Richmond Hill firefighter: 'I would've risked everything' to save the Longworths

SOUTH BEND - Two veteran firefighters choked on their words, trying to describe the Richmond Hill subdivision as it burned one fall night in November 2012.

A man living nearby, who rushed to the neighborhood to help, paused several times as he talked about "ground zero."

In between gripping testimony Tuesday in the trial of Mark Leonard, who authorities believe is responsible for the explosion that resulted in two deaths and hours of chaos in the neighborhood on Indianapolis' Southeastside, a 10-minute audio of firefighters talking to each other on their radios was played for the jury.

"We've got a man trapped in the back! We need hoses back in now so we can get him now!"

"In the basement and on the second floor … 8355 Fieldfare Way, we have two people trapped in the residence."

Tuesday's testimony from first responders and Richmond Hill residents in a St. Joseph County courtroom painted a vivid picture of the chaotic aftermath of the Nov. 10, 2012, explosion that killed two people, injured a dozen others and damaged or destroyed more than 80 homes.

Listening to witnesses describe that night is a family sitting in the second row of the courtroom gallery. Their loved one, John "Dion" Longworth, and his wife, Jennifer, both of 8355 Fieldfare Way, were killed in the explosion. They all wore yellow — Dion's favorite color. His father, John Longworth, wore a bright blue and yellow tie that Dion had given him.

First to testify is the first firefighter on scene, Lt. Russell Futrell of Indianapolis Fire Department Station 63, less than a mile from the explosion's epicenter. He was on a 24-hour shift at the station and had just fallen asleep when the blast woke him up. Looking out the window of the firehouse, he saw a large plume of smoke and debris. He thought a plane had crashed at nearby Greenwood Municipal Airport.

"At that point, I realized that it was going to be a long night," Futrell said in court.

He went to the PA system, hit the button and said, "Engine crew, let's roll."

Futrell and his team arrived at Richmond Hill and found several people walking the sidewalk in their pajamas. They motioned him and other first responders to the site. With his crews on board, he drove the firetruck toward Fieldfare Way. What he saw, he said, was unlike anything he'd ever seen in 25 years as a firefighter — and one he'll remember for the rest of his life.

Amid a field of burning debris that once was 8349 Fieldfare Way were only a vehicle and a motorcycle. He realized that a house was once there and it had been leveled. Futrell then went to the Longworths' home next door.

"I opened the door, stepped in a few steps ... yelled, no response," Futrell said.

Futrell stepped back out. He said he could not risk the lives of his crew by getting into the house without knowing for sure that someone was inside. He would later find out that two people were, and they did not make it out alive.

"If I had known that, I would've risked everything to get inside there," he said, his voice breaking.

Battalion Chief Mark Culver was there, too. He paused several times — and for long moments — as he tried to describe the effort to save Dion Longworth, who died a torturous death trapped in the rubble of his home. Jennifer died instantly.

"My guys were as close as they could get," Culver said. "We're trying to get equipment in the back to get him out."

But before Futrell, Culver and others arrived, Frank Hiatt, who lives nearby, had already made it to Richmond Hill.

Hiatt said he was outside his garage when he saw a huge flash of light and felt a "percussive energy" that sent him to the ground. As he ran to the origin of the blast — what he called "ground zero" — he said he smelled gas in the air. When he got to Fieldfare Way, he saw only a small fire and heard nothing but silence.

"I go there to help," Hiatt said. "There's nobody physically needing help."

Later, people began coming out of their homes. The small fire grew, spreading to nearby houses.

In the moments immediately after the explosion, an emergency dispatcher reported hundreds of calls to 911 from people making a confusing array of reports. A long audio of several of those calls was played in court.

Calls came from around the city, including more than 15 miles away in Cumberland. But most originated from the Southeastside, near the blast, from people reporting that their homes shook and their windows were broken. One caller said her home had been hit by a car.

Yet many callers were confused, not knowing what to report and asking the dispatcher what was going on. Dispatchers were initially at a loss what to tell the callers, other than that help was on the way.

"I'm scared and I live alone," one caller said. "What do I need to do?"

"I've never heard anything like this," another said. "It's heavy and deep and loud."

Standing outside the courtroom during a brief break, Dion's aunt, Pam Longworth, hugged her brother, who was in tears after hearing the early testimony.

Mark Leonard, dressed in a suit and tie, appeared to be listening intently to testimony, often with fingers pressed into his left cheek. He is facing 53 felony charges, including murder, arson, conspiracy to commit arson and insurance fraud for the fatal explosion. He faces life imprisonment without parole.

Prosecutors allege that Leonard; his half brother, Robert Leonard Jr.; his former girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley; and his former employee Gary Thompson conspired to blow up Shirley's Richmond Hill home at 8349 Fieldfare Way to collect about $300,000 in insurance money. The day of the explosion, prosecutors say, the home was filled with natural gas and ignited with a timing device on a microwave. A fifth suspect, Glenn Hults, was accused of knowing about the scheme months before the blast.

One of the first hints that the blast was a gas explosion came from a young woman who approached Futrell. The firefighter said the woman told him she had smelled gas the day before.

Doug Aldridge, Richmond Hill's crime watch coordinator, testified Tuesday that on the night of the explosion, he saw Mark Leonard and Shirley at nearby Mary Bryan Elementary School, where 200 people had been evacuated.

He said Shirley asked what happened.

"Your house blew up," Aldridge's wife told Shirley, according to Aldridge.

Public defender David Shircliff then questioned Aldridge about what he thinks of Shirley's credibility. Shortly after the blast and before she became a suspect, Shirley spoke with The Indianapolis Star and other media outlets about her loss. Two years later, she accepted a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for her testimony.

"I think she lied to us at the very beginning," Aldridge said.

The trial, which was moved to St. Joseph County over concern about pretrial publicity, is expected to take up to six weeks. The prosecution opened Monday by alleging the crime was motivated by greed and money. The defense, meanwhile, said the explosion was the result of "a stupid and selfish insurance fraud that went horribly wrong."

Prosecutors say the suspects were desperate for money because of mounting gambling, credit card and mortgage debts.

Additional Richmond Hill residents are expected to testify this week. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter:@kristine_guerra.