Carrie Jones found guilty of aiding and abetting Laurel, Nebraska, shooting death

MADISON, Neb. — Jurors found a Laurel woman guilty of aiding and abetting her husband in the shooting death of a Laurel man she said had been harassing her for several months.

Carrie Jones, 46, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and being an accessory to a felony in connection with the Aug. 4, 2022, death of Gene Twiford. She faces a sentence of life in prison.

She was not charged with killing Twiford herself but with pushing her husband, Jason Jones, to do something about Twiford’s behavior, which she said included making sexually related comments she found offensive when he saw her about town. Carrie Jones went so far as threatening Jason Jones to take action by holding a knife to his throat and pointing a loaded handgun hours before Jones killed Twiford.

Jason Jones, 45, was found guilty in September of the shooting deaths of Twiford, 86, his wife, Janet Twiford, 85, and their daughter Dana Twiford, 55, in their home and the shooting death of Michele Ebeling, 53, in her home, then setting fires in both houses.

Carrie Jones was arrested in December 2022, more than four months after the shootings. In recordings of interviews with investigators played for jurors at trial, Carrie Jones said she had arrived home from work minutes before seeing her badly burned husband emerge from Ebeling’s home across the street. She helped him into their home, peeled off his burnt clothing, put away his .44-caliber handgun he had been carrying and administered first aid, never calling authorities. Investigators never found the clothes, which Jones said she had put in a bag, but didn’t remember what she did with them.

Jason Jones was found in his bedroom about 24 hours after the shootings and arrested.

Carrie Jones’ defense attorney argued there was a lack of evidence that she had told her husband to kill Twiford.

Testifying for the defense at his wife’s trial, Jason Jones said he made the decision to kill Twiford on his own.

Jason Jones, who was found guilty of four counts each of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of second-degree arson, has yet to be sentenced. Jurors also found aggravating circumstances that make him eligible for the death penalty. A three-judge panel will hear arguments for and against a death sentence at a November hearing.

The state did not seek the death penalty for Carrie Jones.

Austin Svehla of the Norfolk Daily News contributed to this story.