[6] Prosecutors also allege that he offered the hit man a $5,000 bonus if he made the murder look like a suicide. 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. Man Gets Murder Conviction in Deadly Indiana House Blast Fraud Case When the relationship first started, she said, "He was a nice guy. Prosecutors contend that the motorcycle was disassembled in Shirley's garage. 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. Shirley spent hours on the stand. Prosecutors said Leonard planned to pay a person he thought was a hit man $15,000, giving him a $5,000 bonus if a witness in the case called police to say he had lied about information he had given investigators. So while I had that, I pretty quickly set it aside and put it in a file marked Mark Leonard and never looked at it, because I couldnt allow that to influence me in the decision. It was run by the daughter of a famous American actor who was very close to the owner. Gary Thompsonwas handed a 30-year prison sentence, 20 years executed, for his role in the murderous insurance fraud scheme. 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. She grabbed a few pictures, including the canvas portrait of her daughterat age 5 that hung above the fireplace. In her sentencing order, Judge Sheila Carlisle repeatedly stressed that Shirley could have stopped the plan at any time but didnt. And I think when the motivation is that, what we have is a person who is the worst of the worst.. Robinson knew that. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. She even took some leave from work to stay with him longer than her paid vacation time allowed. 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. Shirley had earlier cooperated in providing testimony against alleged co-conspirators but. I certainly might feel bad for his family. He said that his daughter had mentioned that the furnace wasn't working, and he wondered whether a gas leak ignited the blast. The blast the product of an insurance fraud scheme killed two people and injured dozens of others. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. I said, You guys are crazy, that my house is too big.. That presented a potential pitfall in the case, Robinson said. The cat, nicknamed Snowy, was a birthday gift for their daughter, he said, and "she misses him.". In an interview with former RTV6 reporter Stacia Matthews, Shirley suggested the explosion may have been an attempt on her life. More than one-third of the families who lived in the neighborhood on the night of the blast have since moved away for good. Monserrate Shirley is lead into her sentencing hearing in December 2016. Homeowner Monserrate Shirley sentenced to 50 years in Richmond Hill Leonard started talking the next week about trying for a second time to burn down the home. Made and inspired by a love triangle, this was written by a girl from Italy. Seven months later, on March 18, 2016, his brother Bob Leonard Jr. received his own sentence of life without parole in a courtroom in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For their families, the tree is one last connection to the loved ones they lost on Nov. 10, 2012. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. She told them she didn't want anything to do with them anymore. Leonard was at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility inSullivan County serving two life sentences for his role in the explosion that rocked the southeast-side neighborhood that destroyed five homes and damaged more than 80 others. "I moved out in February of 2011," he said. On the day of the explosion, another neighbor saw a white van pull into the driveway of Shirley's residence between 2:00 and 3:00p.m. [21] Mark Leonard was granted a change of venue and was tried in South Bend. She said she did not tell officers at the time what happened because she was scared. [20] The trials started in 2015. 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. 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. JDK-8141210 : Very slow loading of JavaScript file with recent JDK I didn't do nothing wrong.". Even years later, Robinson says she doesnt know why Black brought the hitman allegations up. [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. Mark and Bob stayed in the garage while they talked about what Bob's part would be, while Shirley stayed inside. This time, Leonard worked with Thompson instead of Thompson doing the work while Leonard stood next to him, watching and planning. The first attempt was supposed to be carried out by Gary Thompson, but it failed. and one-eighth, Zionsvilles Brian Mason will be Colts coordinator, Indy east side fire kills dog, injures multiple people, Record breaking weather week in central Indiana, Indiana state trooper hit, killed in the line of, New billboard in Fountain Square tackles antisemitism, Trooper killed on I-69, speeding driver arrested, Everything you need to know about the 2023 Academy, Congressman Baird calls for pause on toxic shipments, Congress works to tackle military spouse unemployment, Indy man gets 16 years after shooting wife in arm, Spencer man killed in rollover crash on I-70, 3 Ind. The program is a spin-off of the Oxygen series Snapped and has a similar format to the Investigation Discovery program Wicked Attraction. Shirley met Mark Leonard. UPDATE: Search for accused Johnson County scammer ends in arrest, Men's challenges in fatherhood and marriage explored in new documentary, Live Doppler 13 Weather Blog: Record-breaking rain raises ongoing flood concerns, Saturday Sunrise Live Doppler 13 forecast March 4, 2023. I look at a neighbor that I would have been happy to help if she would have just come across the street and said, man I got a problem will you give me a hand? They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. [22], On January 16, 2015, Shirley agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. They claim that Leonard wanted the hit man to force the witness to call 9-1-1 and recant his statement before killing him. He couldn't get a card to play with so she got a card for him and played on his behalf. