife, Melissa 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.

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

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

Peeler and Jones' children -- Brandy Jones, 4, and Tammy Jones, 3 -- and Peeler's daughter from a previous relationship, Brittany Phelps, 10, were missing.

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

Deputies located the car and saw the children inside, but Jones refused to pull over, GBI director Vernon Keenan said.

The Georgia State Patrol and deputies from adjacent Coosa County joined in following the vehicle until it exited in Ringgold 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.

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

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

Jones' mother and stepfather were killed in the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades.

Authorities said Jones was in and out of prison in the 1990s on various theft charges.