[6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. He said that his daughter had mentioned that the furnace wasn't working, and he wondered whether a gas leak ignited the blast. Prosecutors alleged that the men conspired to submit an insurance claim for a stolen motorcycle. 'But for Monserrate Shirley:' Betrayal next door - WRTV "I have everybody telling me stuff that they said on the TV," she said. Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate, or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook and Pinterest. "It's like waking up to this bad dream," Shirley said, her voice cracking as tears flowed down her cheeks. Then there was the question of Leonards history. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. SOUTH BEND, Ind. News, information &. American Greed: Property, auto insurance fraud is $30B problem - WSAV-TV 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). Everything's under control.". When we got in this case, we were asked to save her life, said defense attorney James Voyles. After that, the fire wasn't mentioned again until the week before Halloween. This time, Shirley's daughterwas at home, but she was upstairs. She said Leonard had bought it a few months beforehand at that point. Prosecutors told Judge Marnocha Tuesday they will likely rest their case next Wednesday or Thursday. He says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. I certainly might feel bad for his family. Should I have accepted that stipulation? They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. It was unclear when the complaint was made and whether the utility company was alerted. 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. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. 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. They decided to cut a piece of cardboard to block off the chimney path. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. 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. A tag already exists with the provided branch name. Are they going to get bored with it?. Mark Leonards trial at the St. Joseph County Courthouse was eventful before it even started. Amazingly, despite the force of the explosion, a hybrid pear tree planted by Dion Longworth still grows in the yard where he and his wife Jennifers house once stood. Thats time served, and hes out. Shirley said she was attracted to Mark Leonard, particularly noting he was well-dressed and had bleach blonde hair. As of summer 2022 the show has aired sixteen . She moved to the United States when she was 25. RICHMOND HILL: Shirley's ex takes the stand - WRTV 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. Mark was a handsome man with sex appeal and a lot of money, judging by his stash of cash and fast luxury cars. You may have noticed that the name monserrate has been replaced with the word shirley, which is used in both a variety of other games and in the game of death. She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. None of them had given any indication they were willing to take a plea under the terms prosecutors were offering. FOLLOW|Rafael Sanchez on Twitter|Jordan Fischer on Twitter, RELATED LINKS |Richmond Hill Special Section|Mark Ray Leonard convicted on all counts. I said, You guys are crazy, that my house is too big.. She was the one who got her daughter and her cat out of the situation and left her neighbors in the situation. . Hults faces no prison time to three years . Every day I ask myself why I didnt stop this. [11], Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and Bob Leonard were initially charged with two counts of murder and arson in the deaths of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. 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. But a whole days-worth of potential jurors would end up tainted anyway not by media coverage, but by Leonards defense team. Sgt. The inmate and Leonard drew up a contract agreeing that Leonard would pay the inmate $15,000 when he was released, the affidavit said. Defense attorneys tried to play that video for jurors Wednesday, but the judge wouldnt allow it. "I mean, I'm totally devastated like my neighbors are.". Eventually, hed be asked to repeat her answer at her boyfriends murder trial. At one point, after one of the failed attempts to burn the home, Monserrate Shirley said she offered Mark Leonard her 401k instead. The game of death is a pretty popular one, but its not just because of the game of death; its also the game of life itself. Many Git commands accept both tag and branch names, so creating this branch may cause unexpected behavior. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Leonard said he talked to Gary Thompson without her, telling him they were ready to do it. Thompson arrived on Monday or Tuesday, October 22-23, while Shirley's daughter was at school. He was going to bring Thompson to their house so she could say she was okay to move forward, too. Hed also been previously accused of insurance fraud in connection with a car accident. Prosecuting Mark Leonard presented with some challenges. The human toll is harder to estimate. Shirley testified in Fort Wayne at the trial of Bob Leonard, Jr. one of five people accused in the deadly 2012 Richmond Hill Explosion. I had a homicide detective crying on the stand. PREVIOUS | Full testimony: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand. 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. And your daughter lost some things?" At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. Residents, particularly the younger ones, report experiencing continued psychological trauma from the incident. That's whatwe'll be asking the jury to consider.". No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. The name comes from a restaurant that is on the run called theserie rossa which translates to the run of the wits. 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. 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. He gave her $3,000 to use, and they lost it all. 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. The defense wrapped up a little more quickly than expected after Judge John Marnocha denied their request to play a video of Shirley's 2012 interview with the media. A second home was reduced to rubble as well, and other houses were half-collapsed. 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. 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. JDK-8141210 : Very slow loading of JavaScript file with recent JDK She was wearing a jail jumpsuit, was shackled and her hair had grown long, dark and curly.IM TELLING THE TRUTH. [5], Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. Investigators found that the couple had substantial debt, including $63,000 in credit card debt, and were in bankruptcy proceedings. You were a mom. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. When testimony moved to the night of the explosion that killed Jennifer and Dion Longworth, Monserrate Shirley had a difficult time staying composed. Roughly a week afterward, Mark asked Shirley for $500. The program is a spin-off of the Oxygen series Snapped and has a similar format to the Investigation Discovery program Wicked Attraction. ", Minch: "You've had problems over the years with the furnace and the water heater. . Among the "no" votes, inexplicably: political dancer Hiram Monserrate. 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. It also didnt carry much weight for the families of Dion and Jennifer Longworth, who died in the blast. Should we not use all those witnesses? Leonards death doesnt change the fact that Jennifer and Dion died, Buxton said. 