Four people have been found dead at two locations in Nebraska, authorities said

Four people were found dead Thursday in two burning homes in Laurel, Nebraska, a small town about 100 miles northwest of Omaha, authorities said.

Shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday, authorities in the town of about 1,000 people received a call about an explosion in the 200 block of Elm Street, Col. John A. Bolduc, chief of the Nebraska Highway Patrol, said at a news conference.

When authorities arrived, they found a man 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 have not been released. Authorities were searching for a suspect and believed the death was the result of foul play, Col. Bolduc said. He said he believed the two episodes were connected.

“We have two fires with people dying within three blocks of each other,” he said. “It would be pretentious to say there’s no connection, but it’s very early in the investigation.”

Larry Koranda, the Cedar County sheriff, did not immediately return phone and email messages. At the news conference, he called Laurel a tight-knit community where “everybody knows everybody.”