monserrate shirley daughter

I always get the money.". Except her cat, the clothes on her back and a teddy bear she got when she was 1. Shirley told jurors he lost a number of things in the explosion, including a collection of tennis rackets and a drafting table. 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? I got upset with her and sent her some derogatory texts. Thirty-three homes were damaged so severely they were deemed unrecoverable, and had to be torn down to the foundation. Much of the attention since the explosion has centered on Monserrate Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard, who lived at the house in the center of the blast area. She and her daughterwent to the hotel, where Mark later joined them. The defense team started their cross-examination by establishing Shirley's ability to make life-and-death decisions in high-pressure situations while a charge nurse in the ICU. She was wearing a jail jumpsuit, was shackled and her hair had grown long, dark and curly.IM TELLING THE TRUTH. [7], An investigation involving the Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Indianapolis Fire Department was begun. 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. They should go to jail. She was the one who got her daughter and her cat out of the situation and left her neighbors in the situation. Get caught up on the first two chapters here:Chapter I: The Night the Sky Caught Fire|Chapter II: The $4 Million Arson Plot. "It's like waking up to this bad dream," Shirley said, her voice cracking as tears flowed down her cheeks. And that, Im sure, will never change.. He was going to bring Thompson to their house so she could say she was okay to move forward, too. Leonard told him Shirley was ready and she agreed. I know it caught us by surprise and we had to react to it.. 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. 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. She was an RN for more than 20 years, starting her career in Michigan where she attended college, before moving to Indianapolis after her then-husband John Shirley got a job offer there. 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. 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. They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. (They were) my neighbors for a very long time since we built the house, Shirley said. He said that his daughter had mentioned that the furnace wasn't . 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 Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. Your email address will not be published. [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. On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . 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. The sentence accounts for time served and good time credit. I tried to ignore Mark Leonards history as much as I could, Robinson said. [27], Mark Leonard's trial began in June 2015. She died at age 85 in 2014, but Shirley Temple's childrenand fans gathered in LA on Monday, April 23 to celebrate what would have been her 90th birthday. And I wanted to be able to tell them everything., TRANSCRIPT | The full testimony of Monserrate Shirley. 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. Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. Shirley recalled a later conversation that she had with Bob and Mark Leonard, after the explosion. Shirley alleged that Hults initially came up with the idea. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." Robert Leonard, who was convicted of murder and multiple felonies, was sentenced to life without parole. ", Minch: "You've had problems over the years with the furnace and the water heater. 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. The next time, Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonards brother, Bob, was supposed to carry out the plan. ", 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]. "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.". In addition to his roofing business, Mastercraft, Leonard also flipped cars on the side. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. . She said he also told her not to worry because he took out the step-down valve on the gas line, "and put it away where no one else would ever find it. How to fix pii_email_029231e8462fca76041e Error Code? Shirley says he was worried Brook's cat Snowball was in the house and might have been killed. But Im not allowed to say that. When we got in this case, we were asked to save her life, said defense attorney James Voyles. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. He said that his daughter had mentioned that the furnace wasn't working, and he wondered whether a gas leak ignited the blast. Shirley wasnt a suspect at the time, and the interview was a routine one. At one point you replaced the thermostat." 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. Leonard later tried telling Shirley that the only reason Holts wouldn't talk about his own fire was because he didn't want Leonard to end up with more money than he had. Or that, because it was her first serious offense, a judge could eventually decide to suspend some or all of that sentence. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Of the dozens and dozens of homes damaged by the blast, 33 were affected so severely they had to be demolished. [22], On January 16, 2015, Shirley agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. She wanted to put it on her plate. When they arrived, Mark told her the fire would happen Saturday night so she needed to ask to keep their room a second night (Saturday night). They decided to cut a piece of cardboard to block off the chimney path. She gave it to him, and he used it to pay Bob. Today, Snowball, a white Persian cat, is in the care of John Shirley, Monserrate's ex-husband. But she had no hesitation when asked to identify the Longworths as her neighbors. Jeffrey Wager and IMPD investigators, Lt. Mario Garza and IFD investigators, agents of the Federal ATF, and our trial team for their commitment and perseverance to bring justice for the Richmond Hill residents.. "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. Example video title will go here for this video. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Shirley: "She wanted us to live in a bigger house. We are sure to have a lot more weird coincidences in the next few days, but this one is pretty crazy. [20] The trials started in 2015. No one deserved what happened. "No one.". Many Git commands accept both tag and branch names, so creating this branch may cause unexpected behavior. BREAKING: By a vote of 24-38, New York's State Senate has voted against same-sex marriage legislation. Residents, particularly the younger ones, report experiencing continued psychological trauma from the incident. Shirley's daughterwent with them in Leonard's Cadillac. Shirley said she thought the fire plan was crazy, but went along with it anyway. The original posters source was a little bit of a weird little coincidence, but the name was still alive and well. She still qualifies as a practicing nurse. 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. ", Minch: "You said you talked to Ms. Shirley on the 11th. 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. She then got food for them both and went back to the room around midnight. Attorneys walked Shirley through a number of conversations she had with Mark Leonard from the time they met until the house exploded. She remained in the house as the sole owner until the explosion. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. And the water heater." 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. | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. She and Mark then gassed up her car and drove to the casino. 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 was the nurse. Follow his reporting on Twitter at @Jordan_RTV6 or on Facebook. 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. For Lt. Mario Garza, the Indianapolis Fire Department veteran tasked with leading the arson investigation, the Richmond Hill explosion will likely be the most significant challenge of his career. It wasnt the only curveball Black and Shircliff would throw at the prosecution. Police became suspicious when they uncovered evidence that the couple had taken similar steps the previous weekend; the cat had been boarded and Shirley's daughter had been placed with a babysitter overnight before the couple went to the casino. Monserrate worked Friday, November 9. Prosecutors started by addressing her plea agreement. [6] One year of his sentences wassuspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. So you do get concerned about, will they see the arsons? I have morals.I love my patients and I would do anything for them. But while he was living in the home, the only problem he had with its gas appliances the furnace, water heater and fireplace was that their pilot lights would sometimes go out when a draft blew in from an open garage door. Follow her on Twitter:@hollyvhays. The meeting was difficult for me because I couldnt ethically tell them everything, Robinson said. While Shirley said he lost a lot, he pointed out the toll was much greater on his then-13-year-old daughter Brook. No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. You're done.". [38], Gary Thompson pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. Would you describe her demeanor the same way?" Robinson could not tell them, for example, that Shirley would be facing a sentencing range of 20-50 years in prison. Monserrate Shirley was ordered to serve out her sentence at the Indiana Womens Prison in Indianapolis. 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. But I dont feel bad for the deceased.. "I have everybody telling me stuff that they said on the TV," she said. The man he called was actually an undercover agent. Their funeral was held earlier today. I did my best. [The residents] clearly knew the Leonards were the bad actors, and that we needed to do everything we could to get to them, Robinson said. The problem was that none of that criminal history would be admissible at trial. It had three gas appliances - the water heater, the furnace and the fireplace. Prosecutors entered all three into evidence Tuesday. . They went to the casino and waited for the call that a fire had broken out, but again, the call never came. 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. [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. 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. "You face one, you get over one and you've got another one all the way until the end. 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. Again, she said, "Because I was not able to tell him 'no'." 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. Robinson says she didnt expect anything to change. After the first failure, Leonard decided he also wanted to bring in his half-brother, Bob. 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. Hed also been previously accused of insurance fraud in connection with a car accident. Shirley said she has been reeling from the pain of people blaming her for the tragic event. The truth is, I was scared.. 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). 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. Mark Leonard first mentioned trying to burn the house down in February 2012, according to Shirley. Its about not letting the person who was watching your game die ever have a say in your game. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. But ultimately I think we were able to accomplish what we needed to do for her.. (WISH) - Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. All I can say is, I had one small role in this. Snapped: Killer Couples (known as Killer Couples from seasons 7 to 15) is an American true crime television series currently airing on the Oxygen Network.The program details couples who commit crimes together. 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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