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. 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. "Our investigators believe natural gas is involved," the Indianapolis Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. But she had no hesitation when asked to identify the Longworths as her neighbors. 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 daughters often watched the girl. After court adjourned for the day, Shircliff said he attacked her inconsistencies "to show that she can tell the truth as easily as she tells a lie, and it's hard for the jury to know the difference. The home was owned by his girlfriend at the time, Monserrate Shirley, who testified earlier this month that Bob. Shirley and her boyfriend were hoping to collect $300,000 in insurance . The first attempt was supposed to be carried out by Gary Thompson, but it failed. She said she did not tell officers at the time what happened because she was scared. FULL STORY | Mark Leonards friend says he knew too much. Would you describe her demeanor the same way?" Minch: "Before that, you did have some problems with the pilot light on the furnace?" Your email address will not be published. Lisa Marie Presley's daughter Riley Keough wears a Graceland sweater as she . Shortly thereafter I moved some furniture into the apartment. Im thankful for my trial team for sticking with me. 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/. When she told him, Holts said, "Between Mark and Gary, they're going to blow up the whole neighborhood.". The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. Much of Tuesdays testimony included accounts of Shirleys difficult childhood. There was discussion about: Should we cut all of those? 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 . Says Sen. Tom. When she told him there was around $10,000-12,000 in it, he said that wasn't enough. I had to know I could make this case based on the evidence I had.. Her house exploded on their third attempt of trying to claim insurance money. She asked Mark not to try the house fire plan again. Sgt. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. We firmly believed that Gary Thompson played a role, but until she cooperated, we couldnt prove that, Robinson said. The third weekends attempt was the one that killed the Longworths. [34][35], Monserrate Shirley pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson. She later worked at St. Francis and Community South. "I have everybody telling me stuff that they said on the TV," she said. How to fix pii_email_029231e8462fca76041e Error Code? [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". The man he called was actually an undercover agent. I certainly might feel bad for his family. 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. At a routine pretrial hearing, deputy prosecutor Denise Robinson, not thinking much of it, told Monserrate Shirleys defense counsel that if their client wanted anything other than a trial seeking life without parole, they had better work something out by the end of January 2015. In the game of death, monserrate daughter is the only way to be reunited with the game of life. 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. But while he was living in the home, the only problem he had with its gas appliances the furnace, water heater and fireplace was that their pilot lights would sometimes go out when a draft blew in from an open garage door. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. [28] Prosecutors expected to submit nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence, and potentially call up to 175 witnesses. Dion and Jennifer Longworth, two occupants in the house at 8355 Fieldfare Way, died in the explosion; seven others were injured. 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). He couldn't get a card to play with so she got a card for him and played on his behalf. 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. ", When prosecutors asked if she was serious about the 401K offer, Shirley said, "I would have given him anything because I was in love with him.". 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. Shirley stated that her daughter had smelled gas during the week before the explosion. Mark had called her asking which credit card he could buy the thermostat with, but she didn't see him actually switch out the thermostat for the new one, nor did he ever say who did it. Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. 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. Carter would testify that her emotions and demeanor seemed normal at the time, for someone whose house had just blown up. Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, who is dating Montserrate Shirley, who along with Mark Leonard, lives in the home . 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. Jordan Fischer is the senior digital reporter for RTV6. Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonard was very, very mad., Mark Leonard said, Were going to do it again. Prosecutors started by addressing her plea agreement. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. As of summer 2022 the show has aired sixteen . The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. The blast the product of an insurance fraud scheme killed two people and injured dozens of others. 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. "[6] The witness also told investigators that Leonard talked about buying a Ferrari with the insurance money from the house. Leonards death doesnt change the fact that Jennifer and Dion died, Buxton said. 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. No one deserved what happened. Its about becoming who you were meant to be. I commend Det. Did you see her on TV a few days later? You were a neighbor and you were a friend, Carlisle said. He eventually improved enough to return home, but Shirley had to continue caring for him for several months. They had left town the night before, after Ms. Shirley's nursing shift at a local. Except her cat, the clothes on her back and a teddy bear she got when she was 1. [21] Mark Leonard was granted a change of venue and was tried in South Bend. Denise Robinson, the Marion County Prosecutor on the case, told the court she rarely asks for the maximum sentence. That hit man was later revealed to be an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Its a difficult case. After that, the fire wasn't mentioned again until the week before Halloween. Shirley: "I moved out in February of 2011. 