monserrate shirley daughter

And I understand it, because of their feelings about her. She didnt know anyone died, she said. Thompson arrived on Monday or Tuesday, October 22-23, while Shirley's daughter was at school. Prosecutors ended by asking Shirley if the Longworths or any of her other neighbors deserved what happened. Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. They moved into a home they built in Richmond Hill toward the end of 2003. [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". She still wiped under her eyes with a tissue several times while she was on the stand. After he was done, the fireplace worked properly and they never smelled any gas inside the home because of it. . Many people may remember Shirley giving an interview to the media, including WISH-TV, after the explosion. I had to know I could make this case based on the evidence I had.. Defense attorneys tried to play that video for jurors Wednesday, but the judge wouldnt allow it. This has to be done, Shirley testified. "You can't even do a fire. ", Minch: "You've had problems over the years with the furnace and the water heater. Mark Leonards trial at the St. Joseph County Courthouse was eventful before it even started. 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. After speaking with detectives, they went to Mark's sister's home, where they spent the night. 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. They agreed to say they'd been having trouble with the thermostat and smelling gas for a while. 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. At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. Four years after Richmond Hill explosion, Monserrate Shirley to be Shirley said she has a condition with her tear ducts that makes her unable to produce tears, so people dont think Im crying for real.. Thirty-three homes were damaged so severely they were deemed unrecoverable, and had to be torn down to the foundation. Its been around since the late 80s, but Im sure well find more of it on our own site. I want everyone to know how sorry I am for this horrible tragedy, she said in court in front of Richmond Hill residents. 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. And I wanted to be able to tell them everything., TRANSCRIPT | The full testimony of Monserrate Shirley. 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. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Her earliest possible release date is December 19, 2037when she will be 72 years old. Shirley had heard of Bob before, but had not met him before he came over Thursday, November 1. Woman agrees to testify against others in Indianapolis house explosion She told her daughter a friend had taken it to put a new frame on it. But she put an end to that in August 2011.". Richmond Hill Explosion - indyencyclopedia.org Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. John moved out in February 2010 and their divorce was finalized that summer. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Mark Leonard was the first to go on trial. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. Shirley struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. She continued handling some of Marion Countys most heinous crimes until January 2017, when her former boss, then-Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill, called her up and asked her to join him at the Indiana Statehouse, where he had just been elected attorney general. Mark Leonard first mentioned trying to burn the house down in February 2012, according to Shirley. 2023 CIRCLE CITY BROADCASTING I, LLC. The man he called was actually an undercover agent. 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. She told them she didn't want anything to do with them anymore. But these were good defense attorneys. . 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 says sometimes strong winds would blow out the pilot light when someone opened the garage door. She said Leonard had bought it a few months beforehand at that point. Shirley's daughterwent with them in Leonard's Cadillac. Shirley says he replaced the thermostat "so there were more options to heat the house during the day.". Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. Ultimately, she could end up serving 21 years if she maintains good behavior in prison. 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. wikipedia.en/Richmond_Hill_explosion.md at main - github.com Get caught up on the first two chapters here:Chapter I: The Night the Sky Caught Fire|Chapter II: The $4 Million Arson Plot. In addition to his roofing business, Mastercraft, Leonard also flipped cars on the side. She told him the attempt didnt work but that there would be another attempt. But Im not allowed to say that. 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 I care about people. The first time Shirley cried on the stand Wednesday was when she was asked about her neighbors. 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. Shirley: "No.". 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. Shirley: "Yes. FORT WAYNE, Ind. Monserrate Shirley leaves court after learning her sentence. She was able to take that to the prosecutor and get a protective order against me. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. Mark started telling Shirley they needed to get their stories straight before police started asking questions. [6] She transferred from her job in Michigan to the VA hospital in Indianapolis, where she worked for 17 years, focusing in the ICU. After the first failure, Leonard decided he also wanted to bring in his half-brother, Bob. John did all the maintenance on the home - she never did any. Today, Snowball, a white Persian cat, is in the care of John Shirley, Monserrate's ex-husband. On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. At least half a dozen marriages in the Richmond Hill neighborhood ended in divorce in the years immediately following the blast. She testified Wednesday she has a condition that prevents her tear ducts from actually producing tears. At 11:11 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2012, a two-story home on the south side of Indianapolis exploded with the force of as much as 5 tons of TNT. 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. 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 was ordered to serve out her sentence at the Indiana Womens Prison in Indianapolis. she said. 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. Should I have accepted that stipulation? Shirley told her daughternot to come back to the house for any reason, though she didn't explain why not. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. 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. With good behavior, her earliest possible release date is Dec. 19, 2032. The case was expected to be the largest and most expensive trial in Marion County history. monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. When we got in this case, we were asked to save her life, said defense attorney James Voyles. 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. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. "I moved out in February of 2011," he said. I dont know why they did it. 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. 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. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. [6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. 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. Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Then there was the question of Leonards history. 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. Monserrate Shirley detailed the multiple attempts made to set the house on fire prior to the explosion that leveled the home. Robinson also couldnt tell the residents that Shirleys cooperation would mean charges against two more suspects: Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults. Saturday morning, they headed to the casino and Mark played a blackjack table, then they went to the bar and sat, waiting to get the phone call their home had caught fire. "I feel like, you know, it would have been better off for me to be there [at the house when it exploded]," Shirley said. I didnt give it any credibility. Shirley: "She wanted us to live in a bigger house. More than one-third of the families who lived in the neighborhood on the night of the blast have since moved away for good. Their first trip together was to the Hollywood Casino roughly 3-4 months after they first met. And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. Powerball winner sold in central Indiana! 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. "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. They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. Im telling the truth and nothing but the truth was a phrase repeated by Monserrate Shirley throughout the day. Shirley wasnt a suspect at the time, and the interview was a routine one. Heappears to have died of natural causes. The sentence accounts for time served and good time credit. Shirley: "No. Hults and his then-fiance babysat Shirley's daughter on the night of the explosion. 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. She was wearing a jail jumpsuit, was shackled and her hair had grown long, dark and curly.IM TELLING THE TRUTH. Both the prosecution and defense attorneys asked Shirley if she thought Hults was joking.

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