Murders of Dion and Jennifer Longworth

Shortly after 11 p.m. on November 10, 2012, a natural gas explosion destroyed the house at 8349 Fieldfare Way in the Richmond Hill subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. Investigators later put the force of the blast at roughly three tons of TNT, and more than 80 homes in the neighborhood were damaged or destroyed.

The house next door belonged to John "Dion" Longworth, 34, and his wife, Jennifer Longworth, 36. It was reduced to rubble. Jennifer Longworth was in an upstairs bedroom and died of blast injuries. Dion Longworth survived the initial explosion trapped in the basement and was able to talk to people nearby, but firefighters were forced back as the fire grew, and he died in the flames. Both had to be identified through dental records.

The destroyed house belonged to Monserrate Shirley, who lived there with her boyfriend, Mark Leonard. According to the trial record summarized by the Indiana Supreme Court, Mark Leonard suggested raising the home's contents insurance from $150,000 to $300,000 and then proposed burning the house to collect the proceeds. Attempts in late October and early November 2012 failed. Over the following days Mark Leonard and his half-brother Bob Leonard sealed parts of the house and researched how natural gas fills a building, while Shirley and Mark Leonard arranged to be away at a casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the night of the blast.

Mark Leonard was tried in South Bend after a change of venue. On July 14, 2015, a jury convicted him of all 53 counts against him, including two counts of murder, two of felony murder, arson and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole plus 75 years, and died in custody at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in January 2018.

Bob Leonard was convicted on February 24, 2016, of two counts of knowing murder, conspiracy to commit arson and dozens of arson counts. He was sentenced to consecutive life terms without parole plus further terms of years, and on August 10, 2017, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences.

Shirley pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson under an agreement to testify, and on December 20, 2016, was sentenced to 50 years. Gary Thompson, who had originally faced two murder counts, pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiracy to commit arson resulting in serious bodily injury under an agreement setting a 30-year sentence with 10 years suspended. Glenn Hults pleaded guilty to assisting a criminal and received a three-year sentence; he was the last of the five defendants to be sentenced.

The Longworths were the only people killed. Their home and dozens of their neighbors' houses were lost in a blast that the courts found was set to collect an insurance payout.