Thats time served, and hes out. Much of Tuesdays testimony included accounts of Shirleys difficult childhood. 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. 2023 CIRCLE CITY BROADCASTING I, LLC. Again, she said, "Because I was not able to tell him 'no'." She then got food for them both and went back to the room around midnight. They should go to jail. On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. The third weekends attempt was the one that killed the Longworths. Monserrate Shirley is lead into her sentencing hearing in December 2016. Having Shirley as a witness came with its own pitfalls, though. He says he "was very surprised" to learn Snowball had been boarded on the night of the explosion. The man he called was actually an undercover agent. Shirley testified Leonard asked to see the insurance policy on the home within a few weeks of moving in. Monserrate Shirley, 49, said she became distraught when neighbors telephoned her after the November 2012 explosion and told her that her home was destroyed. [6] Prosecutors also allege that he offered the hit man a $5,000 bonus if he made the murder look like a suicide. [16][17] The alleged motive for the arson was to collect insurance money to ease financial strain. 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 . 2012 explosion in Richmond Hill, Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, "At least 2 killed, others injured in explosion, fire in Indianapolis neighborhood", "Family breaks ground on new home in Richmond Hill subdivision after Indianapolis home explosion", "36 homes critically damaged in explosion in south side neighborhood", "Homeowner at center of explosion feels lucky to be alive", "Authorities call Richmond Hill explosion a homicide case, seek details on white van", "Probable cause suggests pattern of fraud, details inconsistencies", "Richmond Hill suspect, friend face insurance fraud charges", "Affidavit: women say richmond hill blast suspect Mark Leonard has long history of scheming", "Shattered Subdivision Offers a Trail of Clues", "Life sentences without parole sought for Indianapolis explosion suspects", "4th person arrested in Indianapolis house explosion", "Fifth suspect charged in 2012 Indianapolis south side explosion", "Mark Leonard, Indy Blast suspect, pleads not guilty in murder plot", "Jim Voyles now representing Monserrate Shirley", "Home Explosion Case: Monserrate Shirley, Mark And Bob Leonard Due In Indianapolis Court", "Richmond Hill explosion: 3 trials for price of 1? She said Leonard had bought it a few months beforehand at that point. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. While Shirley said he lost a lot, he pointed out the toll was much greater on his then-13-year-old daughter Brook. She was too involved. 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. Shirley didn't hear anything more about a plot to start a fire that night, and nothing happened. Shirley says he and Monserrate married on July 17, 1993. In addition to his roofing business, Mastercraft, Leonard also flipped cars on the side. That becomes eight years when good time credit is applied. The first time Shirley cried on the stand Wednesday was when she was asked about her neighbors. In a room inside IFD Station 63 less than a mile from the Richmond Hill subdivision Carter and Shirley talked about her whereabouts on the night of the explosion. 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. "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. The stove was electric. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. Its not the only weird coincidence Ive noticed in the past few months, but the name shirley was the one that stood out to me most. On Thursday, Shirley worked a 12 hour shift. I commend Det. Bob Leonard said, "Well, you're in it. Shirleys apology rang hollow to many Richmond Hill residents in the courtroom. The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. And you said she was crying? One of the projects he took on was working on the gas line in the fireplace. You're a piece of [expletive]. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. 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. The first attempt was supposed to be carried out by Gary Thompson, but it failed. She didnt know anyone died, she said. 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." I didn't do nothing wrong.". Should I have accepted that stipulation? Shirley claims Leonard coerced her involvement, testifying that he threatened her and her daughter. We've got a few more.". Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. she said. Shirley's daughter went with them in Leonard's Cadillac. 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. All I can say is, I had one small role in this. Shirley said that she was at a casino bar at the time of the explosion, and her boyfriend and daughter -- who also live with her -- weren't home either. One year of his sentences wassuspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. 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. The evidence Robinson and Hollingsworth had was substantial. And it wasn't the answer we were looking for. She was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". 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. This time, Shirley's daughterwas at home, but she was upstairs. When she got home, Mark told her he and Bob had gone to the library to research other similar homes that had been set on fire without anyone getting hurt. Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. As his court date neared, the workload ramped up. None of them had given any indication they were willing to take a plea under the terms prosecutors were offering. They claim that Leonard wanted the hit man to force the witness to call 9-1-1 and recant his statement before killing him. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. 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. But Im not allowed to say that. I didnt want it to affect the trial date, Robinson said. 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. [36] Shirley was sentenced to 50 years in prison, the maximum possible under her plea agreement, on December 20, 2016. