UPDATED: Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry and Indianapolis' Homeland Security Chief Gary Coons held a press conference tonigt a little more than a week following that deadly southside blast that killed a couple inside their home in the Richmond Hill subdivision when the explosion at a neighboring home occurred. Curry has confirmed the investigation is now a criminal investigation, and that numerous persons have been interviewed and a number of search warrants have been executed. Investigators are seeking information on a white van seen in the neighborhood on the night of the explosion. Investigators have reportedly impounded a white van suspected of being connected to the blast. The ATF is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest and conviction, and Crime Stoppers is offering an additional $1,000 reward.
Days after the blast occurred, a source told Advance Indiana that investigators were trying to determine if a gas-fueled appliance, such as the home's gas fireplace within the home owned by Monserrate Shirley, had been leaking prior to the exposion with the home's chimney vent closed. The explosion may have been triggered when an appliance within the home kicked on after the home had filled up with a sufficient amount of gas to cause the deadly explosion that totally destroyed three homes and severely damaged others within the Richmond Hill subdivision.
Fox 59 News' Russ McQuaid reports that investigators met this afternoon with Shirley's boyfriend, Mark Leonard. Investigators for State Farm, which insured the home, also questioned Leonard today according to McQuaid. Shirley and Leonard were out-of-town at the Hollywood riverboat casino in Lawrenceburg when Shirley received a call from a neighbor, who was checking on her condition after the explosion. Leonard reportedly owned a white van that has been impounded by investigators. Shirley, who recently divorced her husband, had listed the home for sale earlier this year. According to McQuaid, an attempt by Shirley to sale the home in a short sale fell through after she failed to come up with $30,000. The National Transportation Safety Board earlier ruled out a gas main leak as the cause of the explosion. An attorney for Shirley disputed that finding, claiming that Citizens Energy was trying to shift blame for the explosion to his client.
2 comments:
This news does not surprise anyone...but I wonder why they admitted the obvious.
As for that title, Homeland Security Chief, that needs to go, post haste! The dude is the Director of Emergency Management, he is not a "Chief" and certainly we don't have a need for "Homeland Security" at the city level, just Emergency Management...a planner for these disasters!
-Someone needs to undo the Straubification and take away the title and gun! Why does he have one anyway????
Watch the uncut interview that Channel 6 put on its web site and see that unemployed loser telling the reporter to "I didn't tell you that you can put the camera on me..."
Combine all news reports and you have:
*A person in foreclosure.
*Who stopped making payments to the bankruptcy trustee.
*At a casino (of all places)
*Who boarded the cat for the event.
*An explosion like that NEVER seen before in our country, that was "accidentally" done.
I never heard. Did anyone hear whether autopsies were performed? Apparently certain kinds of explosions leave rather distinctive physical evidence/signs.
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