Neighbor arrested in 4 homicides in tiny Nebraska town

A Nebraska man was arrested Friday in connection with a quadruple homicide in a small community in the northeast corner of the state.

Jason Jones, 42, is accused of killing four people inside two homes and setting the homes on fire in the 972-person town of Laurel, state police said.

A Nebraska state police vehicle stis parked outside the Twiford family home in Laurel. (Margery A. Beck/)

Authorities have not determined the causes of death for the four victims. Nebraska State Patrol officer John Bolduc said bullets were fired at both homes and that accelerant was used in both fires.

Early Thursday morning, cops responded to a fire and an explosion at a home in Laurel and found one person dead inside. That person was identified Friday as 53-year-old Michele Eberling.

Shortly afterward, authorities responded to a second house fire three blocks away. They found three people dead in that home. On Friday, those three victims were identified as Gene Twiford, 86, Janet Twiford, 85, and Dana Twiford, 55.

Jones lived across the street from Eberling, police said. Bolduc did not speculate Friday on a possible motive.

A small memorial was started outside the Twiford family home. (Margery A. Beck/)

While Jones was arrested Friday morning, he has not been formally charged with a crime because he was suffering from severe burns at the time. He was airlifted to a hospital in Lincoln, more than 100 miles south of Laurel.

On Thursday, Bolduc said that whoever started the fires was likely burned because of the accelerant.

Though Bolduc said it was unclear if Jones knew the victims, one resident told CNN: “Everybody here knows everybody.”

With News Wire Services