(WALB, NBC NEWSCHANNEL, WPTV) Investigators say a Georgia grandmother, who recently lived in Palm Beach County, killed two of her three grandchildren before setting the house on fire.
Investigators say Jacqueline Sanders attacked the seven, six, and ten-year-old children with a knife and knife sharpener on Tuesday.
They say she then intentionally set her West Albany house on fire.
They say Sanders stabbed the six-year-old to death in her bed then wrapped her in a blanket.
They say she then tried to escape the fire with the seven-year-old, but they were overcome with smoke.
Both Sanders and the seven-year-old later died at the hospital.
But investigators say Sanders first attacked the 10-year-old boy and put what she thought was his dead body in the trunk of her car.
But he survived and prosecutors say it was more than an hour before the boy let first responders know he was still alive.
"After he was beaten and slashed, he was forced into the trunk of the vehicle, and he in fact remained there even though there were other personnel -- EMTs and other personnel -- who were there as first responders cause he was still afraid and did not get out of and didn't let anyone know that he was being held in the trunk," Dougherty District Attorney Greg Edwards said.
According to officials, the family had moved into the neighborhood last December, the Albany Herald reported.
“The information that we have is that Sanders lived in West Palm Beach, Florida,” the newspaper quoted Edwards as saying.
Prosecutors say because of Sanders' death there will be no criminal charges or trial.
But they say she alone was responsible for the murder and fatal fire.
The 10-year-old remains hospitalized in serious condition.
They believe Sanders was mentally ill and off her medication.
