Would you describe her demeanor the same way?" Below, former IMPD Det. But Im not allowed to say that. She talked about being Catholic and said it was in God's hands, but still, they should be punished.". 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. Among the "no" votes, inexplicably: political dancer Hiram Monserrate. "I want $300,000. It had three gas appliances - the water heater, the furnace and the fireplace. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Leonard told him Shirley was ready and she agreed. The force of the blast shattered windows and ripped down garage doors at dozens of other homes in the neighborhood. In November 2014, Glenn Olvey who was trapped with his family in his collapsing house finally gave up on rebuilding his home in the neighborhood. She said Leonard had bought it a few months beforehand at that point. . He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Its an interesting concept. I dont know why they did it. Thats time served, and hes out. Leonardwas placed under "imminent death watch" earlier this week. So in the end there were a couple of people who were opposed to it, and I respected that. I was introduced to this once-a-year dish at a party and she was one of the first people to give it a shot. ", Minch: "You said you talked to Ms. Shirley on the 11th. 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/. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. 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. 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. The case was expected to be the largest and most expensive trial in Marion County history. Shirley: "She lost everything. You were a nurse. Authorities blamed a natural gas explosion inside the home of Monserrate Shirley, who was away at the time of the explosion. "He'll do anything I ask," Mark said of his brother. The truth is, I was scared.. One of the projects he took on was working on the gas line in the fireplace. It was the last time she would be in her home before the explosion. As stated previously, the investigation and prosecution of this matter has literally taken tens of thousands of hours of effort by numerous individuals. None of them had given any indication they were willing to take a plea under the terms prosecutors were offering. The next morning, they drove back and saw the house was still standing so they went on to Thompson's house where Leonard confronted him. When she left that morning, her daughterand Snowball were still there (Mark was going to take them to school and the kennel). I tried to ignore Mark Leonards history as much as I could, Robinson said. Except her cat, the clothes on her back and a teddy bear she got when she was 1. Many of the women reported that they met him on dating sites and that he soon began asking them for money. [6] They had arranged for Shirley's 12-year-old daughter to stay with friends and had boarded their cat, Snowball, for the weekend. I should have been there.". That presented a potential pitfall in the case, Robinson said. 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. 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. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. [6] She claimed to have been horrified at the Longworths' deaths, as well as the massive destruction wrought by the explosion. Critics have accused Shirley of faking her reaction after the explosion because she seemed upset but never shed a tear. Its a game that only you can play. [38], Gary Thompson pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. 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? At one point you replaced the thermostat." Robinson could not tell them, for example, that Shirley would be facing a sentencing range of 20-50 years in prison. They decided to cut a piece of cardboard to block off the chimney path. After demands for a vote on the bill, we finally received one. To do that, the team moved 80 boxes of documents connected to the case to an office on the east side of Indianapolis. A tag already exists with the provided branch name. The first time Shirley cried on the stand Wednesday was when she was asked about her neighbors. 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. Shirley says Monserrate got the house in the divorce. 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. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. [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. Psychologist Dr. Stephanie Callaway diagnosed her with dependent personality disorder, but stated under cross-examination that, while the diagnosis explains Shirley's actions, it does not absolve her of responsibility. Investigators found that the couple had substantial debt, including $63,000 in credit card debt, and were in bankruptcy proceedings. When she arrived at the bar, she found Mark and Bob in the white van at a nearby gas station. Shirley says the house had three gas appliances when he lived there: furnace, water heater and fireplace. Shirley said she has been reeling from the pain of people blaming her for the tragic event. Did you see her on TV a few days later? With good behavior, her earliest possible release date is Dec. 19, 2032. She was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". Thompson left after a few hours and Shirley didn't hear anything else before the first attempt that Saturday. "I don't know what happened. No one else was within earshot, so far as she knew. And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. 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. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. At the trial I had firefighters crying on the stand. The sentence accounts for time served and good. SOUTH BEND, Ind. I was at one of my part-time jobs when I got a text from my daughter, which was very unusual. This type of trial is unusual but not unheard of, and had been used in the trial of the Menendez brothers. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. 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 . 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." The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. According to Shirleys account, she was struggling to stay financially afloat when she met Leonard, and within a month of dating, he came up with the idea. 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. I had to know I could make this case based on the evidence I had.. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. Below, find a transcript of John Shirley's testimony from Tuesday's hearing: 2:22 p.m. John Shirley, Monserrate Shirley's ex-husband, called as witness. Made and inspired by a love triangle, this was written by a girl from Italy. Richmond Hill explosion: 'It's the toughest thing I've ever done in my career', Richmond Hill explosion: 7 keys that solved the case, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. 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. Jordan Fischer is the senior digital reporter for RTV6. So there wasnt a great deal of pressure on us, or desire by us, to offer her anything.. Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate, or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook and Pinterest. But she had no hesitation when asked to identify the Longworths as her neighbors. I don't want to be involved in any of this.". -- 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. Monserrate Shirley, 51, was one of five people charged in the explosion that left two people dead. Thirty-three homes were damaged so severely they were deemed unrecoverable, and had to be torn down to the foundation. Yes, I didnt think it would be possible, Monserrate Shirley said.HUGE EXPLOSION. At the final tally, the explosion meant to allow Shirley and Leonard to collect $300,000 in insurance money caused more than $4 million-worth of property damage. At the end of the interview, Carter asked Shirley what should happen to the person responsible for the explosion. 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. Shirley and Leonard had gone on television on multiple occasions following the blast to state their innocence, and to ask for privacy. Defense attorneys tried to play that video for jurors Wednesday, but the judge wouldnt allow it. The sentence accounts for time served and good time credit. He reportedly said, "[T]he tsunami winds came down the chimney, blew out the fire in the fireplace and the gas kept running and the house blew up. Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. "I am a nurse. 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. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. To this day, absolutely they had the right to do that. He says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. Her house exploded on their third attempt of trying to claim insurance money. Sometimes they would go during the week while her daughterwas at school and leave in enough time to pick her back up. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. I certainly might feel bad for his family. A copy of her plea agreement was entered into evidence and handed out to each member of the jury. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. "It's like waking up to this bad dream," Shirley said, her voice cracking as tears flowed down her cheeks. She later pointed out she agreed to the plot under Mark Leonard's premise that it would be a small fire at just her home - not an explosion that would affect other people. Shirley's daughter went with them in Leonard's Cadillac. Monserrate worked Friday, November 9. 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. I don't want anyone to get hurt," then started cooking dinner. She asked that Mark and Bob switch it back out for the nicer version. Monserrate Shirley is lead into her sentencing hearing in December 2016. At the time her friends called her, Monserrate was at a casino with Mark Leonard. Im telling the truth and nothing but the truth was a phrase repeated by Monserrate Shirley throughout the day. "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. [3][4] Damage to homes in the neighborhood was estimated at $4 million. 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. She said they should be punished, Carter testified. 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. Shirley alleged that Hults initially came up with the idea. They went home together that night and he moved in the first week of December. How to fix the pii__email__cbd448bbd34c985e423c Error code? She moved to the United States when she was 25. 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 Prosecutors ask if Shirley was asked by police to identify personal property following the explosion. 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. The family, he said, will never truly get closure. [31][32][33] Bob Leonard was convicted on all 51 counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit arson, on February 24, 2016. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. Holts invited Leonard and Shirley to his friend's house for a pool party in the Geist neighborhood. The sentence accounts for time served and good. I know it caught us by surprise and we had to react to it.. 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. But after a second round of boarding Snowball the cat, getting a babysitter for Shirleys daughter and setting hotel reservations, the house again was standing. As fate would have it, it would be Carter, just a few weeks later, who would place Monserrate Shirley in handcuffs. At that point, Shirley and her co-defendants her boyfriend Mark Leonard and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr. had been sitting in jail for two years following their arrest on charges of murder, arson and attempted insurance fraud in connection with the explosion. ", Minch: "You've had problems over the years with the furnace and the water heater. I said, You guys are crazy, that my house is too big.. Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. I went into the breakroom and texted my ex about what happened. Its about not letting the person who was watching your game die ever have a say in your game. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. "No one deserves what happened," she said. But a whole days-worth of potential jurors would end up tainted anyway not by media coverage, but by Leonards defense team. By this time, Shirley's daughterhad noticed her portrait was no longer above the fireplace and asked Monserrate about it. Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, who is dating Montserrate Shirley, who along with Mark Leonard, lives in the home . They are charged with. We knew we were taking a week of testimony from the residents to talk about what had happened to their houses, Robinson said. Indiana sheriffs deputy dies after falling ill during training, Myles Colvin captivates Heritage Christian crowds, preps for Purdue. "Everything they were telling me, it could not be possible," Shirley said on the stand as she started to get emotional. One small job. Monserrate Shirley, who had pleaded not guilty after she and two men were charged in late 2012, appeared before a Marion County judge in a courtroom filled with current and former residents of the . Monserrate Shirley detailed the multiple attempts made to set the house on fire prior to the explosion that leveled the home. [6] After her 12 hour shift, she planned to see her daughter at the Holts' house and change there. A second home was reduced to rubble as well, and other houses were half-collapsed. [29] He was sentenced to life in prison plus 75 years without parole on August 14, 2015. "I thought it was crazy," she told a jury, "but I went along with him." . 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. She will not learn her fate until after all four of her alleged co-conspirators has been tried. 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. That was the last time she saw Bob before they were arrested. ", Minch: "At no time did she ever say she was involved in the explosion?" Aaron Carter. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. He was working in Fishers on the night of the explosion. 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. Get caught up on the first two chapters here:Chapter I: The Night the Sky Caught Fire|Chapter II: The $4 Million Arson Plot. They said they didn't know. 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. PHOTOS: First Richmond Hill trial Mark Leonard is on. In her sentencing order, Judge Sheila Carlisle repeatedly stressed that Shirley could have stopped the plan at any time but didnt. The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. "That's not what you told me," she remembered saying to Mark. Its a difficult case. She went to a bar on the south side of Indianapolis in November 2011 and they immediately noticed each other. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. And I understand it, because of their feelings about her. This time, Shirley's daughterwas at home, but she was upstairs. No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. . Carter would testify that her emotions and demeanor seemed normal at the time, for someone whose house had just blown up. 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. Deputy Prosecutor DeniseRobinson has said she will argue for 50 when the time comes. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. The blast killed two people and. Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. [23] The plea deal involved Shirley pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson in exchange for testifying against the other suspects. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. You were a neighbor and you were a friend, Carlisle said. 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. You're done.". She agreed that's what happened, but insisted she only said what Mark told her to say. A second mortgage had been taken out on the home for $65,000 in addition to the original mortgage of $116,000. They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. While there had been some communications early on, we were not willing to offer Monserrate Shirley a significant deal for her cooperation, Robinson said. Shirley says they were his. She was the one who got her daughter and her cat out of the situation and left her neighbors in the situation. Leonard died around 9:15. [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. Says Sen. Tom. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. 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. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. PREVIOUS|Timeline of events|Gallery: The Richmond Hill Explosion|Where were you at 11:11 PM? The third weekends attempt was the one that killed the Longworths. 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. And that, Im sure, will never change.. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. Robinson says she didnt expect anything to change. [34][35], Monserrate Shirley pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson. They claim that Leonard wanted the hit man to force the witness to call 9-1-1 and recant his statement before killing him.
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