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. The third weekends attempt was the one that killed the Longworths. towns among 150 Best Small Town in America, Citizens support Ind. I told them I dont even want to be a part of this, Shirley testified as telling the Leonards. We are sure to have a lot more weird coincidences in the next few days, but this one is pretty crazy. She said she did not tell officers at the time what happened because she was scared. Shirley: "Yes. Its because the life of the game itself is the life of the game itself. A prosecuting attorney showed her a photo of the house that exploded and asked her who lived on either side of her. Another woman reported that she had loaned him about $5,000 for a construction job, which he had yet to pay back. He was working in Fishers on the night of 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. After that, the fire wasn't mentioned again until the week before Halloween. He also told Bob to go get Gary Thompson. Should we not use all those witnesses? The defense team started their cross-examination by establishing Shirley's ability to make life-and-death decisions in high-pressure situations while a charge nurse in the ICU. Glenn Hults, who had known of the scheme and kept Shirleys daughter Brooke out of the house, pleaded guilty on Dec. 28, 2016, to one count of assisting a criminal. Jordan Fischer is the senior digital reporter for RTV6. 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. It also didnt carry much weight for the families of Dion and Jennifer Longworth, who died in the blast. Thats time served, and hes out. 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. The defendants requested that the trials be moved over concerns they would not receive a fair trial in Central Indiana due to the high-profile media coverage received by the case. When she told him there was around $10,000-12,000 in it, he said that wasn't enough. Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonard was very, very mad., Mark Leonard said, Were going to do it again. I care about people. It had three gas appliances - the water heater, the furnace and the fireplace. I should have been there.". On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . 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. She would then go to a southside bar to meet Mark before they left for the casino. The family, he said, will never truly get closure. Shirley said she thought the fire plan was crazy, but went along with it anyway. At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. She was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". Again, she said, "Because I was not able to tell him 'no'." [19] Judge Shelia Carlisle rejected the proposal, noting that no Indiana law authorizes the use of concurrent jury trials. 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. The first time Shirley cried on the stand Wednesday was when she was asked about her neighbors. This time, Shirley's daughterwas at home, but she was upstairs. "She lost everything," he said. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Defense attorney Ted Minch on cross-examination: "You're not happy to be here today." BREAKING: By a vote of 24-38, New York's State Senate has voted against same-sex marriage legislation. 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. 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. I went into the breakroom and texted my ex about what happened. The couple's steamy relationship lasted for about a month before they moved in together. [39] Glenn Hults received a three-year sentence.[40]. Powerball winner sold in central Indiana! 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. Follow his reporting on Twitter at @Jordan_RTV6 or on Facebook. She agreed that's what happened, but insisted she only said what Mark told her to say. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. In court Wednesday, she said he turned on the gas, but never lit the fire. It's also possible she will walk free if the judge sentences. 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. Dont make that kind of joke, Shirley testified. For her cooperation with the prosecutions of the Leonard brothers, and the information she provided that led to the convictions of Hults and Thompson, Monserrate Shirley was spared the possibility of life without parole. 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. "They are currently in the process of recovering the appliances from destroyed homes to help determine the cause.". Monserrate Shirley leaves court after learning her sentence. Monserrate Shirley, 51, was one of five people charged in the explosion that left two people dead. Your email address will not be published. She took care of all three. 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. HOW TO SOLVE ERROR CODE PII_EMAIL_DE03C2D55A4B639F558D. ", Minch: "You testified that you only used a babysitter maybe once a month, because your lifestyle with Ms. Shirley wasn't such that you went out every weekend?" And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. . Robert Leonard, who was convicted of murder and multiple felonies, was sentenced to life without parole. I always get the money.". Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. The defense certainly offered to stipulate that 60 homes were damaged. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard. We have done that. As stated previously, the investigation and prosecution of this matter has literally taken tens of thousands of hours of effort by numerous individuals. Monserrate Shirley was given the house after her divorce. She later worked at St. Francis and Community South. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. When asked why she didn't take Leonard's hospitalization in March 2012 as an opportunity not to let him back into her home since she knew what he wanted to do by that point, she said she couldn't turn away a sick person. 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. Neighbors, family testify in sentencing hearing of Monserrate Shirley, owner of the home. Mark was a handsome man with sex appeal and a lot of money, judging by his stash of cash and fast luxury cars. He eventually improved enough to return home, but Shirley had to continue caring for him for several months. Federal grand jury indicts man on hate crime charges after he allegedly shot 2 Jewishmen in Los Angelesin February, Pot vote has Oklahoma hungry to rake in green from Texas, Indonesia fuel depot fire kills 18, over dozen missing, Fishers firefighters assist car flipped NB over I-69. 