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. 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. See also:Shantonia Heard of Atlanta Left Her 2 Children Alone With No Power and Gas Oven On, Police Say Apartment Fire Safety Tips Man Killed as Gas Explosion Destroys Connecticut Home. 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 Leonard went to pick up Thompson in the white van witnesses in the neighborhood have previously testified seeing in Shirley's driveway. Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. 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. Shirley Temple's Children Remember Their Late Mother - Closer Weekly You were a neighbor and you were a friend, Carlisle said. Bob Leonard, Monserrate Shirley, Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults also face charges in connection to the explosion. [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. [28] Prosecutors expected to submit nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence, and potentially call up to 175 witnesses. "You face one, you get over one and you've got another one all the way until the end. While questioning potential jurors, one of Leonards attorneys, Diane Black, brought up out of the blue that her client had tried to hire a hitman from jail to kill his friend, and potential witness against him, Mark Duckworth. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. For years, the team holed up in that office three days a week to avoid being distracted by other ongoing cases. Make The home also had a microwave above the stove which had a programmable timer. [16][17] The alleged motive for the arson was to collect insurance money to ease financial strain. I always get the money.". By this time, Shirley's daughterhad noticed her portrait was no longer above the fireplace and asked Monserrate about it. But no other problems. At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. All I can say is, I had one small role in this. Prosecutors alleged that the natural gas explosion was intentionally set to collect insurance money. I did my best. She remained in the house as the sole owner until the explosion. 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. Mark Leonard drove her home that night and stayed with her for what the defense characterized as a romantic, sexual night. The next time, Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonards brother, Bob, was supposed to carry out the plan. The sentence accounts for time served and good time credit. After the first failure, Leonard decided he also wanted to bring in his half-brother, Bob. A second home was reduced to rubble as well, and other houses were half-collapsed. At one point, after one of the failed attempts to burn the home, Monserrate Shirley said she offered Mark Leonard her 401k instead. Shirley: "Back in August (2011) she just stopped taking my phone calls and letting me talk to Brook. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. Glenn Hults, who pleaded guilty to a felony for knowing about the plot but failing to report it to police, is scheduled for sentencing on December 28. I had seen it used in a couple of games, but I never knew it was the name of a real person. 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. 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. "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. Shirley wasnt a suspect at the time, and the interview was a routine one. She got in the van with them, and Mark asked her to give Bob $40. Robinson also couldnt tell the residents that Shirleys cooperation would mean charges against two more suspects: Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults. On Thursday, Shirley worked a 12 hour shift. "We had a lot of parties," the late. The courtroom was crowded Monday as the proceedings began, as those who were hurt or lost their homes, plus the parents of Dion and Jennifer Longworth wait to learn Shirley's . [7], An investigation involving the Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Indianapolis Fire Department was begun. Its also the name of the game of death in which our monserrate daughter will be taking us on. PREVIOUS|Timeline of events|Gallery: The Richmond Hill Explosion|Where were you at 11:11 PM? "I mean, I'm totally devastated like my neighbors are.". Shirley would receive over $300,000 in insurance money for the replacement of the home as well as personal items. Indiana Man Convicted of Murder in Home Explosion Case - Insurance Journal Not until the following morning, when I went from this job to another job, did I get a text from a friend who thought it might be my house. Monserrate Shirley agreed to testify against Mark Leonard as part of a plea agreement to reduce her potential prison time. Monserrate Shirley detailed the multiple attempts made to set the house on fire prior to the explosion that leveled the home. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. We knew we were taking a week of testimony from the residents to talk about what had happened to their houses, Robinson said. It was a restaurant that had the name of a famous Italian poet who died young, but the restaurant only lasted for a year. 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. He said there wouldn't be a problem because it would be a small fire so no one would get hurt, and since she had a long history with the insurance company and no criminal record, they would get the money almost immediately. "No one deserves what happened," she said. Shirley and Leonard had gone on television on multiple occasions following the blast to state their innocence, and to ask for privacy. 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. Jeffrey Wager and IMPD investigators, Lt. Mario Garza and IFD investigators, agents of the Federal ATF, and our trial team for their commitment and perseverance to bring justice for the Richmond Hill residents.. On the night of the explosion, Shirley said he was working a second job in Fishers. Shirley didn't hear anything more about a plot to start a fire that night, and nothing happened. Shirley said after he and his wife's divorce was finalized in July 2011, the last time he was at the home at 8349 Fieldfare Way was August of that year. She was able to take that to the prosecutor and get a protective order against me. She would sit with him, eat and drink and occasionally play slot machines. We did the right thing, for the right reason, and got the right result in the right way.. In exchange, she offered him the money in her 401K. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. She will not learn her fate until after all four of her alleged co-conspirators has been tried. Thats time served, and hes out. Aaron Carter. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. 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. Defense attorney Ted Minch on cross-examination: "You're not happy to be here today." This type of trial is unusual but not unheard of, and had been used in the trial of the Menendez brothers. 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. Many people may remember Shirley giving an interview to the media, including WISH-TV, after the explosion. Man convicted of murder in deadly Indiana house explosion INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. Authorities blamed a natural gas explosion inside the home of Monserrate Shirley, who was away at the time of the explosion. Four years after thedeadly Richmond Hill explosion, another chapter has closed. You may have noticed that the name monserrate has been replaced with the word shirley, which is used in both a variety of other games and in the game of death. A second mortgage had been taken out on the home for $65,000 in addition to the original mortgage of $116,000. Richmond Hill trial: Monserrate Shirley testifies | wthr.com Shirley told jurors he lost a number of things in the explosion, including a collection of tennis rackets and a drafting table. Shirley: "She wanted us to live in a bigger house. Prosecutors started by addressing her plea agreement. On August 14, 2015, Mark Ray Leonard was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole, plus an additional 75 years, on 53 counts, including murder, arson and insurance fraud. So you do get concerned about, will they see the arsons? The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. 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. In the game of death, monserrate daughter is the only way to be reunited with the game of life. "Mark can insult [Thompson], and he never does anything," Shirley said. This story is Chapter III of a three-part series. Thompson arrived on Monday or Tuesday, October 22-23, while Shirley's daughter was at school. towns among 150 Best Small Town in America, Citizens support Ind. Shirley said she was attracted to Mark Leonard, particularly noting he was well-dressed and had bleach blonde hair. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. If that timeline holds, final jury instructions would be given Monday, July 13 then deliberation would begin. Shirley said she has been reeling from the pain of people blaming her for the tragic event. Shirley: "No.". Mark Leonard, the man considered the mastermind behind the 2012 Richmond Hill neighborhood explosion that killed two peopleand wounded at least adozen others, is dead. Most importantly, Shirleys testimony would further tip the scales against the Leonard brothers. Once they were alone, Leonard, Holts and Shirley started talking about the fire again while they sat around the pool drinking beer. No one deserved what happened. FORT WAYNE, Ind. 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." 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. It was never no for an answer. 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.