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. 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. She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. You can't do anything," he said. John moved out in February 2010 and their divorce was finalized that summer. The name was inspired by the work of the famous Italian poet Leonardo da Vinci, but it was actually a combination of the two that are so influential in the history of Italian cooking that the name was changed to monserrate. 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. 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.. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. That becomes eight years when good time credit is applied. We've got a few more.". I had seen it used in a couple of games, but I never knew it was the name of a real person. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. You're a piece of [expletive]. Shirley told her daughternot to come back to the house for any reason, though she didn't explain why not. 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. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Monserrate Shirley, 51, was one of five people charged in the explosion that left two people dead. Her role in the plan and execution of this act protected her own child and the family pet, but failed to consider the obvious danger it presented to anyone else. The home of Monserrate Shirley was the center of the explosion that resulted in the deaths of next-door neighbors John "Dion" Longworth and his wife Jennifer (ne Buxton), the injuries of seven others, and $4 million in property damage. They went to the casino and waited for the call that a fire had broken out, but again, the call never came. The group researched methods of how to destroy the home and made more than one attempt at doing so before succeeding, authorities said. 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. 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. At the end of the interview, Carter asked Shirley what should happen to the person responsible for the explosion. 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. Monserrate worked Friday, November 9. In one case, she said the first attempt was supposed to be tied to gasoline not natural gas. So in the game of death, monserrate daughter is the Shirley of the game of death. Shirley alleged that Hults initially came up with the idea. 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. And you said she was crying? On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. "They are currently in the process of recovering the appliances from destroyed homes to help determine the cause.". She will not learn her fate until after all four of her alleged co-conspirators has been tried. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. Having Shirley as a witness came with its own pitfalls, though. After the first failure, Leonard decided he also wanted to bring in his half-brother, Bob. The defense attorney told the judge without the jury in the room that he planned to use the video to show that Shirley had the same demeanor in the courtroom as she did while lying to reporters. She and her daughterwent to the hotel, where Mark later joined them. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. SOUTH BEND, Ind. I dont know why they did it. He questioned her about the multiple boardings of her cat, Snowball, which he found odd. She explained that Snowball had anxiety. "No one.". The truth is, I was scared.. The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. How to fix the pii__email__cbd448bbd34c985e423c Error code? They agreed to say they'd been having trouble with the thermostat and smelling gas for a while. On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Glenn Hults, a friend of Leonard's who said he knew about the plot beforehand but didn't call police, was sentenced to three years. towns among 150 Best Small Town in America, Citizens support Ind. He asked how much was in the 401k, according to Shirley. Deputy Prosecutor DeniseRobinson has said she will argue for 50 when the time comes. [16] On March 13, Leonard allegedly placed a call to a man who he believed to be a hit man. 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. Their challenge was to distill two-and-a-half years of research and investigation into a six week trial without losing the jury in the process. Leonard, his ex-girlfriend Monserrate Shirley, his half-brother Robert Leonard and Mark Leonards former employee blew up Shirleys home in the Richmond Hill subdivision to collect about $300,000 in insurance money to pay off the houses mortgage and Mark Leonards gambling and credit card debts. Shirley owned the home at the epicenter of the November 2012 explosion that killed two people and damaged dozens of other homes causing more than $4 million in damages. "Mark can insult [Thompson], and he never does anything," Shirley said. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. She never got a call, though. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Bob had been asking for his $10,000 payment before the explosion even happened. ", Minch: "You said you talked to Ms. Shirley on the 11th. While she was charged in December 2012 for her role in the explosion, she pleaded guilty to two felony conspiracy charges earlier this year in exchange for her testimony. The explosion leveled 8349 Fieldfare Way, the home at the center of the explosion, and severely damaged a number of other residences, including several (on either side) which were damaged by the ensuing fire. 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. FORT WAYNE, Ind. 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. Monserrate Shirley is lead into her sentencing hearing in December 2016. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. Again, she said, "Because I was not able to tell him 'no'." "She lost everything," he said. Make 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. Leonard went to pick up Thompson in the white van witnesses in the neighborhood have previously testified seeing in Shirley's driveway.
