[14] Shirley admitted raising the limit on her insurance coverage at Mark Leonard's urging, and only went along with the plot out of love for him. Shirley says he and Monserrate married on July 17, 1993. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. She transferred from her job in Michigan to the VA hospital in Indianapolis, where she worked for 17 years, focusing in the ICU. The group researched methods of how to destroy the home and made more than one attempt at doing so before succeeding, authorities said. When testimony moved to the night of the explosion that killed Jennifer and Dion Longworth, Monserrate Shirley had a difficult time staying composed. The family, he said, will never truly get closure. [1] Thirty-three homes were damaged severely enough to require demolition. [21] Mark Leonard was granted a change of venue and was tried in South Bend. 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. Im telling the truth and nothing but the truth was a phrase repeated by Monserrate Shirley throughout the day. Monserrate Shirley, 49, would have to testify against former boyfriend Mark Leonard and his brother in the plea deal . In exchange, she offered him the money in her 401K. A class C felony carries 2-8 years. [29] He was sentenced to life in prison plus 75 years without parole on August 14, 2015. The first time Shirley cried on the stand Wednesday was when she was asked about her neighbors. [7] Shirley told the police she never smelled any natural gas, but that her daughter had thought she did recently. But ultimately I think we were able to accomplish what we needed to do for her.. We firmly believed that Gary Thompson played a role, but until she cooperated, we couldnt prove that, Robinson said. While she was driving, Mark called to tell her to book a hotel room and to tell her daughter it was because the house was too cold to stay at. [6] Her attorneys argued that she was trapped in an abusive relationship and was coerced by Mark Leonard into participating in the crime. On the night of the explosion, Shirley said he was working a second job in Fishers. Its very difficult sentencing hearing weve been through for two days. 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? She even took some leave from work to stay with him longer than her paid vacation time allowed. Shirley gave 12 interviews and statements between the explosion and Wednesday's testimony - some for law enforcement, others for attorneys and one for the media - and defense attorneys pointed out inconsistencies between some of those. I don't want anyone to get hurt," then started cooking dinner. Leonard died around 9:15. She would sit with him, eat and drink and occasionally play slot machines. Snapped: Killer Couples (known as Killer Couples from seasons 7 to 15) is an American true crime television series currently airing on the Oxygen Network.The program details couples who commit crimes together. "I was at one of my part-time jobs when I got a text from my daughter, which was very unusual. She still qualifies as a practicing nurse. Monserrate Shirley agreed to testify against Mark Leonard as part of a plea agreement to reduce her potential prison time. But I dont feel bad for the deceased.. I did everything to make him happy, Monserrate Shirley said in testimony. 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. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." ", Holts then asked who would get the money if they went through with it and Mark said, "Of course, me. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. Made and inspired by a love triangle, this was written by a girl from Italy. Shirley: "I moved out in February of 2011. 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. Example video title will go here for this video. 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. Eventually, hed be asked to repeat her answer at her boyfriends murder trial. 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. John Shirley, 50, of Noblesville, told The Associated Press that his daughter sent him a text message last week complaining that the furnace in the home where she lives with her mother and her. 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. Monserrate Shirley cried at various points Wednesdaybut didnt shed any actual tears. This time, Shirley's daughterwas at home, but she was upstairs. 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. Including journalists, it was closer to four dozen. Lisa Marie Presley's daughter Riley Keough wears a Graceland sweater as she . The explosion in the subdivision just south of the city on Saturday, Nov. 10, killed John and Jennifer Longworth. And that, Im sure, will never change.. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. She remained in the house as the sole owner until the explosion. [28] Prosecutors expected to submit nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence, and potentially call up to 175 witnesses. Shirley alleged that Hults initially came up with the idea. Required fields are marked *. FOLLOW|Rafael Sanchez on Twitter|Jordan Fischer on Twitter, RELATED LINKS |Richmond Hill Special Section|Mark Ray Leonard convicted on all counts. