A three-judge panel ruled the 2022 killings and arsons met Nebraska’s death penalty standard.

HARTINGTON, Neb. — A death sentence was handed down to Jason Jones onFriday for murdering four people in Laurel in 2022, ending one phase of a case that began with two burning homes and spread grief through a town of fewer than 1,000 residents.

The sentence places Jones among Nebraska’s death row prisoners and starts an automatic review by the Nebraska Supreme Court. A Cedar County jury had convicted him in September 2024 of 10 felony counts, including four counts of first-degree murder, four firearm counts and two arson counts. The victims were Gene Twiford, 86; Janet Twiford, 85; their daughter, Dana Twiford, 55; and Michele Ebeling, 53. The decision also follows the separate conviction of Jones’ wife, Carrie Jones, who is serving life in prison for her role in Gene Twiford’s death.

District Court Judge Bryan Meismer read the sentence at the Cedar County Courthouse as two other judges on the panel, Timothy Burns of Douglas County and Patrick Heng of Red Willow County, sat beside him. Jones declined to speak when given the chance. He showed no visible reaction as the order was announced. Meismer said the murders were “terrible, despicable, and unforgiving.” Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said the panel had issued a thorough order and found that death was the proper sentence under state law. Defense attorney Todd Lancaster said the appeal will likely challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty, which Nebraska law sends directly to the state’s high court after a death sentence.

The case began in the early morning hours of Aug. 4, 2022, when authorities found two homes on fire on Elm Street in Laurel. Inside one home were Gene, Janet and Dana Twiford. In another home was Ebeling. Prosecutors said Jason Jones shot the four victims and set the homes on fire to cover the crimes. Officers found him less than 24 hours later at Carrie Jones’ house, which stood near one of the burned homes. He had severe burns, had drifted in and out of consciousness and later spent about two months hospitalized before he was moved to prison. The fires, the gunfire and the number of victims made the case one of the most serious crimes in the region’s recent history.

Prosecutors said the violence followed months of anger over Gene Twiford, whom Carrie Jones accused of verbally harassing her and making inappropriate comments. Investigators said Twiford had a reputation for bothering others in public places, though prosecutors described that history as the starting point for the Joneses’ anger, not a defense for murder. Testimony and records in Carrie Jones’ case showed the couple had exchanged messages months before the killings about Twiford and violence. Prosecutors also said Carrie Jones pointed a loaded gun at her husband and held a knife to his throat during an argument the day before the murders, telling him to handle the problem or she would do it herself.

The Twiford home became the first focus of the prosecution’s timeline. Authorities said Jason Jones used a pry bar to enter and shot Gene Twiford twice. He then killed Janet and Dana Twiford after finding them inside the house. Prosecutors said he later told Carrie Jones he had not expected the two women to be there. After setting fire to that home, he went to Ebeling’s home and killed her, too, prosecutors said. Carrie Jones had described Ebeling as strange and complained that she stared at her from across the street. The fires burned both homes and injured Jason Jones, whose wounds became part of the evidence linking him to the arsons.

Jurors at Jason Jones’ trial heard that DNA and ballistics evidence tied him to the shootings and the fires. His defense team did not center its case on whether he killed the victims. Instead, the defense argued that he acted during an episode of mental illness. Prosecutors sought death by citing aggravating factors, including the number of killings, the short time span and the claim that some victims were killed to prevent identification. The jury’s findings opened the door for a death sentence, but Nebraska required a three-judge panel to make the final decision between life imprisonment and execution.

Carrie Jones’ separate case shaped much of the public understanding of motive. A jury found her guilty in August 2025 of aiding and abetting first-degree murder in Gene Twiford’s death, tampering with evidence and being an accessory to a felony. Prosecutors said she pushed Jason Jones toward a confrontation, helped hide him after he was badly burned and deleted messages or discarded burned clothing. Her defense argued that she was venting after years of anger, not ordering a killing. In November 2025, she was sentenced to life in prison on the murder conviction, plus 21 to 30 years on the evidence and accessory counts.

Under Nebraska’s capital sentencing system, the jury’s role was not the last step. Jurors first decided guilt and whether aggravating factors were present. The three judges then weighed those factors against mitigation evidence and the record from trial. That process made Friday’s hearing narrower than the trial itself but no less important for the families. The state argued the killings were planned, repeated and followed by fires meant to destroy evidence. The defense pointed to Jones’ mental health claims and the long record that will now be reviewed on appeal.

The killings left Laurel with a public grief that lasted through years of hearings. Family members and friends of the victims filled court benches during key proceedings. Some cried or left the courtroom when details of the shootings, burns and fires were described. The victims’ names have remained central to the case: Gene and Janet Twiford, an elderly couple killed in their home; Dana Twiford, their adult daughter; and Michele Ebeling, a neighbor killed in a separate house. The town, about 100 miles northwest of Omaha, had gone more than a century without violence on that scale before the four bodies were found.

The ruling also marks a rare point of finality in a case that has moved through several courtrooms since 2022. Jason Jones’ trial was moved to Dakota County before the case returned to Cedar County for sentencing. Carrie Jones’ trial and sentence followed on a separate track. Each proceeding added a different piece of the record: the physical evidence from the fires, the couple’s messages, the statements Carrie Jones gave investigators and the panel’s final weighing of Nebraska’s death penalty law.

Jones’ sentence does not end the case. The automatic appeal will move to the Nebraska Supreme Court, where defense lawyers are expected to raise constitutional arguments and review issues from the trial and sentencing. Carrie Jones is serving her sentence in the separate case. As of May 4, 2026, Jason Jones remains under a death sentence while the appeal process begins.

No execution date was set at the hearing, and Nebraska’s appeal process can take years in capital cases. For the families, the next stage shifts from the facts of the night to legal review of the conviction, the aggravating findings and the sentence imposed by the panel.

Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.