Jason Jones was sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for a quadruple homicide which took place in 2022
According to court documents Jason Jones in August 2022 would travel to two homes where he would murder two people in each. At the end of the day Michelle Ebeling, Janet and Gene Twiford and their daughter Dana Twiford would be dead. Apparently Jones was upset that Gene Twiford made towards Jaason wife Carrie Jones
In each of the two homes the two people would be murdered and their houses would be set on fire
Jason Jones and Carrie Jones would be arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder
Carrie Jones (photo below) would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole
Jason Jones would be convicted and sentenced to death
Jason Jones Case
Jason Jones will join 11 men on Nebraska’s death row after a three-judge panel unanimously decided on Friday that he should be sentenced to death for a quadruple murder in 2022 that stunned the small town of Laurel.
Motivated by alleged inappropriate comments that 85-year-old Gene Twiford made toward his wife, Jones broke into the Twiford home with a pry bar shortly after 3 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2022. Gene was found shot to death on the bedroom floor. Jones fired multiple rounds at Gene’s wife, Janet, “before she even had a chance to get out of her bed,” according to court records. And upon encountering the couple’s adult daughter, 55-year-old Dana Twiford, Jones fired at least seven shots, striking her in the chest and killing her.
After killing the Twifords, Jones doused parts of the home in gasoline and set it on fire. He then walked back toward his home, about three blocks north, but stopped at the home of his across-the-street neighbor, Michele Ebeling. Jones shot Ebeling near her back entryway and then set the house on fire. His motive for killing Ebeling is less clear. In court documents, he is recorded as saying Ebeling and her boyfriend were “weird,” and stared at Jones’ wife.
Cedar County 911 received a call at 3:11 a.m. reporting an explosion at Ebeling’s home. Firefighters and paramedics arrived soon after, and Ebeling was pronounced dead at the scene. It was more than six hours later that another 911 call came in reporting smoke from the Twiford residence. The fire was out by the time firefighters arrived, but the living room was covered in soot. Though the Twifords’ bodies were discovered after Ebeling’s, investigators believe the Twifords were killed first.
Investigators quickly linked Jones to the murders. A backpack found at Ebeling’s home contained receipts for gasoline purchased by Jones the day prior. He left a pistol, purchased under his name, on the floor of the Twiford home. He was arrested on Aug. 5 and admitted to the burn unit of a Lincoln hospital for treatment of severe burns sustained while setting the fires.
Jones’ wife, Carrie Jones, was arrested months later and charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Gene Twiford. Under Nebraska law, a person who aids and abets a murder can be charged with the murder itself. She was convicted by a jury in 2025 and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in her case.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued a statement after the sentencing, saying the death penalty was an “appropriate sentence.”
“We are grateful for the work of the three-judge panel and their thorough and well-reasoned order,” the statement read. “The panel laid out the horrific details surrounding the quadruple homicide Jason Jones committed and explained why the death penalty is an appropriate sentence under these facts, under the language of the Nebraska statutes, and the history of Nebraska case law where the death penalty was imposed.”