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. Deputy prosecutor Denise Robinson returned from prosecuting the Richmond Hill cases to a pile of homicides waiting on her desk. Shirley's sentencing started Monday morning at 9 a.m. She faces 20 to 50 years in prison for two counts conspiracy to commit arson. 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. 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. With good behavior, her earliest possible release date is Dec. 19, 2032. Woman pleads guilty in deadly Indianapolis explosion - CBS News "Shortly thereafter I moved some furniture into the apartment. Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. Monserrate Shirley, 51, was one of five people charged in the explosion that left two people dead. 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. Bob had been asking for his $10,000 payment before the explosion even happened. "Our investigators believe natural gas is involved," the Indianapolis Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Shirley: "Back in August (2011) she just stopped taking my phone calls and letting me talk to Brook. Minch: "Before that, you did have some problems with the pilot light on the furnace?" She lived in the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home with her daughter. Make Monserrate Shirley, 47, her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, 43, and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr., 54, are accused of intentionally leaking natural gas into the house and then using the kitchen's. 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/. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. [14] In April 2015, a fifth man, Glenn Hults, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. For years, the team holed up in that office three days a week to avoid being distracted by other ongoing cases. Robinson also couldnt tell the residents that Shirleys cooperation would mean charges against two more suspects: Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults. 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. she said. After he was done, the fireplace worked properly and they never smelled any gas inside the home because of it. And it wasn't the answer we were looking for. 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. Required fields are marked *. She was 11 years old at that point. The here, in this case, was the knowing murder of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. Shirley said she recalled telling them two innocent people die out of this.THIS HAS TO BE DONE. Robinson has said she will argue for 50 when the time comes. After demands for a vote on the bill, we finally received one. "I am a nurse. "You can't even do a fire. In addition to his roofing business, Mastercraft, Leonard also flipped cars on the side. Out of fear that a Marion County jury would be too tainted by extensive media coverage of the case, the trial had been moved to South Bend, Indiana. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. 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. Robinson told the residents what she could: That they didnt need Monserrate Shirley as a witness, but that she would help fill in blanks they hadnt been able to. Indianapolis trio accused of blowing up their home to collect insurance 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. Yes, I didnt think it would be possible, Monserrate Shirley said.HUGE EXPLOSION. 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 . Start the day smarter Notable deaths in 2023 The world's largest war 2023 meteor showers Its a game that only you can play. 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. Defense counsel said the deposition version showed she was actually in favor of burning the house down, she just didn't want to get caught. [21] Mark Leonard was granted a change of venue and was tried in South Bend. Mark and Bob stayed in the garage while they talked about what Bob's part would be, while Shirley stayed inside. Mark Leonard was the first to go on trial. She even took some leave from work to stay with him longer than her paid vacation time allowed. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. We again offer our condolences to the families of Dion and Jennifer Longworth and to those who suffered injury and loss. She grew up in Puerto Rico with a violently abusive father who would often beat Shirley as well as her siblings and mother. Woman tells of failed tries before deadly Indianapolis house explosion "I feel like, you know, it would have been better off for me to be there [at the house when it exploded]," Shirley said. Glenn told me, Between Mark and Gary, theyre going to explode the whole neighborhood. I said, Dont play like that. I had seen it used in a couple of games, but I never knew it was the name of a real person. 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. Shirley claims Leonard coerced her involvement, testifying that he threatened her and her daughter. (WISH) Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. He told her to tell Holts, though, that they would be trying the fire again that night (Sunday night). The Insurance Scam That Blew Up A Neighborhood - Medium [25] Leonard allegedly asked another inmate at the Marion County jail if he could put him in contact with a hitman, according to the probable cause affidavit. Defendant in Indiana house explosion gets maximum 50 years - FOX 5 Atlanta And that, Im sure, will never change.. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. He was, however, eventually able to return to his hobby of umpiring softball. 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. Leonard started talking the next week about trying for a second time to burn down the home. She was inspired by the way Chef Alberto Marinovich put on this dish and it was a joy to serve. 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. 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." Shed said similar things in an interview with IMPD Det. [23] The plea deal involved Shirley pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson in exchange for testifying against the other suspects. Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, who is dating Montserrate Shirley, who along with Mark Leonard, lives in the home . After her 12 hour shift, she planned to see her daughter at the Holts' house and change there. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. Shirley said she would come back immediately, but they told her there was no house to come back to. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. Did you see her on TV a few days later? Indianapolis House Explosion Case Now a Criminal Homicide Investigation Even years later, Robinson says she doesnt know why Black brought the hitman allegations up. One year of his sentences wassuspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. But no other problems. This may help explain why this dish is beloved by patrons like myself. [15], Prosecutors contended that the trio filled the house with natural gas and then used the spark from a microwave which could be set in advance to detonate it. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. More: Richmond Hill: 'The scars still remain', More: Richmond Hill explosion: 'It's the toughest thing I've ever done in my career', More: Richmond Hill explosion: 7 keys that solved the case. ", 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]. [20] The trials started in 2015. It was a restaurant that had the name of a famous Italian poet who died young, but the restaurant only lasted for a year. [39] Glenn Hults received a three-year sentence.[40].