Jason Jones murder trial: “From the fire scene to the crime scene”

DAKOTA COUNTY, Nebraska (KTIV) – As the Twiford family hugged each other in consolation and quiet sobs rang out from the bleachers, they learned how their loved ones died as investigators toured the Twiford family home in Laurel, Nebraska.

86-year-old Gene Twiford, 85-year-old Janet Twiford and their daughter, 55-year-old Dana Twiford, were shot and killed in their burning home in the early morning hours of August 4, 2022.

The Twiford family moved into the house at 503 Elm Street in 2014 after raising four children on a farm outside of town, where they spent nearly 50 years.

Just a few blocks from the Twiford house was the home of Michele Ebeling, who lived with her fiancé, Brian Welch, at 209 Elm Street. Laurel Police Chief Ron Lundahl rushed to her residence when paramedics alerted him to a possible homicide after Ebeling was pulled unconscious from her burning home shortly after 3:00 a.m.

While a man was walking his dog near the Ebeling property, Chief Lundahl noticed smoke coming from the Twifords’ house a few blocks away and rushed over.

“I put my hand on the door and felt that it was hot,” Lundahl said in court. “There was a haze in the house.”

Lundahl entered the building through the already open back door and peeked into the garage. Janet Twiford’s vehicle was still parked in its usual spot. He called the fire department and it didn’t take long before he learned what had happened inside.

“I met Jill and Gail on the street,” he said of the Twifords’ daughters who had arrived home. “I informed them that their parents were gone, as was (their sister) Dana.”

Chief Lundahl had spent nearly three decades on the streets of Laurel and knew the Twiford family well. In fact, he owned a rental property directly across the street from their now-burning home.

He said Gene Twiford’s skills declined as he got older.

“Over the years, I noticed a noticeable decline in his abilities. He was forgetful,” Lundahl said of the 86-year-old Twiford. “One time he didn’t recognize me properly.”

READ MORE: Application on media rights to inspect and report on evidence presented in Jason Jones murder trial heard

The fire in the Ebeling house

“When I entered the building, I noticed that there was a strong smell of gasoline.”

Justin Davis, an investigator for the Nebraska State Fire Marshal, explained to the jury his process for determining the origin and cause of the fire at Michele Ebeling’s home in Laurel, Nebraska.

The fire, Davis said, was hot and burned fast.

“The fire essentially smothered itself before it could spread,” Davis explained. “The fire was incendiary and was the result of a flammable liquid that had been poured throughout the building and was releasing smoke, flammable vapors before it ignited. That just means that the fire was not accidental or natural. It started in a place where it would not normally start.”

In the early hours of August 4, 2022, Royce Fairley and his roommate heard what they thought was an explosion in their neighbor Michele Ebeling’s home and called 911.

A five-gallon gasoline can with liquid in it was found in the living room. The entire carpet in the house was covered in tracks. The fire, Davis said, was deliberately set.

“This means that the fire was not an accident,” he said Monday morning before the packed Dakota County District Court at the conclusion of the investigation.

Chief Lundahl, one of the first investigators called to the Ebelings’ home, detailed the witness statements he received shortly after his arrival, including that of Carrie Jones, who lived across the street with her husband, Jason Jones.

Lundahl said Jones had no visible injuries, but they spoke through a crack in the door in Jones’ home. Jason Jones, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of arson and four counts of using a firearm to commit a crime, never came to the door.

Carrie Jones is charged in connection with the murders herself. She has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and aiding and abetting a crime. She is awaiting trial in Cedar County.

DAY 1: Defense opening statement points to Jones’ “nervous breakdown” as reason for the murders

Burglary at the Twiford family home

“Someone said the Twifords were still in the house.”

At about 9:30 a.m., investigators at the Ebeling home were notified of a fire at the Twiford residence, which was further down the street. In a small town, two house fires at the same time on the same street are unusual. Multiple fires moved toward 503 Elm and reached the Twiford home before firefighters did.

State Fire Marshal Investigator Jeff Going went to the back door of the Twiford home and saw something that caught his attention. The rear storm door was open and the interior door was unlocked.

On the floor, the door frame plate lay on the outdoor mat, a crowbar lay nearby, and splintered wood shards lay on the door frame.

He led firefighter Ryan Fettig and his partner through the already open door and searched the rest of the yard. The couple entered the living room and “everything was black,” Fettig recalled, “the couch was just made of springs.”

Shortly after going in, the two came out again and said they found that the three Twifords had been shot.

“As I walked down the hall and turned to the right, I saw Gene lying there on the floor,” Fettig recalled. He also noticed a shell casing at Gene Twiford’s feet. His wife, Janet, was lying on the bed. Their daughter, Dana, was lying on the floor across the hall. Fettig checked them all for a pulse but could not find one; their bodies were covered in soot.

“After I found Jan in the bedroom and saw the cartridge case, I turned to my firefighter colleague Dom and said we have to leave it alone and not touch it,” said Fettig.

Fettig, also an EMT, was the first to arrive at Ebeling’s home. He and the Laurel ambulance performed life-saving measures on Ebeling as other firefighters pulled her from her home.

“Her body had numerous burns,” he described. “Her body was heavily contaminated with gases.”

After working on Ebeling and then finding the Twifords, “I suspected they were somehow connected,” Fettig said.

Back at the Twifords’ house, investigators found several shell casings in the master bedroom, where Gene and Janet Twiford were found, and another in the hallway.

In the burned remains of the Twifords’ living room, where soot and debris littered the once-vibrant home, a Ruger 57 semi-automatic pistol and a bright green knife were found on the floor next to the coffee table. A gun magazine was also found in the doorway.

Investigators covered the Twifords’ bodies and other evidence with tarps to protect them from the fire that was still burning in the attic. Someone even drove to the local hardware store to get more tarps.

Firefighters cut holes in the roof of the house and retrieved burning insulation, not using water so as not to contaminate or destroy the evidence.

Investigators searched the fire scene inside as firefighters tried to prevent the house from burning further. “It felt like walking into an oven,” Sergeant Brian Edins of the Nebraska State Patrol said of the Twiford home.

DAY 2: “I asked, ‘Are they in there?’ and no one answered” – Twiford’s daughter describes the moments when she learned of the fire and the murder of her parents and sister

According to court documents, Jason Jones’ wife, Carrie, had accused Gene Twiford of harassing her before his murder. Chief Lundahl told the court he had received no complaints about Twiford from the Joneses, but had received “four or five” complaints in recent years from others, including the manager of the local Cubby’s, about inappropriate comments Twiford made toward female employees.

Lundahl said Twiford was known as a joker in town. “He sounded a little taken aback,” he said of the statement that he was no longer allowed to go to Cubby’s, and said he “couldn’t understand why they were so upset.”

The Twiford family has been present in the courtroom since the trial began, silently holding their arms around each other’s necks as they hear of the horrors their loved ones endured in their final moments.

Jason Jones is absent from the courtroom due to persistent burns sustained during the crime prior to his arrest on August 5, 2022. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

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