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. For their families, the tree is one last connection to the loved ones they lost on Nov. 10, 2012. 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. We again offer our condolences to the families of Dion and Jennifer Longworth and to those who suffered injury and loss. Shirley didn't hear anything more about a plot to start a fire that night, and nothing happened. 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 says Monserrate got the house in the divorce. She, at first, struggled to identify her other neighbors. For one thing, the trial team deputy prosecutors Denise Robinson and Mark Hollingsworth, plus two junior deputies would have to wade through an entire subdivision-worth of evidence to build, arguably, the largest criminal prosecution in Indiana history. She said they should be punished, Carter testified. Did you see her on TV a few days later? 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. As fate would have it, it would be Carter, just a few weeks later, who would place Monserrate Shirley in handcuffs. But she put an end to that in August 2011.". (Item updated.) Holts invited Leonard and Shirley to his friend's house for a pool party in the Geist neighborhood. Robinson, all-too-aware of the limitations of the justice system after decades as a prosecutor, says she is just glad they were able to get some amount of justice for the victims. You're a piece of [expletive]. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. 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. Shirley had heard of Bob before, but had not met him before he came over Thursday, November 1. If I could bring Dion and Jennifer back, I would do that in a heartbeat, she said. We knew we were taking a week of testimony from the residents to talk about what had happened to their houses, Robinson said. The force of the blast shattered windows and ripped down garage doors at dozens of other homes in the neighborhood. Should I have accepted that stipulation? I didnt want to do anything that would cause that trial date to be continued.. The blast killed two people and. And that, Im sure, will never change.. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. SOUTH BEND, Ind. PREVIOUS | Full testimony: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand. Shirley wasnt a suspect at the time, and the interview was a routine one. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. That presented a potential pitfall in the case, Robinson said. Glenn told me, Between Mark and Gary, theyre going to explode the whole neighborhood. I said, Dont play like that. Too little, too late, said Jennifer Longworths father, Don Buxton. And I wanted to be able to tell them everything., TRANSCRIPT | The full testimony of Monserrate Shirley. . Many people may remember Shirley giving an interview to the media, including WISH-TV, after the explosion. Says Sen. Tom. [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 was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". She then got food for them both and went back to the room around midnight. Shirley: "No.". Check those tickets! Shirley is originally from Puerto Rico. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. 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. She and her husband Gabriel Ferrer (son of Rosemary Clooney and Jos Ferrer, and a first cousin to George Clooney) had four children: Jordan Alexander Ferrer (born July 8, 1980), twin girls (Gabrielle Monserrate Ferrer & Dustin Boone Ferrer, born September 17, 1983), and Tessa Ferrer (born March 30, 1986). The jury found 46-year-old Mark Leonard guilty of all counts against him, including murder and felony murder. At the end of the day, we still miss her and him, Dion, as much as ever, Buxton said. But didnt the jury need to hear from the residents? Residents, particularly the younger ones, report experiencing continued psychological trauma from the incident. Sgt. From confusion to conviction, Richmond Hill blast recapped. I certainly might feel bad for his family. They should go to jail. Bob had been asking for his $10,000 payment before the explosion even happened. No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. I said, You guys are crazy, that my house is too big.. [18], Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. Much of Tuesdays testimony included accounts of Shirleys difficult childhood. He says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. Shirley says the house had three gas appliances when he lived there: furnace, water heater and fireplace. Its about your game being the only game that matters. But she had no hesitation when asked to identify the Longworths as her neighbors. You're done.". Prosecutors contend that the motorcycle was disassembled in Shirley's garage. Leonard later tried telling Shirley that the only reason Holts wouldn't talk about his own fire was because he didn't want Leonard to end up with more money than he had. Leonard got sick in March 2012. Roughly a week afterward, Mark asked Shirley for $500. Including journalists, it was closer to four dozen. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. On top of his prior criminal convictions, at the time of his arrest, Mark Leonard was being sued civilly by multiple women who accused him of scamming them out of money through online dating sites. The human toll is harder to estimate. He was going to bring Thompson to their house so she could say she was okay to move forward, too. I didnt give it any credibility. 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. After demands for a vote on the bill, we finally received one. This type of trial is unusual but not unheard of, and had been used in the trial of the Menendez brothers. 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. 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. 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. She was able to take that to the prosecutor and get a protective order against me. The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. 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. Hults faces no prison time to three years . She even took some leave from work to stay with him longer than her paid vacation time allowed. She told them she didn't want anything to do with them anymore. 