monserrate shirley daughter

[28] The defense said that what became the Richmond Hill explosion was only supposed to be a "stupid and selfish insurance fraud that went horribly wrong", adding, "Precautions were taken to ensure people weren't harmed." She came into the courtroom looking much different than she did the weekend of the explosion in 2012. 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. "I don't understand it," Shircliff said of the judge's ruling. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. It wasnt the only curveball Black and Shircliff would throw at the prosecution. Required fields are marked *. No one deserved what happened. TRANSCRIPT | Opening statements in the trial of Mark Leonard. I did my best. ", "Richmond Hill explosion suspects to get separate trials", "Attorneys: Change of venue likely in Monserrate Shirley case", "Richmond Hill suspect trial moved to South Bend", "Defendant in deadly Indiana explosion agrees to plea deal", "Richmond Hill trial: Informant says Mark Leonard wanted witness killed", "Home> U.S. Indianapolis House Explosion: Suspect Charged in Murder-for-Hire Plot", "Marion county prosecutor's office asks for life without parole sentences in richmond hill explosion", "Richmond Hill trial to focus on greed and desperation", "Mark Leonard convicted of murder in explosion scheme", "Mark Leonard gets life without parole for Richmond Hill explosion", "Richmond Hill explosion mastermind Mark Leonard dies", "Cause of death of Richmond Hill conspirator Mark Leonard determined", "Richmond Hill explosion culprit Mark Leonard dies at Indy hospital", "Leonard found guilty of all counts in Richmond Hill trial", "Indianapolis man get 2 life sentences in deadly house blast", "Psychologist Says Monserrate Shirley Was Abused as Child, Has 'Dependent Personality Disorder', "Monserrate Shirley sentenced to maximum 50 years in prison", "Gary Thompson sentenced in Richmond Hill explosion after pleading guilty to arson charge", "Glenn Hults sentenced to 3 years in deadly Richmond Hill blast", Affidavit of Probable Cause, Dec. 20, 2012, Affidavit of Probable Cause, April 14, 2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richmond_Hill_explosion&oldid=1133693717, November 2012 crimes in the United States, Articles with incomplete citations from March 2015, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 02:18. The here, in this case, was the knowing murder of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. I worked from the smaller charges to the larger ones to say, Of course its clear he did this, this and this, but heres how you get to here, Robinson said. And that, Im sure, will never change.. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." "No one deserves what happened," she said. ", Holts then asked who would get the money if they went through with it and Mark said, "Of course, me. How to fix pii_email_029231e8462fca76041e Error Code? Holts invited Leonard and Shirley to his friend's house for a pool party in the Geist neighborhood. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. In the game of death, monserrate daughter is the only way to be reunited with the game of life. "I feel like, you know, it would have been better off for me to be there [at the house when it exploded]," Shirley said. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. We've got a few more.". Bob had been asking for his $10,000 payment before the explosion even happened. Monserrate Shirley agreed to testify against Mark Leonard as part of a plea agreement to reduce her potential prison time. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. 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. Shirley said she was attracted to Mark Leonard, particularly noting he was well-dressed and had bleach blonde hair. The stove was electric. At the end of the interview, Carter asked Shirley what should happen to the person responsible for the explosion. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. An autopsy will be conducted by the Marion County coroner's office Wednesday, according to the DOC. She was crying and hysterical and said the house blew up.". Critics have accused Shirley of faking her reaction after the explosion because she seemed upset but never shed a tear. The family, he said, will never truly get closure. Shirley: "No. If I could bring Dion and Jennifer back, I would do that in a heartbeat, she said. He looked over the insurance policy and said she was under-insured so she called the insurance company and doubled her policy from $150,000 to $300,000. 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 . 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. One year of his sentences wassuspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. In fact, they said that at the time she raised her insurance policy to $300,000, she was roughly $300,000 in debt (more than $200K between her two mortgages on top of the bankruptcy settlement left over from her divorce). Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. Mark started telling Shirley they needed to get their stories straight before police started asking questions. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The first attempt was supposed to be carried out by Gary Thompson, but it failed. 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. 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. "They are currently in the process of recovering the appliances from destroyed homes to help determine the cause.". Everything's under control.". 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. [28], Mark Leonard was found guilty on all 53 counts, including murder and felony murder charges, on July 14. She grew up in Puerto Rico with a violently abusive father who would often beat Shirley as well as her siblings and mother. Shirley says they were his. And the game of death is the game of life itself. The jury found 46-year-old Mark Leonard guilty of all counts against him, including murder and felony murder. Having Shirley as a witness came with its own pitfalls, though. And you said she was crying? 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. 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. 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 was upset when she got home that night and saw her nicer digital thermostat sitting on the kitchen island and the new cheaper model on the wall. 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. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. One small job. 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. The next morning, they returned to Indianapolis and saw the house was again still standing so Mark called Bob and told him to meet at a nearby parking lot. Sometimes they would go during the week while her daughterwas at school and leave in enough time to pick her back up. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Dont make that kind of joke, Shirley testified. [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. It was run by the daughter of a famous American actor who was very close to the owner. I cant give the Olveys back a peace of mind. [9], Investigators discovered a number of allegations of insurance fraud and other scams by Leonard prior to the blast, particularly involving stolen or wrecked automobiles. But these were good defense attorneys. The blast killed two people and. So in the end there were a couple of people who were opposed to it, and I respected that. She now faces 20-50 years, though a judge has the right to suspend some, or all of that time. In her sentencing order, Judge Sheila Carlisle repeatedly stressed that Shirley could have stopped the plan at any time but didnt. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. He occasionally worked on those cars at Shirley's home so she saw he had a wide array of tools. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. The case was expected to be the largest and most expensive trial in Marion County history. Many people may remember Shirley giving an interview to the media, including WISH-TV, after the explosion. More than one-third of the families who lived in the neighborhood on the night of the blast have since moved away for good. Shirley had earlier cooperated in providing testimony against alleged co-conspirators but. Shortly thereafter I moved some furniture into the apartment. 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. ", 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?" Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. . [6] Investigators said personal insurance on the home had recently been increased to $300,000. Shirley: "Back in August (2011) she just stopped taking my phone calls and letting me talk to Brook. He says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. The next morning, they went to Bob Leonard's mobile home. FORT WAYNE, Ind. Shirley claims Leonard coerced her involvement, testifying that he threatened her and her daughter. Ms. Shirley ultimately took responsibility for her actions by pleading guilty and provided important information during the investigation. (They were) my neighbors for a very long time since we built the house, Shirley said. I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. [19] Judge Shelia Carlisle rejected the proposal, noting that no Indiana law authorizes the use of concurrent jury trials. She moved to the United States when she was 25. Its a game that only you can play. [1] Thirty-three homes were damaged severely enough to require demolition. Prosecutors alleged Leonard was the mastermind behind the explosion, plotting with his. Prosecutors ask if Shirley was asked by police to identify personal property following the explosion. She went to a bar on the south side of Indianapolis in November 2011 and they immediately noticed each other. [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. "(Whoever is responsible will) have to pay for what they did to me and everybody else," Shirley said in the interview. He says he "was very surprised" to learn Snowball had been boarded on the night of the explosion. 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 . Make I tried to ignore Mark Leonards history as much as I could, Robinson said. On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. 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. He says the log lighter worked fine when he lived there. Shirley: "Yes. At the time her friends called her, Monserrate was at a casino with Mark Leonard. 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. "She lost everything," he said. But didnt the jury need to hear from the residents? It would have shortened the trial a week. "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. The defense certainly offered to stipulate that 60 homes were damaged. Prosecutors alleged that the natural gas explosion was intentionally set to collect insurance money. The two divorced on July 25, 2011. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. Monserrate Shirley is lead into her sentencing hearing in December 2016. 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. And I understand it, because of their feelings about her. 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. Shirley said she has been reeling from the pain of people blaming her for the tragic event. 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. Robinson says she didnt expect anything to change. A class C felony carries 2-8 years. The blast the product of an insurance fraud scheme killed two people and injured dozens of others. Monserrate Shirley, 49, said she became distraught when neighbors telephoned her after the November 2012 explosion and told her that her home was destroyed. No one else was within earshot, so far as she knew. 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. He was sentenced to two life sentences without parole, as well as 70 years from other charges, on March 18, 2016. Defense attorneys later pointed out she allowed him to move in and eventually drive her daughter to school despite knowing he was serving house detention for a DUI charge. 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. 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. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. And you have to weigh that out? 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. The sentence accounts for time served and good. Iwas scared. [28] Prosecutors expected to submit nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence, and potentially call up to 175 witnesses. The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. I didn't do nothing wrong.". He couldn't get a card to play with so she got a card for him and played on his behalf. 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, 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. 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. The group researched methods of how to destroy the home and made more than one attempt at doing so before succeeding, authorities said. Leonard got sick in March 2012. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. [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. And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. To do that, the team moved 80 boxes of documents connected to the case to an office on the east side of Indianapolis. In court Wednesday, she said he turned on the gas, but never lit the fire. Monserrate Shirley, who had initally pleaded not guilty after she and two men were charged in late 2012, appeared Tuesday before a Marion County judge in a courtroom filled with current and. She was the nurse. John moved out in February 2010 and their divorce was finalized that summer. Attorneys walked Shirley through a number of conversations she had with Mark Leonard from the time they met until the house exploded. 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. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. She was 11 years old at that point. Two of those alleged co-conspirators were arrested as a direct result of her cooperation: Gary Thompson and Glenn Holts. I cant give back what was taken from them on November 10. . It had three gas appliances - the water heater, the furnace and the fireplace. Estimates for the total scope of the damage caused by the explosion exceeded $4.5 million. 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. In a deposition before the trial, though, she reported saying, "I'm not doing this. 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. Hed also been previously accused of insurance fraud in connection with a car accident. 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. 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.

Linda Cristal Cause Of Death, Articles M