And I look at all the opportunity she had where she could have gone for help and she never did.. So there wasnt a great deal of pressure on us, or desire by us, to offer her anything.. She grabbed a few pictures, including the canvas portrait of her daughterat age 5 that hung above the fireplace. She and Mark then gassed up her car and drove to the casino. On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . The blast the product of an insurance fraud scheme killed two people and injured dozens of others. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. "Shortly thereafter I moved some furniture into the apartment. They went to the casino and waited for the call that a fire had broken out, but again, the call never came. The explosion leveled 8349 Fieldfare Way, the home at the center of the explosion, and severely damaged a number of other residences, including several (on either side) which were damaged by the ensuing fire. [28], Mark Leonard was found guilty on all 53 counts, including murder and felony murder charges, on July 14. TRANSCRIPT | Opening statements in the trial of Mark Leonard. Shirley said she was attracted to Mark Leonard, particularly noting he was well-dressed and had bleach blonde hair. Critics have accused Shirley of faking her reaction after the explosion because she seemed upset but never shed a tear. They went home together that night and he moved in the first week of December. Exasperated, Judge John Marnocha, who was assigned to oversee the trial, dismissed dozens of potential jurors and ended the day early with an admonition for Black and her co-counsel, David Shircliff. Defense attorneys tried to play that video for jurors Wednesday, but the judge wouldnt allow it. PREVIOUS | Full testimony: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand. He looked over the insurance policy and said she was under-insured so she called the insurance company and doubled her policy from $150,000 to $300,000. (WISH) Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. Monserrate Shirley cried at various points Wednesdaybut didnt shed any actual tears. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." Shirley and her boyfriend were hoping to collect $300,000 in insurance . He occasionally worked on those cars at Shirley's home so she saw he had a wide array of tools. Shirley says he and Monserrate married on July 17, 1993. An offhand comment would change that. On Friday, October 26, Leonard told Shirley to get anything sentimental out of the house. After the second failed attempt to burn the home, Monserrate Shirley said she went to the home of Glenn Hults to pick up her daughter. [20] The trials started in 2015. The most money she ever remembered seeing him lose on a single trip was $7,000. I certainly might feel bad for his family. Its been around since the late 80s, but Im sure well find more of it on our own site. SOUTH BEND, Ind. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. And the game of death is the game of life itself. I dont believe in vengeance and I know that my son is not a person that would accept vengeance and such things, he didnt live that way., I look at Monserrate Shirley and I see a wasted life, said Tony Burnett, who lived across the street from Shirley. We have done that. He leaves to cherish his memory his daughters: Britney Morales (Malcolm Richardson) and Maria Morales: two step-daughters Latasha (Nathan) Roberts and Kizzy Carter; three grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends. "I don't know what happened. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. She wanted to put it on her plate. During the course of this lengthy process, we have sincerely appreciated the cooperation and patience of these families. [36] Shirley was sentenced to 50 years in prison, the maximum possible under her plea agreement, on December 20, 2016. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. Shirley says they were his. She said she did not tell officers at the time what happened because she was scared. Arguing for the maximum in this case, when you live with this case and you see the impact, and you know what devastating effect its had on these lives, it just compels you to argue for that, said Robinson. She was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". [22], On January 16, 2015, Shirley agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. she said. When she told him, Holts said, "Between Mark and Gary, they're going to blow up the whole neighborhood.". Mr. Monserrate Morales was born on January 7, 1955 in Puerto Rico. In her sentencing order, Judge Sheila Carlisle repeatedly stressed that Shirley could have stopped the plan at any time but didnt. Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/11/14/monserrate-shirley-speaks-about-indianapolis-house-explosion/, emmy rossum jay z and beyonce the big chill tony blankley charles barkley beyonce troy polamalu, http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/11/14/monserrate-shirley-speaks-about-indianapolis-house-explosion/. Shirley said she has a condition with her tear ducts that makes her unable to produce tears, so people dont think Im crying for real.. Leonard and Shirley went to the casino on Saturday, October 27, expecting Shirley's best friend and neighbor to call when the house caught fire. I should have been there.". But Im not allowed to say that. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. [31][32][33] Bob Leonard was convicted on all 51 counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit arson, on February 24, 2016. [The residents] clearly knew the Leonards were the bad actors, and that we needed to do everything we could to get to them, Robinson said. She said that she hasn't been eating or sleeping well and that she has been taking Xanax to get what little sleep she can. Leonards death doesnt change the fact that Jennifer and Dion died, Buxton said. She told her daughter a friend had taken it to put a new frame on it. ", "Richmond Hill explosion suspects to get separate trials", "Attorneys: Change of venue likely in Monserrate Shirley case", "Richmond Hill suspect trial moved to South Bend", "Defendant in deadly Indiana explosion agrees to plea deal", "Richmond Hill trial: Informant says Mark Leonard wanted witness killed", "Home> U.S. Indianapolis House Explosion: Suspect Charged in Murder-for-Hire Plot", "Marion county prosecutor's office asks for life without parole sentences in richmond hill explosion", "Richmond Hill trial to focus on greed and desperation", "Mark Leonard convicted of murder in explosion scheme", "Mark Leonard gets life without parole for Richmond Hill explosion", "Richmond Hill explosion mastermind Mark Leonard dies", "Cause of death of Richmond Hill conspirator Mark Leonard determined", "Richmond Hill explosion culprit Mark Leonard dies at Indy hospital", "Leonard found guilty of all counts in Richmond Hill trial", "Indianapolis man get 2 life sentences in deadly house blast", "Psychologist Says Monserrate Shirley Was Abused as Child, Has 'Dependent Personality Disorder', "Monserrate Shirley sentenced to maximum 50 years in prison", "Gary Thompson sentenced in Richmond Hill explosion after pleading guilty to arson charge", "Glenn Hults sentenced to 3 years in deadly Richmond Hill blast", Affidavit of Probable Cause, Dec. 20, 2012, Affidavit of Probable Cause, April 14, 2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richmond_Hill_explosion&oldid=1133693717, November 2012 crimes in the United States, Articles with incomplete citations from March 2015, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 02:18. Shirley: "Yes. It was run by the daughter of a famous American actor who was very close to the owner. In a room inside IFD Station 63 less than a mile from the Richmond Hill subdivision Carter and Shirley talked about her whereabouts on the night of the explosion. [6] Her attorneys argued that she was trapped in an abusive relationship and was coerced by Mark Leonard into participating in the crime. After that, the fire wasn't mentioned again until the week before Halloween. The home also had a microwave above the stove which had a programmable timer. But the plan went horribly awry when a vast amount of natural gas had built up in the home before something set inside a microwave oven ignited the blaze. Its an interesting concept. The defense attorney told the judge without the jury in the room that he planned to use the video to show that Shirley had the same demeanor in the courtroom as she did while lying to reporters. Although prosecutors didnt need their blessing to go ahead with the plea, Robinson said they felt it was important to tell the residents as much as they could. Leonard started talking the next week about trying for a second time to burn down the home. He says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. He gave her $3,000 to use, and they lost it all. A tag already exists with the provided branch name. For Lt. Mario Garza, the Indianapolis Fire Department veteran tasked with leading the arson investigation, the Richmond Hill explosion will likely be the most significant challenge of his career. His sentencing is set for December 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry issued the following statement: We respect the Courts decision ordering Monserrate Shirley to serve a fifty-year prison sentence for her participation in this senseless conspiracy. She said he also told her not to worry because he took out the step-down valve on the gas line, "and put it away where no one else would ever find it. She testified Wednesday she has a condition that prevents her tear ducts from actually producing tears. She was wearing a jail jumpsuit, was shackled and her hair had grown long, dark and curly.IM TELLING THE TRUTH. Monserrate Shirley, 51, was one of five people charged in the explosion that left two people dead. She was inspired by the way Chef Alberto Marinovich put on this dish and it was a joy to serve. Example video title will go here for this video. He says the log lighter worked fine when he lived there. Shirley stated that her daughter had smelled gas during the week before the explosion. [15], Prosecutors contended that the trio filled the house with natural gas and then used the spark from a microwave which could be set in advance to detonate it. Shirley: "Yes. Prosecutors alleged Leonard was the mastermind behind the explosion, plotting with his. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. The blast killed two people and. HOW TO SOLVE ERROR CODE PII_EMAIL_DE03C2D55A4B639F558D. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. Mark Leonard is on trial in South Bend in connection to the explosion in the Richmond Hill neighborhood that killed Jennifer and Dion Longworth in November 2012. It was unclear when the complaint was made and whether the utility company was alerted. Monserrate Shirley agreed to testify against Mark Leonard as part of a plea agreement to reduce her potential prison time. She was 11 years old at that point. "Cases are made up of hurdles all the time," Robinson said Wednesday. An Indianapolis woman said she asked her then-boyfriend's half-brother what he had done when she learned the fire they planned to ignite using natural gas had "Everything they were telling me, it could not be possible," Shirley said on the stand as she started to get emotional. Again, Monserrate agreed to do her same three preparations: a casino hotel reservation, a babysitter for her daughterand boarding for Snowball. [6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. The here, in this case, was the knowing murder of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. She transferred from her job in Michigan to the VA hospital in Indianapolis, where she worked for 17 years, focusing in the ICU. They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. Defense attorneys later pointed out she allowed him to move in and eventually drive her daughter to school despite knowing he was serving house detention for a DUI charge. Psychologist Dr. Stephanie Callaway diagnosed her with dependent personality disorder, but stated under cross-examination that, while the diagnosis explains Shirley's actions, it does not absolve her of responsibility. The topic came up again around July 4. Jeff Wager, the lead homicide investigator in the case, talks about the surveillance and arrests of Mark Leonard and Monserrate Shirley: It was at a meeting with prosecutors in early 2015 that Richmond Hill residents learned of the plea deal being worked out with their former neighbor, Monserrate Shirley. She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. Deputy Prosecutor DeniseRobinson has said she will argue for 50 when the time comes. John Shirley, her ex-husband, who owns the home with her, told The Associated Press that he believed the home's faulty furnace could have led to the explosion. [6] One woman had previously won a $70,000 judgment against Leonard in a civil suit after lending him $53,000, which he never repaid. In 2017, Leonard wasconvicted and received an additional 50-year sentencein a murder-for-hire scheme authorities say he concocted from jail after his arrest. She now faces 20-50 years, though a judge has the right to suspend some, or all of that time. Monserrate Shirley leaves court after learning her sentence. According to Shirley, he said the house fire would happen, "even if I have to step in the living room and light up this house myself.". While Leonard has been in slacks, a dress shirt and tie throughout the trial, Shirley walked into the courtroom in shackles and a prison jumpsuit. But after a second round of boarding Snowball the cat, getting a babysitter for Shirleys daughter and setting hotel reservations, the house again was standing. ", When prosecutors asked if she was serious about the 401K offer, Shirley said, "I would have given him anything because I was in love with him.". The human toll is harder to estimate. John moved out in February 2010 and their divorce was finalized that summer. [18], Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. Prosecutors entered all three into evidence Tuesday. [12] Though the trio was eligible for the death penalty under Indiana law, prosecutors chose to pursue life sentences without parole because they believed a jury would be unlikely to impose the death penalty without any evidence that the suspects intended to cause the deaths. But while he was living in the home, the only problem he had with its gas appliances the furnace, water heater and fireplace was that their pilot lights would sometimes go out when a draft blew in from an open garage door. At the center of the case, Mark Leonard, a womanizer with gambling debts who preyed on divorcees, hatched an arson plot for money with his girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley. "I mean, I'm totally devastated like my neighbors are.". Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonard was very, very mad., Mark Leonard said, Were going to do it again. Shirley agreed to plead guilty to two counts conspiracy to commit arson and testify against the co-conspirators in exchange for having all other charges dropped. The force of the blast shattered windows and ripped down garage doors at dozens of other homes in the neighborhood. The program is a spin-off of the Oxygen series Snapped and has a similar format to the Investigation Discovery program Wicked Attraction. