Nebraska Man Sentenced to Death in Family Murders

Jason Jones will die in prison – or by the state’s hand. A three-judge panel in Cedar County, Nebraska made that determination official on April 10, sentencing Jones to death for the 2022 targeted killings carried out across two homes that shocked the rural community of Laurel.

The panel was unanimous. District Court Judge Bryan Meismer, who presided over Jones’ trial, read the sentence aloud in the Cedar County Courthouse, and Jones sat attentively throughout without visibly reacting, according to Nebraska Public Media. “These were terrible, despicable, and unforgiving murders,” Meismer said.

Four People. Two Homes. One Small Town Changed Forever.

In the early hours of August 4, 2022, Gene Twiford, 86, his wife Janet, 85, and their daughter Dana, 55, were shot and killed inside their Laurel home before Jones set it on fire. Two blocks away, he then went to the home of neighbor Michele Ebeling, 53, shot and killed her, and set that house on fire as well.

The murders stunned a community of fewer than 1,000 people where, as locals described it, everybody knows everybody. Jones was convicted in September 2024 following a trial that had to be moved out of Cedar County because a judge ruled a fair jury could not be seated there.

A Wife Convicted Separately

Jones did not act entirely alone. His wife, Carrie Jones, was separately tried and convicted in August 2025 of first-degree murder for her role in encouraging her husband to kill Gene Twiford. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole on November 20, 2025 – the same day the three-judge panel first convened to hear arguments on whether Jason Jones should face death.

The fact that both now face the consequences of the same act of violence – one sentenced to death, one to life – has added another layer to how the Laurel community has processed what happened.

The Weight of the Sentence

Jones declined to address the court when given the opportunity to speak, according to Nebraska Public Media. The panel gave “some weight” to his lack of prior criminal history and his veteran status, but rejected defense arguments that he had been influenced by his wife or was suffering from mental health struggles.

He will become the 12th man on Nebraska’s death row. Whether that sentence is ever carried out remains an open question – the state has faced ongoing legal and supply-chain challenges in securing the drugs required for lethal injection – but the finding of the court is now settled.

For Laurel, a Measure of Closure

For a town the size of Laurel, a crime of this scale does not pass quietly, and the sentencing brought an answer – if not an end to the grief that followed. Richele Ebeling, the daughter of Michele Ebeling, addressed the media after the hearing. “While the sentencing holds the person responsible accountable under the law,” she said, “it does not undo the harm that was done or restore what we have lost.”

Authorities have not released information regarding a timeline for Jones’ formal entry onto death row or any anticipated appeals process. The case remains under the jurisdiction of the Cedar County District Court.

References: Nebraska man sentenced to death for 2022 quadruple murder, arson in Cedar County | Jason Jones sentenced to death following 2022 quadruple homicide in Laurel, Nebraska