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— Austin Svehla Norfolk Daily News
DAKOTA CITY — Laurel firefighters were placed in a precarious situation on Aug. 4, 2022.
They were called to a pair of house fires in a span of six hours that morning just blocks apart, the bodies of three people found in one home and a fourth body in the other. There was immediate suspicion that the two crime scenes were related.
A group of volunteer firefighters and state fire marshal investigators who went to 503 Elm St. that morning had to figure out the best way to safely extinguish the fire without destroying evidence.
That was a tall task given that the home — occupied by 86-year-old Gene Twiford, his 85-year-old wife, Janet, and their 55-year-old daughter, Dana — had likely been burning for several hours, compromising its structural integrity and enhancing the risk of the crime scene being ruined.
“We had to put this fire out without using any water,” said Ryan Fettig, who took the witness stand on Monday as Jason Jones’ murder trial entered its third day of witness testimony.
The 44-year-old Jones is charged with four counts each of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony, plus two counts of first-degree arson. He is accused of fatally shooting the Twifords at their home at 503 Elm St. in Laurel, and Michele Ebeling at her home, 209 Elm St., on the morning of Aug. 4, 2022. He allegedly set fire to the houses after the killings.
Fettig returned to the Laurel fire hall around 9 a.m. after working at the scene of the Ebeling house fire, which he’d gone to shortly before 3:30 a.m. He wasn’t at the fire hall for more than 20 minutes before he and other firefighters were called to the Twiford home after a man walking his dog told Laurel Police Chief Ron Lundahl that smoke was coming from the roof of the house.
There, Fettig and another firefighter entered the rear of the home after finding an open exterior door and a slightly ajar interior door. The two were concerned that the Twifords might be inside.
“When I got into the residence, everything was black,” Fettig said. “The (living room) couch was nothing but strings, the walls were black, the (kitchen) chair was completely scorched and black. Down the hallway I saw all black as I continued through.”
At the end of the hallway in the northeast corner of the Twiford home the firefighters discovered a gruesome scene. Gene Twiford was lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood, his wife lying face up in a bloodied bed. Both were covered in soot.
Near Gene Twiford’s feet were shell casings that Fettig said he made sure not to touch.
Dana Twiford was found lying on her back in a room across the hall, her body charred and her chest covered in blood. Fettig checked all three of the Twifords for signs of life and found none. Gene and Janet Twiford had gunshot wounds to their heads, and Dana Twiford had been shot in the chest.
Jurors were shown photos of the Twifords' bodies as discovered by first responders on Aug. 4, 2022.
State Fire Marshal’s Office investigators were already in the area after having been called to the Ebeling house fire earlier that morning.
“Those records are still in the fcourt record, and they could publish those. Potentially, people might see something that was not submitted to review as part of evidence,” he said.
Through Nebraska's rules on expanded media coverage, the judge has the ultimate decision on what evidence can be accessed particularly through videography and photography, Lancaster said.
Although he granted the newspaper's motion to intervene Thursday morning, Judge Bryan Meismer said, “I don't think that solves the problem necessarily.“ He gave Cedar County News two days to file their complaint for intervention - which they did by the end of the day Thursday.
