American woman compelled husband to commit quadruple murders. 

By Edward Era Barbacena

For three years, Carrie Jones told a Nebraska State Patrol investigator, Gene Twiford had verbally harassed her.

He’d drive by her house and shout sexual comments to her and on other occasions said things to her in the Post Office or at the Dollar General store in Laurel, where they both lived.

By early August, she’d had enough, telling her husband, Jason, he needed to do something.

“She eventually said sh---  got to stop or I’m going to kill him,” State Patrol Sgt. Brad Higgins said at Carrie Jones’ preliminary hearing Wednesday in Cedar County Court.

Higgins said Carrie Jones told him the couple had argued on Aug. 3, and she pointed a loaded handgun at her husband, then held a knife to his neck, telling him he needed to stand up for her and get the harassment to stop.

Hours later, Twiford, 86, was dead, found shot to death along with his wife, Janet, 85, and their daughter Dana Twiford, 55, in their burning home at 503 Elm St.

Higgins said Carrie Jones told him in an interview that she didn’t tell Jason to kill Twiford, but did say she’d do it if he didn’t.

Carrie Jones, 43, of Laurel, is charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and being an accessory to a felony for the Aug. 4 death of Twiford.

Jason Jones, 42, is charged with four counts each of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of first-degree arson. He’s accused of shooting the Twifords and also Michele Ebeling, 53, who lived across the street from Jason and Carrie Jones. Jason Jones is also suspected of setting fire to both homes.

Carrie Jones is being charged as aiding and abetting in Gene Twiford’s death. Assistant Nebraska Attorney Corey O’Brien told Judge Douglas Luebe that Jones had the intent to kill Twiford and either encouraged her husband to commit the crime or participated in it herself.

“She makes it pretty clear she had the intent to kill him and get rid of the problem,” O’Brien said.

Jones’ attorney, Nathan Stratton, said the state had not shown Jones persuaded her husband to kill anyone.

“Nowhere does she tell him … go kill him,” Stratton said. “She was upset at her husband. She was venting at him to get a reaction.”

Luebe found probable cause for Carrie Jones to face trial and ordered her bound over to district court. Her arraignment was scheduled for Feb. 27.

Firefighters responded to Ebeling’s home at 209 Elm St. after a neighbor reported an explosion just after 3 a.m. Aug. 4. While authorities were at Ebeling’s home, a fire at the Twiford home at 503 Elm St. was reported.

Higgins said Jones told investigators she had just gotten home from her truck driving job in Sioux City when she and her neighbors noticed Ebeling’s house across the street was on fire.

Jones said she saw someone stumbling from the house and went to help him. It was her badly burned husband, who she said told her he’d seen the fire and had gone to see if he could help.

Carrie Jones said she took Jason Jones inside, and he handed her his .44-caliber handgun and told her to put it away. Carrie Jones said she peeled his burned clothes from his body and washed him in the bathtub before bandaging him and putting him in bed. He refused to go to the hospital, and Jones told investigators she didn’t think she could force someone to seek care if they refused.

Carrie Jones said she had put his burned clothing in a bag and tossed it out of the bathroom, then told authorities in following interviews she didn’t know what happened to the clothes, which have never been found.

Jason Jones was arrested later that day and taken to a Lincoln, Nebraska, hospital for treatment of severe burns. He remains in custody at the Nebraska Department of Corrections Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln, where his medical care is continuing.

Carrie Jones initially told investigators she knew of no reason why her husband would have committed the crimes because they had no problems with their neighbors. Only during a follow-up interview with Higgins on Aug. 16 did she disclose the alleged harassment by Twiford. She also said Ebeling and her boyfriend often stared at her when she was in her yard and they “were weird.”

Investigators found empty .44-caliber shell casings near Ebeling’s body and a Ruger handgun registered to Jason Jones in the Twiford home. A backpack found inside the Twiford home contained receipts from Jones’ credit card for gas cans and gas. Gas cans were found at both homes.

A review of surveillance camera footage from a Laurel gas station showed Jason Jones filling up the gas cans, investigators said.

Prosecutors have filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Jason Jones if he’s found guilty of first-degree murder. His attorney has filed a motion to quash portions of Nebraska’s death penalty statute, saying they’re unconstitutional. At a Monday hearing, a judge ordered both sides to file briefs on the matter before he issues a ruling.

Jason Jones has not yet been arraigned.