Children released to custody of grandmother

<p>The small children of a pair of hurricane evacuees from New Orleans who died in a murder-suicide were placed in the custody of their grandmother Tuesday.</p><p>Madeline Watts of Baton Rouge, La., picked up her 5-month-old granddaughter, Angel, from the Department of Children and Family Services, then went to get her 3 1/2-year-old brother, Jaylen, from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.</p><p>He had been hospitalized since being shot last week by Jerome Spears at the family's rented home in Austell. Spears also fatally shot the children's mother, 23-year-old Rachel Harris, before turning the gun on himself.</p><p>Jaylen has made a "remarkable recovery" after being shot in the face, Police Chief Bob Starrett said.</p><p>Starrett said there was no insurance to provide for the children, so authorities had set up the Jaylen and Angel Fund at Georgia State Bank and were seeking contributions.</p><p>The baby has been in custody of DFCS since the Jan. 25 shootings.</p><p>Custody of both children was granted to Harris' mother in a Juvenile Court hearing Tuesday morning. Watts said she would return with them to Baton Rouge, where they would live with her and her 19-year-old daughter and an aunt.</p><p>First, she had to go to New Orleans to bury her daughter.</p><p>Watts said Harris "was such a beautiful, bubbly, wonderful girl."</p><p>"I just don't know what went wrong," she said. "We'll never know."</p>

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