Four people were found dead Thursday in two houses that were on fire in Laurel, Neb., a small town about 100 miles northwest of Omaha, authorities said.
Shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday, authorities in the city of about 1,000 people received a call about an explosion in the 200 block of Elm Street, said Col. John A. Bolduc, the superintendent of the Nebraska Highway Patrol at a press conference.
When authorities arrived, they found one person dead inside the home, Col. Bolduc said. While investigating, they received another call about another house fire three blocks away and found three people dead inside, Col. Bolduc said.
The names and ages of the victims were not released. Authorities were looking for a suspect and believed the deaths were the result of foul play, Col. Bolduc said. He said he believed the two episodes were related.
“We have two fires with dead people three blocks apart,” he said. “It would be an exaggeration to say there is no connection, but it’s very early in the investigation.”
Cedar County Sheriff Larry Koranda did not immediately return phone and email messages. At the news conference, he called Laurel a tight-knit community where “everybody knows everybody.”