Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced Dec. 20 that Monserrate Shirley was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her role in the Richmond Hill explosion. She was the fourth conspirator sentenced.
Shirley, her then-boyfriend Mark Leonard, his brother Bob Leonard Jr., Gary Thompson and Glenn Hults conspired to and ultimately blew up the Shirley household on the south side of the Richmond Hill neighborhood on Nov. 10, 2012, in an attempt to claim insurance money.
The explosion injured seven and killed Jennifer and John “Dion” Longworth.
Back then, Roncalli High School history teacher Pat Crosley told the Southside Times he felt lucky to be alive. His home suffered severe damage, but no one was home at the time. He was at the St. Jude Reverse Raffle and his kids were away at sleepovers.
“Our kids were staying the night with friends, and I would have been in my recliner watching the news at the time of the explosion, so we were fortunate because it could have been worse,” he said.
“This is totally unbelievable,” Don Buxton, Jennifer’s father, told the Southside Times two years later. “We’ll wake up in the morning, we still can’t believe it. You still expect a phone call, something. That first year we went through in shock, just doing everything. Then you realize this is the way it is and you have to adjust to the new normal.”
Soon after the explosion, Southwest Elementary School dedicated a new media center to Jennifer and placed a plaque at the site. She taught at the school for 12 years. It also established a scholarship in her honor.
Curry said he was aware that nothing his team could do, despite tens of thousands of hours of effort, would do away with the grief the victims felt.
“In spite of the fact that we talk to families constantly, I really acknowledge we can never begin to comprehend the grief and anger individuals must feel from experiencing a loss of a loved one in a violent crime like this,” he said.
He added that he feels sorry for Shirley’s daughter because she was a victim, too. Shirley’s “horrible decisions” have led to her daughter losing her.
The last sentence in connection with the explosion was handed down to Hults on Dec. 28. Mark Leonard and Bob Leonard Jr. each received life sentences without parole. Gary Thompson received 20 years.
“No one involved in this investigation or prosecution will forget the stories of this tragedy and the continuing fear and trauma that it has caused survivors,” Curry said.
Originally published in Southside Times, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.