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The only improvement he ever made was to buy two flat screen TV's, a 65-70 inch model for the master bedroom and a 42 inch screen for her daughter'sroom. 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. She will not learn her fate until after all four of her alleged co-conspirators has been tried. Denise Robinson, the Marion County Prosecutor on the case, told the court she rarely asks for the maximum sentence. Monserrate Shirley and her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, who lived in the home, along with Leonard's brother, Robert Leonard, were arrested Friday on 48 charges, including murder and arson. 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? An offhand comment would change that. Shirley said she recalled telling them two innocent people die out of this.THIS HAS TO BE DONE. Every day I ask myself why I didnt stop this. They claim that Leonard wanted the hit man to force the witness to call 9-1-1 and recant his statement before killing him. 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. 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. Shirley: "I moved out in February of 2011. No one else was within earshot, so far as she knew. The stove was electric. On November 19, it was announced that the investigation had become a criminal investigation. But a whole days-worth of potential jurors would end up tainted anyway not by media coverage, but by Leonards defense team. The human toll is harder to estimate. The meeting was difficult for me because I couldnt ethically tell them everything, Robinson said. 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 she wept while speaking publicly for the first time about the horrific incident. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. The original posters source was a little bit of a weird little coincidence, but the name was still alive and well. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. On the night of the explosion, Shirley said he was working a second job in Fishers. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Investigators quickly honed in on the home's owner, Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr., as the primary suspects. 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. You're a piece of [expletive]. Bad food, non-first class flights drop Colts to middle-of-pack in player survey. They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. He did come to the house one week before the first attempt. Holts invited Leonard and Shirley to his friend's house for a pool party in the Geist neighborhood. The entire day she answered questions from attorneys, repeatedly crying. Shirley testified that friends called and told her there was a huge explosion. Shirley says he and Monserrate married on July 17, 1993. "(Whoever is responsible will) have to pay for what they did to me and everybody else," Shirley said in the interview. To do that, the team moved 80 boxes of documents connected to the case to an office on the east side of Indianapolis. The co-conspirators include Shirleys boyfriend at the time, Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. Another woman reported that she had loaned him about $5,000 for a construction job, which he had yet to pay back. Investigators have ruled out a natural gas leak from the home's underground pipelines, the Star reported, and they are now focusing on whether there may have been a leak from one of the gas appliances inside three homes that were obliterated in the explosion. Leonard then tried to get Thompson to talk about what he did at Holts' home, but he refused, saying they shouldn't talk about it. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. Shirley stated that her daughter had smelled gas during the week before the explosion. The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. She would then go to a southside bar to meet Mark before they left for the casino. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. FULL STORY | Mark Leonards friend says he knew too much. After the first failure, Leonard decided he also wanted to bring in his half-brother, Bob. Roughly a week afterward, Mark asked Shirley for $500. [6] She claimed to have been horrified at the Longworths' deaths, as well as the massive destruction wrought by the explosion. 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. Shirley says he was working at Eli Lilly at the time, and Monserrate was working as an RN at the VA hospital. Jordan Fischer is the senior digital reporter for RTV6. Then there was the question of Leonards history. At one point, after one of the failed attempts to burn the home, Monserrate Shirley said she offered Mark Leonard her 401k instead. And I think when the motivation is that, what we have is a person who is the worst of the worst.. wishtv.com your home page, Business, Equity and Opportunities Podcast with Scott Sander. Prosecutors contend that the motorcycle was disassembled in Shirley's garage. Leonard asked Holts to tell the story of his own fire, how easily he'd gotten the money and to re-assure Shirley everything would be alright if they did it at her house. There have been days with only two people in the audience other than media, but there were more than 30 Wednesday. [5], The most damning piece of evidence was a witness statement from one of Mark Leonard's associates, who told investigators that the weekend before the explosion, Leonard told him that "the house blew up". At least half a dozen marriages in the Richmond Hill neighborhood ended in divorce in the years immediately following the blast. When you come out and say, My client attempted to commit insurance fraud through a small fire and this just happened, he had no idea, what the jury doesnt realize, because Im not allowed to tell them, is attempted insurance fraud even if coupled with reckless homicide is a class C felony. 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. Shirley: "She wanted us to live in a bigger house. Powerball winner sold in central Indiana! Thompson arrived on Monday or Tuesday, October 22-23, while Shirley's daughter was at school. "I am a nurse. The next morning, they returned to Indianapolis and saw the house was again still standing so Mark called Bob and told him to meet at a nearby parking lot. Leonard said he talked to Gary Thompson without her, telling him they were ready to do it. The brothers were sentenced to terms of life without parole for spearheading the conspiracy. . Shirley struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. IndyStar reporter Robert King contributed to this story. She still qualifies as a practicing nurse. Start the day smarter Notable deaths in 2023 The world's largest war 2023 meteor showers [16][17] The alleged motive for the arson was to collect insurance money to ease financial strain. He refused, though, and warned them, "You guys be careful, because I know someone who committed arson and got 75 years in prison. 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 Thompson returned to their home to plan their next attempt. Thompson said he'd been pulled over by a cop so he couldn't get to the house. I went into the breakroom and texted my ex about what happened. Many Git commands accept both tag and branch names, so creating this branch may cause unexpected behavior. Estimates for the total scope of the damage caused by the explosion exceeded $4.5 million. [31][32][33] Bob Leonard was convicted on all 51 counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit arson, on February 24, 2016. Instead, on Dec. 20, 2016 - after a two-day sentencing hearing that would be the closest her former neighbors would get to seeing her on trial - Shirley was sentenced to the maximum term of 50 years in prison. She will be 72 years old. This time, Mark and Bob talked alone while Monserrate left to pick up her daughter. Thats time served, and hes out. The sentence accounts for time served and good. At the end of the day, we still miss her and him, Dion, as much as ever, Buxton said. Its an interesting concept. Shirley: "She wanted us to live in a bigger house. Shirley says he replaced the thermostat "so there were more options to heat the house during the day.". Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. 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. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. Again, Monserrate agreed to do her same three preparations: a casino hotel reservation, a babysitter for her daughterand boarding for Snowball. This is too risky." 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. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. [6] Prosecutors also allege that he offered the hit man a $5,000 bonus if he made the murder look like a suicide. He was, however, eventually able to return to his hobby of umpiring softball. 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.