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. Sometimes they would go during the week while her daughterwas at school and leave in enough time to pick her back up. Resolved: Release in which this issue/RFE has been resolved. He says he "was very surprised" to learn Snowball had been boarded on the night of the explosion. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. TRANSCRIPT | Opening statements in the trial of Mark Leonard. Mark Leonard drove her home that night and stayed with her for what the defense characterized as a romantic, sexual night. I was scared for my life and the life of my daughter., Forgive me for my poor choices in life, she continued. Shirley may have been the prosecution's highest profile witness, but that doesn't mean they're done. [29] He was sentenced to life in prison plus 75 years without parole on August 14, 2015. I don't want to be involved in any of this.". The sentence accounts for time served and good. "He'll do anything I ask," Mark said of his brother. Ms. Shirley, 47, and Mark Leonard, 43, her boyfriend, were 100 miles away at a casino when their home blew up. She was 11 years old at that point. The next time, Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonards brother, Bob, was supposed to carry out the plan. Im telling the truth and nothing but the truth was a phrase repeated by Monserrate Shirley throughout the day. 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. "I feel like, you know, it would have been better off for me to be there [at the house when it exploded]," Shirley said. Call 6 Investigator Rafael Sanchez and Senior Digital Correspondent Jordan Fischer will be in Fort Wayne covering the trial every day. 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 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. 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. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. [27], Mark Leonard's trial began in June 2015. After her 12 hour shift, she planned to see her daughter at the Holts' house and change there. To do that, the team moved 80 boxes of documents connected to the case to an office on the east side of Indianapolis. The truth is, I was scared.. I want everyone to know how sorry I am for this horrible tragedy, she said in court in front of Richmond Hill residents. I got upset with her and sent her some derogatory texts. But the majority supported us.. 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. He told her one of the reasons she needed to upgrade the policy was he planned to bring in some nicer things and do some work around the house to improve it and they would need the extra coverage to match the upgrades. During the course of this lengthy process, we have sincerely appreciated the cooperation and patience of these families. Authorities blamed a natural gas explosion inside the home of Monserrate Shirley, who was away at the time of the explosion. The group researched methods of how to destroy the home and made more than one attempt at doing so before succeeding, authorities said. We've got a few more.". Its about becoming who you were meant to be. Thompson left after a few hours and Shirley didn't hear anything else before the first attempt that Saturday. I said I think theres ($10,000) or $12,000 in there, and he said, That was not enough, I want $300,000, Shirley said. And it wasn't the answer we were looking for. It was run by the daughter of a famous American actor who was very close to the owner. Minch: "You testified about some things you lost in the explosion. Shirley struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. "You can't even do a fire. 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. Its a game that only you can play. Four years after thedeadly Richmond Hill explosion, another chapter has closed. Thompson said he'd been pulled over by a cop so he couldn't get to the house. 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. I had seen it used in a couple of games, but I never knew it was the name of a real person. 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. 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. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. They agreed to say they'd been having trouble with the thermostat and smelling gas for a while. Start the day smarter Notable deaths in 2023 The world's largest war 2023 meteor showers She was inspired by the way Chef Alberto Marinovich put on this dish and it was a joy to serve. This has to be done, Shirley testified. I dont feel bad for Mr. Leonard, said Don Buxton, father of Jennifer Longworth, who was killed in the blast with her husband, Dion. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. Write For Us: Investigative Articles are Intriguing. ", When asked if the attacks on Shirley's credibility would damage the State's case, Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson said, "If you think about anybody who gives a number of statements, and you think about inconsistencies when you're asked questions and you have to answer the questions that you're asked [no more, no less]. "I don't understand it," Shircliff said of the judge's ruling. Its an interesting concept. Made and inspired by a love triangle, this was written by a girl from Italy. "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. Prosecutors started by addressing her plea agreement. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. He did come to the house one week before the first attempt. You can't do anything," he said. It ended in the deaths of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. ", When they went to pick up Shirley's daughteron Sunday, Holts told Mark to "Get the [expletive] out of here. "I was at one of my part-time jobs when I got a text from my daughter, which was very unusual. She was the one who got her daughter and her cat out of the situation and left her neighbors in the situation. I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. They had left town the night before, after Ms. Shirley's nursing shift at a local. [5], Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. The original posters source was a little bit of a weird little coincidence, but the name was still alive and well. Its about remembering who you are. Ultimately, she could end up serving 21 years if she maintains good behavior in prison. The next morning, they went to Bob Leonard's mobile home. She gave it to him, and he used it to pay Bob. "I don't know what happened. She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. I had a homicide detective crying on the stand. Shirley: "Back in August (2011) she just stopped taking my phone calls and letting me talk to Brook.