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. . [10] Included on the probable cause affidavit were complaints from several women claiming that Leonard scammed them out of thousands of dollars. Below, former IMPD Det. Even years later, Robinson says she doesnt know why Black brought the hitman allegations up. ", She said Mark told her, "It cannot be that bad.Don't worry about it. [6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. Shirley: "In order to pay a very large amount of child support, I was working a full-time job and two part-time jobs. Many Git commands accept both tag and branch names, so creating this branch may cause unexpected behavior. The brothers were sentenced to terms of life without parole for spearheading the conspiracy. They should go to jail. Prosecutors ended by asking Shirley if the Longworths or any of her other neighbors deserved what happened. Gary Thompsonwas handed a 30-year prison sentence, 20 years executed, for his role in the murderous insurance fraud scheme. . Sgt. He says the log lighter worked fine when he lived there. The November 2012 blast claimed the lives of John and Jennifer Longworth and spawned an investigation that landed five people behind bars. Shirley met Mark Leonard. [6] They had arranged for Shirley's 12-year-old daughter to stay with friends and had boarded their cat, Snowball, for the weekend. FULL STORY | Mark Leonards friend says he knew too much. On November 19, it was announced that the investigation had become a criminal investigation. 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. Powerball winner sold in central Indiana! 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. An autopsy will be conducted by the Marion County coroner's office Wednesday, according to the DOC. Your email address will not be published. arranged for her daughter to stay . And the game of death is the game of life itself. Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonard was very, very mad., Mark Leonard said, Were going to do it again. Shirley says he was worried Brook's cat Snowball was in the house and might have been killed. 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. "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. All I can say is, I had one small role in this. Thompson left after a few hours and Shirley didn't hear anything else before the first attempt that Saturday. 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. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. Monserrate Shirley was given the house after her divorce. 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. You were a mom. None of them had given any indication they were willing to take a plea under the terms prosecutors were offering. She told him the attempt didnt work but that there would be another attempt. "Two innocent people died because of this!" 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. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. There was discussion about: Should we cut all of those? Somebody knew that I was out of town. Mark Leonard, the man considered the mastermind behind the 2012 Richmond Hill neighborhood explosion that killed two people and wounded at least a dozen others, is dead. [2] Over sixty firefighters responded to the blaze. Shirley stated that her daughter had smelled gas during the week before the explosion. ", 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?" Too little, too late, said Jennifer Longworths father, Don Buxton. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. And I think when the motivation is that, what we have is a person who is the worst of the worst.. -- John Shirley told jurors Tuesday that, while his relationship with his ex-wife Monserrate was severely damaged by the time he moved out, the gas appliances in their home were not. Shirley says he replaced the thermostat "so there were more options to heat the house during the day.". I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. 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. Leonards death doesnt change the fact that Jennifer and Dion died, Buxton said. Shirley claims Leonard coerced her involvement, testifying that he threatened her and her daughter. 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. Its because the game of death is the game of life itself. Thompson said he'd been pulled over by a cop so he couldn't get to the house. We have done that. I should have been there.". The defense said if prosecutors wrapped up early enough on Thursday, they could call all of their witnesses that day alone and closing arguments could be held Friday, July 10. In the game of death, monserrate daughter is the only way to be reunited with the game of life. But Im not allowed to say that. How to fix the pii__email__cbd448bbd34c985e423c Error code? Shirley says they were his. She grew up in Puerto Rico with a violently abusive father who would often beat Shirley as well as her siblings and mother. 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. Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. I certainly might feel bad for his family. Ms. Shirley ultimately took responsibility for her actions by pleading guilty and provided important information during the investigation. That's whatwe'll be asking the jury to consider.". 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. Prosecutors ask if Shirley was asked by police to identify personal property following the explosion. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way, Indianapolis, IN Interactive Weather Radar, Mark Leonards friend says he knew too much, Opening statements in the trial of Mark Leonard. I dont wish them any hardship. Their first trip together was to the Hollywood Casino roughly 3-4 months after they first met. Home owner, Monserrate Shirley; her boyfriend, Mark Leonard; and his brother, Bob Leonard, were arrested Friday and charged with murder and arson Prosecutors may seek the death penalty Fire. Your email address will not be published. Shirley testified in Fort Wayne at the trial of Bob Leonard, Jr. one of five people accused in the deadly 2012 Richmond Hill Explosion. Yes, I didnt think it would be possible, Monserrate Shirley said.HUGE EXPLOSION. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. 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.