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. A source who claimed to be in contact with the Shirley family told WISH-TV in Indianapolis that a family member had complained about smelling gas in the home at one time. Her role in the plan and execution of this act protected her own child and the family pet, but failed to consider the obvious danger it presented to anyone else. 2012 explosion in Richmond Hill, Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, "At least 2 killed, others injured in explosion, fire in Indianapolis neighborhood", "Family breaks ground on new home in Richmond Hill subdivision after Indianapolis home explosion", "36 homes critically damaged in explosion in south side neighborhood", "Homeowner at center of explosion feels lucky to be alive", "Authorities call Richmond Hill explosion a homicide case, seek details on white van", "Probable cause suggests pattern of fraud, details inconsistencies", "Richmond Hill suspect, friend face insurance fraud charges", "Affidavit: women say richmond hill blast suspect Mark Leonard has long history of scheming", "Shattered Subdivision Offers a Trail of Clues", "Life sentences without parole sought for Indianapolis explosion suspects", "4th person arrested in Indianapolis house explosion", "Fifth suspect charged in 2012 Indianapolis south side explosion", "Mark Leonard, Indy Blast suspect, pleads not guilty in murder plot", "Jim Voyles now representing Monserrate Shirley", "Home Explosion Case: Monserrate Shirley, Mark And Bob Leonard Due In Indianapolis Court", "Richmond Hill explosion: 3 trials for price of 1? The first attempt was supposed to be carried out by Gary Thompson, but it failed. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. They decided to cut a piece of cardboard to block off the chimney path. In November 2014, Glenn Olvey who was trapped with his family in his collapsing house finally gave up on rebuilding his home in the neighborhood. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. She will not learn her fate until after all four of her alleged co-conspirators has been tried. Its a difficult case. This is too risky." INTERACTIVE MAP|Residents relive Richmond Hill explosion, ViewExplosion Damaged Homesin a larger map, Download the new and improved RTV6 app to get the latest news on the go and receive alerts to your phone, Sign up to have the latest news headlines delivered straight to your email inbox, Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way, Indianapolis, IN Interactive Weather Radar, Full testimony: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand. Much of Tuesdays testimony included accounts of Shirleys difficult childhood. Bob Leonard's son told investigators that several items were in the van that had been taken from the home, including photos and financial documents. The couple says their neighbor Bob Leonard was led away for questioning. Robinson says she didnt expect anything to change. Shirley's daughter went with them in Leonard's Cadillac. The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. While Shirley and the Leonards had been sitting in jail, Robinson and Hollingsworth had been traveling to the ATF lab in Washington D.C. to learn about explosions and taking a crash course on natural gas. [25] Leonard allegedly asked another inmate at the Marion County jail if he could put him in contact with a hitman, according to the probable cause affidavit. He was going to bring Thompson to their house so she could say she was okay to move forward, too. While still at the hotel, Mark asked her to call a heating & cooling company on Sunday, November 4, to see what they would charge to check on the heat because the house was too cold. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. "No one.". "You can't even do a fire. Worried that jurors might easily convict Leonard of the lesser charges against him, but not the larger ones that carried the life without parole sentence prosecutors were asking for, Robinson built her closing argument from the bottom up. Mark Leonard was convicted in 2015 of two counts of murder as well as a litany of other charges, including multiple counts of arson and conspiracy to commit arson. Sgt. By December 2014, two years after the explosion in the Richmond Hill subdivision, prosecutors were preparing to go to trial without any cooperating witnesses. Prosecutors ended by asking Shirley if the Longworths or any of her other neighbors deserved what happened. At least three of his possessions did survive, however: two golf bags, with clubs, and a driver he'd been gifted. But in this case, Monserrate Shirley had already received leniency from the state when she entered into a plea agreement that dismissed a total of 50 charges, including murder. The defense certainly offered to stipulate that 60 homes were damaged. At the trial I had firefighters crying on the stand. She didnt know anyone died, she said. Officials did not release further information regarding his death. Estimates for the total scope of the damage caused by the explosion exceeded $4.5 million. "That cannot be real. But she put an end to that in August 2011.". At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. [38], Gary Thompson pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Minch: "Before that, you did have some problems with the pilot light on the furnace?" Once the trial began, rather than trying to claim their client was innocent, Black and Shircliff instead told the jury up front that he was guilty but of trying to start a small fire, not cause an explosion. Including journalists, it was closer to four dozen. Prosecutors alleged Leonard was the mastermind behind the explosion that damaged or destroyed more than 80 homes in Indianapolis, plotting with his then-live-in girlfriend Monserrate Shirley.