Day 4 of the Jason Jones murder trial in Dakota County, Nebraska District Court
By Katie Copple
Published: Sep. 17, 2024 at 1:42 PM CDT|Updated: Sep. 17, 2024 at 7:21 PM CDT
DAKOTA COUNTY, Neb. (KTIV) - Thick, black soot covered nearly every inch of the interior of the Twiford family home.
86-year-old Gene Twiford, his wife 85-year-old Janet Twiford and their daughter, 55-year-old Dana Twiford were shot and killed inside their home at 503 Elm Street, and that home was then set on fire in the early morning hours of August 4.
That fire, burning inside, undetected for hours, until a man walking his dog around 8:30 that morning alerted Laurel Police Chief Ron Lundahl, who was investigating a homicide at the home of Michele Ebeling down the street.
The inside of the once-vibrant Twiford home was left a dark shell of its former self. The living room took the brunt of the fire damage, the couch and chair, now only springs and frames. The television above the fireplace had gotten so hot the screen melted. And pictures that hung on the wall, unrecognizable from the soot. The paint on the walls had bubbled from the heat.
“It was very eerie. Everything was black. You can kind of see this home was pretty neat and tidy. Things had its place, but then everything had this dark blanket over it.”
Criminal Investigator Amanda Defreece with the Nebraska State Patrol took jurors through her process of photographing and documenting evidence, including when she and other investigators walked through the Twiford home as fire crews continued fighting the fire in the attic.
“From what I remember, it felt much smokier. We had masks on when we were in there I remember it was hard to keep breathing. It was also very hot,” described Defreece as Day 4 of testimony of the Jason Jones murder trial continued in Dakota County District Court.
44-year-old Jones is charged with four counts each of 1st-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of arson. He’s accused of shooting and killing the Twifords, and 53-year-old Michele Ebeling in their Laurel, Nebraska homes in the early morning hours of August 4, 2022, then setting each home on fire. If found guilty of 1st-degree murder, Prosecutors have stated they will seek the death penalty.
For roughly 45 minutes, prosecutors played videos of investigators’ walkthrough of the Twiford home. Here, the extent of the damage inside the home was striking. Down the hall, a closet of clothes was largely untouched.
Further yet, the horror of what firefighters discovered, as the bodies of Gene and Janet Twiford lay covered in tarps in the master bedroom. Gene Twiford was on the floor inside the door, shell casings at his feet. Janet Twiford was still lying on the bed, her feet resting on the floor. Dana, with her glasses sitting above her head, was found lying on the floor across the hall at the entrance of an office, its walls filled with family mementos. Each of the Twifords, in their pajamas, covered in soot.
The Twifords had been covered in tarps to preserve their bodies and evidence, as firefighters worked to contain the fire that had moved to the attic of the home.
Family in the gallery cried quietly as the video played.
DAY 3: “It goes from a fire scene to a criminal scene” - investigators detail fire causes at Ebeling, Twiford homes
Defreece was in charge of taking photographs of evidence found at the Twiford home, starting with the exterior, where several pieces of burned, black fabric were documented throughout the yard including, Defreece stated, on a patio near a swinging bench.
“You can see scraps of black, small pieces of fabric,” she shared, “There is kind of a line that comes from that potted plant that was tipped over. A line of black fabric pieces.”
Near the back door, which investigators had found open and ajar, was the prybar, Mountain Dew bottle, and a broken door frame. This had all been detailed previously by other investigators, including now-retired Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Anthony Sattlefield, who collected much of the evidence at the Twiford home.
He showed the jury each piece of physical evidence Tuesday in court, changing his gloves with each item he handled. His testimony will continue on Wednesday morning.
“The only other fire damage that I recognized as fire damage was when I was closer to the doors,” Defreece said about her walk to document the outside of the home, “I could see some bubbling in the paint.”
On the lawn, more scraps of burned fabric littered the sidewalk and grass. Investigators also found a leather ammunition magazine and a vape pen in the grass.
DAY 2: “I asked, ‘Are they in there?’ and no one would respond” - Twiford’s daughter describes moments finding out about fire, murder of parents and sister
Back inside the home, Defreece detailed the items investigators discovered, including a Ruger-57 and a green knife in the living room near the remnants of the couch, and an ammunition magazine with live rounds located near the back door.
A clock on the wall stopped at 3:05, the time investigators say, they believe the crime occurred that morning.
Inside the master bedroom, where Gene and Janet Twiford were found, blood stains on the mattress were muted by the thick, black soot that covered everything in sight. Several shell casings were found in the master bedroom and hallway leading from the living area to the bedrooms.
Among the evidence, signs of the Twiford’s life in Laurel, with Janet’s jewelry on the dresser, shoes lined up on the floor, and jeans placed neatly on a bench along the wall.
DAY 1: Defense opening statements allude to Jones’ “mental breakdown” as reason for murders
Investigators spent two days searching the Twiford home for evidence. On August 5, investigators discovered a bullet hole in a dresser drawer at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom, and inside two bullet fragments lying among the folded clothes of the Twifords. Several other bullet fragments were located on the floor.
Inside the bathroom, near the cracked toilet, photographs depicted a blob on the floor, hardly recognizable as to what the item was. Investigators say, after analyzing the photographs, it appeared to be a gas can.
“It appeared to be a reddish-colored waste basket from the bathroom,” State Fire Marshal Garrett Weidner explained about why the gas can wasn’t collected, stating it was heavily discolored and melted.
That item was never collected as evidence.
Weidner, the lead fire investigator at the Twiford home, was called to the scene in the early morning hours of August 4, initially to investigate the homicide at Ebeling’s home, but moved over to the Twiford residence when news of that fire spread through the investigators on scene.
Weidner said they believed pretty quickly an accelerant was used to start the fire because of the irregular-shaped burn patterns on the floor.
“With a fuel-accelerated fire,” Weidner said, “origin is difficult” but investigators believe the fire started in the living room, where the majority of the damage was found. Investigators did find wet carpet in the entrance of the bedroom belonging to Dana Twiford but didn’t determine if it was gas, or water that had leaked from the broken toilet in the room next door.
Weidner collected several floor samples from throughout the home to try and determine more about the fire and the fuel used. They also collected the remnants of a bag or backpack found on the floor. “It was heavily damaged by fire,” he said.
Like the Ebeling fire, investigators determined the fire inside the Twiford home was intentionally set. Weidner said he could smell a slight odor of gas in the living room, and after the investigation, it was determined “that the fire was ignited by a person or persons using an open flame device.”
After the morning break, Judge Bryan Meismer announced that one juror had been excused for a “family emergency”, leaving 12 jurors and 4 alternates in the courtroom for the remainder of the trial in Dakota County.
Jones’ trial was moved from Cedar County where the crime happened, to Dakota County after Judge Meismer ruled it would be difficult for Jones to get a fair trial from the jury pool there. Jones remains absent from the courtroom for the duration of the trial. A July ruling from the court granted his request to not appear in person for trial proceedings because Jones cannot sit for long periods following burn injuries he sustained the night of the shootings.
Jones’s wife, Carrie Jones, faces her own trial for charges related to the murders. She had pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and being an accessory to a felony. Her next hearing is set for November in Cedar County District Court.
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