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He says he "was very surprised" to learn Snowball had been boarded on the night of the explosion. He questioned her about the multiple boardings of her cat, Snowball, which he found odd. She explained that Snowball had anxiety. You were a nurse. It wasnt the only curveball Black and Shircliff would throw at the prosecution. "John Shirley, whose ex-wife Monserrate Shirley lives at the home with their 12 year-old-daughter, said he got a text from his daughter about a week-and-a-half ago telling him the heat. She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. Hults and his then-fiance babysat Shirley's daughter on the night of the explosion. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. Today, Snowball, a white Persian cat, is in the care of John Shirley, Monserrate's ex-husband. This time, Mark and Bob talked alone while Monserrate left to pick up her daughter. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. monserrate is a real-life cousin of Shirley, and its said that her daughter monserrate will be taking us on when we die. Hed also been previously accused of insurance fraud in connection with a car accident. Shirley said she thought the fire plan was crazy, but went along with it anyway. When the relationship first started, she said, "He was a nice guy. "Everybody's pointing a finger at me like I did something wrong," Shirley said in a video posted on the Indianapolis Star newspaper's website. Robinson knew that. And it wasn't the answer we were looking for. Robinson says she didnt expect anything to change. Its because the game of death is the game of life itself. I dont wish them any hardship. Its been around since the late 80s, but Im sure well find more of it on our own site. While we knew that Monserrate Shirley on her own would never have caused this crime, it couldnt have happened without her. No one else was within earshot, so far as she knew. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. She told him the attempt didnt work but that there would be another attempt. In exchange, she offered him the money in her 401K. Should I have accepted that stipulation? The sentence accounts for time served and good. Prosecutors then proposed an unusual strategy involving one trial, but three separate juries, one for each defendant. . I went into the breakroom and texted my ex about what happened. At 11:11 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2012, a two-story home on the south side of Indianapolis exploded with the force of as much as 5 tons of TNT. The defense certainly offered to stipulate that 60 homes were damaged. I thought it was crazy, that cannot be done, and I asked Mark, Thats not what you told me, theres an explosion in there, (theres) people, my neighbors, that cannot be real, Shirley said. The crowd watched in grim silence as a Marion County judge entered not guilty pleas for Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard. Your email address will not be published. The jury found 46-year-old Mark Leonard guilty of all counts against him, including murder and felony murder. She met Mark Leonard at a bar on November 12, 2011. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. 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/. wishtv.com your home page, Business, Equity and Opportunities Podcast with Scott Sander. "Cases are made up of hurdles all the time," Robinson said Wednesday. If Monserrate Shirley keeps up her part of the agreement, a judge will decide her sentence after all the Richmond Hill explosiontrials have been completed. Much of Tuesdays testimony included accounts of Shirleys difficult childhood. She said she did not tell officers at the time what happened because she was scared. How to fix pii_email_029231e8462fca76041e Error Code? Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. Its about becoming who you were meant to be. I have morals.I love my patients and I would do anything for them. I cant give the Olveys back a peace of mind. 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. Leonard asked her to get a babysitter for her daughter, make a reservation at the casino's hotel for the two of them and to board the family cat, "Snowball." The human toll is harder to estimate. She later worked at St. Francis and Community South. She would then go to a southside bar to meet Mark before they left for the casino. You were a mom. 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. Monserrate Shirley, the Indianapolis homeowner whose house is suspected of being the source of a deadly explosion that damaged nearly 80 homes in her subdivision, was inconsolable Tuesday as. I dont feel bad for Mr. Leonard, said Don Buxton, father of Jennifer Longworth, who was killed in the blast with her husband, Dion. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison on the arson charges on top of two life sentences for the murder charges. Its a difficult case. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. Shirley testified Leonard asked to see the insurance policy on the home within a few weeks of moving in. I had seen it used in a couple of games, but I never knew it was the name of a real person. Minch: "You testified about some things you lost in the explosion. [9], Investigators discovered a number of allegations of insurance fraud and other scams by Leonard prior to the blast, particularly involving stolen or wrecked automobiles. Shirley's daughter went with them in Leonard's Cadillac. 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. The host family had a lot of horses, so Shirley's daughter went to play with them under the supervision of Holts' girlfriend, Sharon, whose teen . We knew somebody else was involved, and he was the only one whose name consistently came up, but it was only after she cooperated that we were able to charge Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults.. I know it caught us by surprise and we had to react to it.. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. She could face 20-50 years in prison. Defense attorney David Shircliff then said Shirley may not have provided the "means" for the explosion, but she took care of the logistics to make sure no one realized she was helping blow up her own home. Monserrate Shirley, who had initally pleaded not guilty after she and two men were charged in late 2012, appeared Tuesday before a Marion County judge in a courtroom filled with current and. Im thankful for my trial team for sticking with me. Its not the only weird coincidence Ive noticed in the past few months, but the name shirley was the one that stood out to me most. