Nebraska man charged in 4 deaths moved from hospital to jail

LAUREL, Neb. (AP) — A man charged with killing four people in a small northeastern Nebraska city in August was released from a hospital on Wednesday and moved to a jail, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.

Jason Jones, 42, of Laurel, a city of about 1,000 people that’s roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Omaha, was released from a hospital in Lincoln and taken to a state Department of Corrections center in that city.

Jones is charged with 10 felonies, including four counts of first-degree murder, in the killings of Michele Ebeling, 53; Gene Twiford, 86; his wife Janet Twiford, 85; and their daughter Dana Twiford, 55.

Police arrested Jones on Aug. 5, a day after Eberling’s body was found in a Laurel home that had been set on fire. Authorities then went to a home about three blocks away and found the Twifords’ bodies.

When police arrested Jones, they found he had been badly burned and was flown to a Lincoln.

Police have declined to give a motive for the killings or to say whether Jones knew the victims.

Jones is being held on a $5 million bond. In addition to the murder charges, he is charged with two counts of arson and four counts of using a firearm to commit a felony.

A lawyer for Jones declined to comment on the case.