A jury convicted Mark Leonard of murder for conceiving of and executing the explosion of his girlfriend's house, which killed a couple living next door and caused devastation worth more than $4 million in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Fox 59 reports.
Leonard also received guilty verdicts on one count of insurance fraud, two counts of arson conspiracy, 12 counts of arson with bodily injury and 34 counts of arson without bodily injury, according to NBC News.
"Once I heard 'count one: guilty,' I had every confidence the rest of them would follow along in line. Given the nature of the evidence, if they convict on murder count one, the others should fall like dominoes," deputy prosecutor Mark Hollingsworth said, according to Fox 59.
"Today's verdict confirms what investigators realized from almost day one - that the explosion which occurred on November 10 was a senseless, criminal act which resulted in the horrific deaths of Dion and Jennifer Longworth, injury to dozens of others, unparalleled property destruction, and the loss of a sense of safety and security for all residents of that neighborhood," Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said in a statement.
Terry added that the conviction of Leonard and the guilty plea of Shirley allowed the prosecution to take "two significant steps in realizing the justice we have pledged from day one for the Richmond Hill residents," Fox 59 reports.
Prosecutors said Leonard plotted the house explosion with live-in girlfriend Monserrate Shirley, owner of the house, and his brother Bob Leonard, for $300,000 worth of insurance. He had previously attempted - unsuccessfully - twice to burn down the house, according to U.S. News & World Report.
To make sure his third attempt didn't fail, he removed gas safety valves to let natural gas fill the house and poured gasoline inside two rooms. He then ignited the explosion by placing a metal canister in a microwave that had a delayed timer.