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. [28], Mark Leonard was found guilty on all 53 counts, including murder and felony murder charges, on July 14. To do that, the team moved 80 boxes of documents connected to the case to an office on the east side of Indianapolis. He said that his daughter had mentioned that the furnace wasn't . More than one-third of the families who lived in the neighborhood on the night of the blast have since moved away for good. She told him the attempt didnt work but that there would be another attempt. I was scared for my life and the life of my daughter., Forgive me for my poor choices in life, she continued. 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. He also told Bob to go get Gary Thompson. Shirley: "In order to pay a very large amount of child support, I was working a full-time job and two part-time jobs. John did all the maintenance on the home - she never did any. The cat, nicknamed Snowy, was a birthday gift for their daughter, he said, and "she misses him.". And your daughter lost some things?" Her house exploded on their third attempt of trying to claim insurance money. We used to cook together, have dinner together.Very charming, very lovely man.". [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. I tried to ignore Mark Leonards history as much as I could, Robinson said. "You can't even do a fire. She could face 20-50 years in prison. This may help explain why this dish is beloved by patrons like myself. A prosecuting attorney showed her a photo of the house that exploded and asked her who lived on either side of her. Two of those alleged co-conspirators were arrested as a direct result of her cooperation: Gary Thompson and Glenn Holts. Denise Robinson, the Marion County Prosecutor on the case, told the court she rarely asks for the maximum sentence. 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 blast killed two people and. TRANSCRIPT | Opening statements in the trial of Mark Leonard. And I wanted to be able to tell them everything., TRANSCRIPT | The full testimony of Monserrate Shirley. It's also possible she will walk free if the judge sentences. Glenn told me, Between Mark and Gary, theyre going to explode the whole neighborhood. I said, Dont play like that. "I feel like, you know, it would have been better off for me to be there [at the house when it exploded]," Shirley said. "The State asked questions about [the interview] andthe judge said on the record that he saw no difference in her demeanor [on the video] than what she did today and that was our whole point: that she can tell a lie as easy as she tells the truth.". "I don't understand it," Shircliff said of the judge's ruling. ", Holts then asked who would get the money if they went through with it and Mark said, "Of course, me. (WISH) - Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "I thought it was crazy," she told a jury, "but I went along with him." I certainly might feel bad for his family. In addition to the thousands of pieces of physical evidence, they had more than 200 witnesses lined up to testify. So in the game of death, monserrate daughter is the Shirley of the game of death. Shirley: "She lost everything. The family, he said, will never truly get closure. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. 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? 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. 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. -- 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. 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. 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. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. She never got a call, though. [18], Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. On the other two days, Robinson still the head of the prosecutors homicide division would review pending cases and prepare for other trials on her plate. She was the one who got her daughter and her cat out of the situation and left her neighbors in the situation. 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. I went into the breakroom and texted my ex about what happened. Prosecutors said Leonard planned to pay a person he thought was a hit man $15,000, giving him a $5,000 bonus if a witness in the case called police to say he had lied about information he had given investigators. The brothers were sentenced to terms of life without parole for spearheading the conspiracy. Example video title will go here for this video. He refused, though, and warned them, "You guys be careful, because I know someone who committed arson and got 75 years in prison. Ms. Shirley, 47, and Mark Leonard, 43, her boyfriend, were 100 miles away at a casino when their home blew up. I didnt want to do anything that would cause that trial date to be continued.. Mr. Monserrate Morales was born on January 7, 1955 in Puerto Rico. [6] One woman had previously won a $70,000 judgment against Leonard in a civil suit after lending him $53,000, which he never repaid. They went home together that night and he moved in the first week of December. The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. Mark was a handsome man with sex appeal and a lot of money, judging by his stash of cash and fast luxury cars. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. On Friday, October 26, Leonard told Shirley to get anything sentimental out of the house. Shirley: "No. Your email address will not be published. She owned the house. To the uninitiated, it seems to be a reference to a nickname used by the family of the deceased who are being called Shirley by their name. Shirley says Monserrate got the house in the divorce. Its about becoming who you were meant to be. 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. On the night of the explosion, Shirley said he was working a second job in Fishers. . Dont make that kind of joke, Shirley testified. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. 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). 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 is a real-life cousin of Shirley, and its said that her daughter monserrate will be taking us on when we die. We believed that he did, we had some very thin evidence that he did. Shirley said she thought the fire plan was crazy, but went along with it anyway. I cant give the Olveys back a peace of mind. Mark Leonard was the first to go on trial. You were a mom. 