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard. His defense team admitted that the blaze had been intentionally set, but told jurors it was only intended to be a small fire and that murder was never his intention. More on AOL Real Estate:Find homes for rent in your area.Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.Find homes for sale in your area.Find foreclosures in your area. After a while, Mark came back in and said Bob had agreed to help for $10,000, but never specified what exactly Bob would be doing. Defense counsel said the deposition version showed she was actually in favor of burning the house down, she just didn't want to get caught. Until shed agreed and signed on the dotted line, there were things I could not tell them. Shirley: "No.". "Everything they were telling me, it could not be possible," Shirley said on the stand as she started to get emotional. They decided to cut a piece of cardboard to block off the chimney path. Amazingly, despite the force of the explosion, a hybrid pear tree planted by Dion Longworth still grows in the yard where he and his wife Jennifers house once stood. He told her his friend Glenn Holts had done the same at his own house with help from Gary Thompson, who worked for Leonard at the time. "I don't know what happened. Another woman reported that she had loaned him about $5,000 for a construction job, which he had yet to pay back. 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. Hults faces no prison time to three years . They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. Shirley: "Yes. Bob had been asking for his $10,000 payment before the explosion even happened. Shirley stated that her daughter had smelled gas during the week before the explosion. FORT WAYNE, Ind. On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. I had a homicide detective crying on the stand. She and Mark then gassed up her car and drove to the casino. When they arrived, Mark told her the fire would happen Saturday night so she needed to ask to keep their room a second night (Saturday night). Their first trip together was to the Hollywood Casino roughly 3-4 months after they first met. Once they were alone, Leonard, Holts and Shirley started talking about the fire again while they sat around the pool drinking beer. We have done that. After speaking with detectives, they went to Mark's sister's home, where they spent the night. A prosecuting attorney showed her a photo of the house that exploded and asked her who lived on either side of her. I don't want anyone to get hurt," then started cooking dinner. She said Mark didn't actually want anyone to come to the house, he just wanted a trail they could point to after the fire so they could explain why they were in the hotel. [37] She is serving her sentence at Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. The blast the product of an insurance fraud scheme killed two people and injured dozens of others. Leonard died around 9:15. 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 Shirley had heard of Bob before, but had not met him before he came over Thursday, November 1. Mark was a handsome man with sex appeal and a lot of money, judging by his stash of cash and fast luxury cars. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its . I did everything to make him happy, Monserrate Shirley said in testimony. Monserrate Shirley agreed to testify against Mark Leonard as part of a plea agreement to reduce her potential prison time. ", Minch: "You've had problems over the years with the furnace and the water heater. By this time, Shirley's daughterhad noticed her portrait was no longer above the fireplace and asked Monserrate about it. Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. On the night of the explosion, Shirley said he was working a second job in Fishers. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. In one case, she said the first attempt was supposed to be tied to gasoline not natural gas. She has already been behind bars for four years. PREVIOUS | Full testimony: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand. She testified Wednesday she has a condition that prevents her tear ducts from actually producing tears. She was the nurse. That presented a potential pitfall in the case, Robinson said. Prosecutors alleged that the men conspired to submit an insurance claim for a stolen motorcycle. As Mark Leonards defense team would point out repeatedly throughout his trial, there was a chance, however small, that Shirleys cooperation could end with her walking free at the end. They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. You were a neighbor and you were a friend, Carlisle said. We again offer our condolences to the families of Dion and Jennifer Longworth and to those who suffered injury and loss. Monserrate Shirley testified that Mark Leonard is the one who told her to increase the insurance on the contents of her house, and she also testified Mark Leonard brought up the idea of setting fire to her house for easy money. I see a con artist when I look at her., If she really is apologetic, then I accept the apology, said Dion Longworths father, John Longworth. We believed that he did, we had some very thin evidence that he did. To begin the day, Monserrate Shirley explained how she and Mark Leonard met. It started as a bad headache, but quickly grew until he was hospitalized with an autoimmune disease serious enough he would need a blood transfusion. The first time Gary Thompson first came over to discuss starting a fire, she told him, "I'm ready, as long is this is a small fire. The evidence Robinson and Hollingsworth had was substantial. No one involved in this investigation or prosecution will forget the stories of this tragedy and the continuing fear and trauma that it caused to the survivors. ", "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. The sentence accounts for time served and good. Deputy prosecutor Denise Robinson returned from prosecuting the Richmond Hill cases to a pile of homicides waiting on her desk. The inmate and Leonard drew up a contract agreeing that Leonard would pay the inmate $15,000 when he was released, the affidavit said. So in the end there were a couple of people who were opposed to it, and I respected that. "He'll do anything I ask," Mark said of his brother. To the uninitiated, it seems to be a reference to a nickname used by the family of the deceased who are being called Shirley by their name. This has to be done, Shirley testified. Glenn Hults, the final defendant to stand trial for the explosion, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge last month that may result in no additional jail time. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. (They were) my neighbors for a very long time since we built the house, Shirley said. Police became suspicious when they uncovered evidence that the couple had taken similar steps the previous weekend; the cat had been boarded and Shirley's daughter had been placed with a babysitter overnight before the couple went to the casino. He asked how much was in the 401k, according to Shirley. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. At sentencing, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge John Marnocha said Leonard demonstrated a sheer indifference for the safety of others., The motivation here is greed, Marnocha said. John Duncan was the one to call, saying something horrible had happened on her street and he wanted to make sure she and her daughterwere okay. 2023 CIRCLE CITY BROADCASTING I, LLC. "You face one, you get over one and you've got another one all the way until the end. Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, who is dating Montserrate Shirley, who along with Mark Leonard, lives in the home . When she told him there was around $10,000-12,000 in it, he said that wasn't enough. She and her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, who also lived at the residence, told authorities they had left Friday night for a weekend at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The home also had a microwave above the stove which had a programmable timer. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. Including journalists, it was closer to four dozen. He was sentenced in August to two life sentences, along with 75 years in prison. Two mental health experts testified that her childhood could have contributed to her decision to stay with Mark Leonard and go along with his plan to blow up her house for insurance money. [23] The plea deal involved Shirley pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson in exchange for testifying against the other suspects. When she left that morning, her daughterand Snowball were still there (Mark was going to take them to school and the kennel). Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. IndyStar reporter Robert King contributed to this story. Call 6 Investigator Rafael Sanchez and Senior Digital Correspondent Jordan Fischer will be in Fort Wayne covering the trial every day. But no other problems. And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. A second home was reduced to rubble as well, and other houses were half-collapsed. At one point you replaced the thermostat." Although the jury would eventually hear testimony and an audio recording of Leonard talking to an undercover ATF agent posing as a hitman (and Leonard would eventually get an extra 50 years in prison for it), having that information before the trial even began would have been extremely prejudicial against him. She said Leonard had bought it a few months beforehand at that point. But I cant do that, and everybody knows you cant do that, but sometimes theres this perception that getting through the justice system will make things better. They agreed to say they'd been having trouble with the thermostat and smelling gas for a while. There have been days with only two people in the audience other than media, but there were more than 30 Wednesday. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." HS counselor at board meeting, Serial Indianapolis rapist pleads guilty to 9 counts, Mom speaks out after 2 kids killed by falling tree, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. But she put an end to that in August 2011.". Monserrate Shirley was given the house after her divorce. The couple's steamy relationship lasted for about a month before they moved in together. [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. Shirley testified that friends called and told her there was a huge explosion. 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. There was discussion about: Should we cut all of those? [19] Judge Shelia Carlisle rejected the proposal, noting that no Indiana law authorizes the use of concurrent jury trials. A second mortgage had been taken out on the home for $65,000 in addition to the original mortgage of $116,000. "In order to pay a very large amount of child support, I was working a full-time job and two part-time jobs," he said. While Thompson checked the digital thermostat, Shirley heard him and Leonard say they could use it to trigger the fireplace as the source of the fire, but they never directly gave her any specifics on how they were going to do it. He also told Bob to go get Gary Thompson. They then worked to establish a pattern of poor decisions in her personal life and changing stories throughout the investigation. And in each of those categories, you betrayed your trust.. When testimony moved to the night of the explosion that killed Jennifer and Dion Longworth, Monserrate Shirley had a difficult time staying composed. Shortly thereafter I moved some furniture into the apartment. Made and inspired by a love triangle, this was written by a girl from Italy. At the end of the interview, Carter asked Shirley what should happen to the person responsible for the explosion. As stated previously, the investigation and prosecution of this matter has literally taken tens of thousands of hours of effort by numerous individuals. Gary Thompson, who had helped with the first two unsuccessful attempts to blow up Monserrate Shirleys house, pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2016, to conspiracy to commit arson and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Write For Us: Investigative Articles are Intriguing. Robert Leonard, who was convicted of murder and multiple felonies, was sentenced to life without parole.