Richmond Hill explosion mastermind Mark Leonard dies

Mark Leonard, the man considered the mastermind behind the 2012 Richmond Hill neighborhood explosion that killed two people and wounded at least a dozen others, is dead.

Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital, according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. He appears to have died of natural causes.

Leonard was being held at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility but was transferred to the hospital several days ago.

“I don’t feel bad for Mr. Leonard,” said Don Buxton, father of Jennifer Longworth, who was killed in the blast with her husband, Dion. “I certainly might feel bad for his family. I don’t wish them any hardship. But I don’t feel bad for the deceased.”

Leonard’s death doesn’t change the fact that Jennifer and Dion died, Buxton said. The family, he said, will never truly get closure.

“At the end of the day, we still miss her and him, Dion, as much as ever,” Buxton said. “And that, I’m sure, will never change.”

An autopsy will be conducted by the Marion County coroner's office Wednesday, according to the DOC. Leonard was placed under "imminent death watch" earlier this week. Officials did not release further information regarding his death. 

Leonard was at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Sullivan County serving two life sentences for his role in the explosion that rocked the southeast-side neighborhood that destroyed five homes and damaged more than 80 others.

Leonard, his ex-girlfriend Monserrate Shirley, his half-brother Robert Leonard and Mark Leonard’s former employee blew up Shirley’s home in the Richmond Hill subdivision to collect about $300,000 in insurance money to pay off the house’s mortgage and Mark Leonard’s gambling and credit card debts.

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The group researched methods of how to destroy the home and made more than one attempt at doing so before succeeding, authorities said. But the plan went horribly awry when a vast amount of natural gas had built up in the home before something set inside a microwave oven ignited the blaze. 

Mark Leonard was convicted in 2015 of two counts of murder as well as a litany of other charges, including multiple counts of arson and conspiracy to commit arson. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison on the arson charges on top of two life sentences for the murder charges.

At sentencing, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge John Marnocha said Leonard demonstrated a “sheer indifference for the safety of others.”

“The motivation here is greed,” Marnocha said. “And I think when the motivation is that, what we have is a person ... who is the worst of the worst.”

In 2017, Leonard was convicted and received an additional 50-year sentence in a murder-for-hire scheme authorities say he concocted from jail after his arrest.

Prosecutors said Leonard planned to pay a person he thought was a hit man $15,000, giving him a $5,000 bonus if a witness in the case called police to say he had lied about information he had given investigators.

That hit man was later revealed to be an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Shirley struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Robert Leonard, who was convicted of murder and multiple felonies, was sentenced to life without parole.

Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. 

Glenn Hults, a friend of Leonard's who said he knew about the plot beforehand but didn't call police, was sentenced to three years. One year of his sentences was suspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. 

IndyStar reporter Robert King contributed to this story. 

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.