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. Shirley told jurors he lost a number of things in the explosion, including a collection of tennis rackets and a drafting table. In an interview with former RTV6 reporter Stacia Matthews, Shirley suggested the explosion may have been an attempt on her life. Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. Not until the following morning, when I went from this job to another job, did I get a text from a friend who thought it might be my house. 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. For years, the team holed up in that office three days a week to avoid being distracted by other ongoing cases. Thompson left after a few hours and Shirley didn't hear anything else before the first attempt that Saturday. "I was at one of my part-time jobs when I got a text from my daughter, which was very unusual. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." For one: She had earned a reputation as a master liar, as Mark Leonards defense team would later call her. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. 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. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. Shirley's daughterwent with them in Leonard's Cadillac. Leonard asked Holts to tell the story of his own fire, how easily he'd gotten the money and to re-assure Shirley everything would be alright if they did it at her house. Somebody knew that I was out of town. SOUTH BEND, Ind. They'd soon get a new roommate. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. Neighbors, family testify in sentencing hearing of Monserrate Shirley, owner of the home. No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. Thompson arrived on Monday or Tuesday, October 22-23, while Shirley's daughter was at school. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. "That cannot be real. Shirley says he was working at Eli Lilly at the time, and Monserrate was working as an RN at the VA hospital. They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. 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. Her earliest possible release date is December 19, 2037when she will be 72 years old. Prosecuting Mark Leonard presented with some challenges. Bad food, non-first class flights drop Colts to middle-of-pack in player survey. Thompson returned to their home to plan their next attempt. Their funeral was held earlier today. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its . "Two innocent people died because of this!" Shirley said she was attracted to Mark Leonard, particularly noting he was well-dressed and had bleach blonde hair. Jurors will later hear that the golf bags and clubs were found at Bob Leonard's home after the explosion. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. I dont know why they did it. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. Leonard got sick in March 2012. She remained in the house as the sole owner until the explosion. He says the log lighter worked fine when he lived there. 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. As of summer 2022 the show has aired sixteen . Deputy prosecutor Denise Robinson returned from prosecuting the Richmond Hill cases to a pile of homicides waiting on her desk. But their arrests wereonly the beginning of years of work to put them behind bars for good. The jury found 46-year-old Mark Leonard guilty of all counts against him, including murder and felony murder. FORT WAYNE, Ind. According to Shirley, he said the house fire would happen, "even if I have to step in the living room and light up this house myself.". Its because the life of the game itself is the life of the game itself. 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. Although prosecutors didnt need their blessing to go ahead with the plea, Robinson said they felt it was important to tell the residents as much as they could. Leonardwas placed under "imminent death watch" earlier this week. "Cases are made up of hurdles all the time," Robinson said Wednesday. 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. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard. Im thankful for my trial team for sticking with me. She testified Wednesday she has a condition that prevents her tear ducts from actually producing tears. To see the faces of the neighborhood people and the sense of relief and calmness when the verdicts came in was a good thing, Garza said. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Did you see her on TV a few days later? His defense team admitted that the blaze had been intentionally set, but told jurors it was only intended to be a small fire and that murder was never his intention. I said OK, she said. Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. "I mean, I'm totally devastated like my neighbors are.". And you have to weigh that out? Prosecutors alleged that the natural gas explosion was intentionally set to collect insurance money. Shirley spent hours on the stand. The next time, Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonards brother, Bob, was supposed to carry out the plan. She took care of all three. [1] Thirty-three homes were damaged severely enough to require demolition. [20] The trials started in 2015. The sentence accounts for time served and good. The human toll is harder to estimate. If I could bring Dion and Jennifer back, I would do that in a heartbeat, she said. 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. 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. 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. It was never no for an answer. "No one deserves what happened," she said. "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. She came into the courtroom looking much different than she did the weekend of the explosion in 2012. 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. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. Leonard died around 9:15. I did my best. arranged for her daughter to stay . At the trial I had firefighters crying on the stand. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. Carter would testify that her emotions and demeanor seemed normal at the time, for someone whose house had just blown up.
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