.jpg)
— Austin Svehla Norfolk Daily News
DAKOTA CITY — A State Patrol investigator Monday testified there is no evidence to suggest Carrie Jones pulled the trigger resulting in the death of Michele Ebeling on Aug. 4, 2022.
The testimony from Sgt. Brad Higgins came on the eighth day of evidence presentation in Jason Jones’ murder trial in Dakota County.
Jason Jones, 44, 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 in connection to the shooting deaths of Gene Twiford, 86, and his wife, Janet Twiford, 85; their daughter, Dana Twiford, 55; and Ebeling, 53, in the early-morning hours of Aug. 4, 2022, in Laurel.
He is accused of fatally shooting the Twifords at their home and Ebeling at her residence. He allegedly set fire to both houses after shooting the victims.
The trial was moved out of Cedar County when District Judge Bryan Meismer determined Jones could not receive a fair trial due to extensive media coverage.
Carrie Jones is charged with first-degree murder in connection to Gene Twiford’s death because she allegedly pushed Jason Jones to kill Gene Twiford for making repeated inappropriate comments to Carrie Jones over a span of two-plus years.
Jason Jones’ attorneys have said their client killed the Twifords but was suffering from a mental break and wasn’t capable of premeditated murder.
The defense also has suggested Carrie Jones, not Jason Jones, is the person who killed Ebeling, although prosecutors have not charged Carrie Jones with Ebeling’s homicide.
Higgins was recalled to the witness stand on Monday after testifying last week. Investigators conducted a thorough investigation of the motive behind the killings as well as Carrie Jones’ potential involvement in them, Higgins said, but no evidence was found to back up the defense’s theory that Carrie Jones killed Ebeling.
A man who lived next door to the Joneses testified earlier in the trial he saw Jason and Carrie Jones walking away from Ebeling’s residence after a fire was reported there.
Along with time cards obtained from Carrie Jones’ employer, investigators gathered cellphone location data and obtained DNA from various objects inside Ebeling’s home.
They also interviewed Carrie Jones several times in the days and months after the killings, yet none of that information pointed to Carrie Jones killing Ebeling, Higgins said.
On cross-examination, Todd Lancaster, Jason Jones’ attorney, asked Higgins about a series of protection orders filed against Carrie Jones in November 2022. One of the orders was sought by Ebeling’s fiancé, Brian Welch, and two others were requested by a couple who lived about a block down the street.
Welch had alleged multiple occurrences where Carrie Jones threatened his life in the weeks after the killings, adding that he’d been made aware that Carrie Jones had recently purchased a firearm.
A woman who lived in the 300 block of Elm Street wrote in a protection order petition that Carrie Jones approached her outside about three weeks after the homicides and said, “I will kill you two. I will kill everyone in Laurel.”
Lancaster pressed Higgins about his knowledge of the protection orders and whether the orders were used to help determine if Carrie Jones killed Ebeling. Higgins said he hadn’t reviewed the protection order files and was unaware that Carrie Jones had told a neighbor, “I will kill you two.”
“So if Carrie Jones was making statements that she killed somebody, like she was going to kill somebody else, you didn’t think that was worth looking into?” Lancaster asked. Higgins reiterated that he was not aware of the specific allegations within the protection orders.
The investigator also testified that there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting of Ebeling.
On redirect by Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O’Brien, Higgins said the protection orders were sought and granted after the homicides occurred.
O’Brien also asked Higgins about searches done in the days following the killings at the Ebeling, Twiford and Jones homes as well as Jason Jones’ semi truck parked outside a convenience store in Laurel.
Earlier in the trial, a state patrol investigator testified about a doll found on Ebeling’s kitchen table. The doll was believed to have originated from a collection inside the Jones home.
On Monday, Higgins said there were about 10-15 dolls at the Jones house. And inside Jason Jones’ semi was another doll, perched up and buckled up in the passenger seat.
It wasn’t made clear why Jason Jones had a doll in his semi or why there was a doll inside Ebeling’s home, but text messages between Jason and Carrie Jones indicated that Carrie Jones believed Ebeling was possessed and at one point positioned a doll toward Ebeling’s home to “watch” the house.
Bullets found at crime scenes fired from Jones’ guns The bulk of Monday’s testimony came from Cole Goater, a forensic scientist at the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Laboratory who specializes in firearms.
As part of the investigation into the killings, Goater was tasked with conducting tests of the two firearms believed to have been used in the shootings. He also examined the bullets and shell casings found inside the victims’ bodies and their homes.
Goater determined that bullets taken from Ebeling’s body and her kitchen wall were fired from the .44 semiautomatic pistol found inside Jason Jones’ dresser.
Furthermore, Goater concluded that bullets from Gene, Janet and Dana Twiford’s bodies were fired from a Ruger 57 semiautomatic pistol found on the floor of the Twiford family’s living room.
Other notes from Monday: — O’Brien said prosecutors plan to play audio of jail calls for the jury on Tuesday.
— The state anticipates calling two more witnesses before resting its case, which O’Brien said could be early Tuesday afternoon.
