Authorities: Indy home explosion investigated as homicide
Emergency personnel work at the site of a home that was destroyed by an explosion Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012, in Indianapolis. Nearly three dozen homes were damaged or destroyed, and seven people were taken to a hospital with injuries, authorities said Sunday. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away. / AP Photo/Darron Cummings
Updated 9:13 p.m. ET
INDIANAPOLIS Authorities launched a homicide investigation Monday into the house explosion that killed a young couple and left numerous homes uninhabitable in an Indianapolis neighborhood.
Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons made the announcement after meeting with residents of the subdivision where the Nov. 10 blast occurred and shortly after funerals were held for the two victims, who lived next door to the house where investigators believe the explosion originated.
"We are turning this into a criminal homicide investigation," Coons said, marking the first time investigators have called the case criminal.
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Search warrants are being executed and official are looking for a white van that was seen in the subdivision on the day of the blast, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said. Authorities are offering at least a $10,000 reward.
Curry said the investigation is aimed at "determining if there are individuals who may be responsible for this explosion and fire."
Neither he nor Coons took questions or indicated if they had any suspects. No arrests have been made.
Officials have said they believe natural gas was involved in the explosion, which destroyed five homes and left dozens damaged, some heavily. Damage has been estimated at $4.4 million.
Investigators have been focusing on appliances as they search for a cause of the explosion.
Hundreds of people attended the funerals earlier Monday for the couple killed in the explosion, 34-year-old John Dion Longworth and 36-year-old Jennifer Longworth. She was a teacher remembered for knitting gifts for her students, while her husband, an electronics expert, was known as a gardener and nature lover.
Explosion destroys homes in Indiana
CBS Indianapolis affiliate WISH-TV reported the crowd at the funeral was so big that cars overflowed the church parking lot and lined up bumper-to-bumper in surrounding streets.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard spoke at the news conference and said he went to the Longworths' funeral and had a hard time coming to peace with what had happened.
"There is a search for truth and there is a search for justice," Ballard said.
The couple lived next door to the house where investigators are focusing. The co-owner of that house, John Shirley, told The Associated Press he had received a text message from his daughter recently saying the furnace in the home, which she shares with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, had gone out.
Shirley's ex-wife, Monserrate Shirley, said her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, had replaced the thermostat recently and the furnace had resumed working.
The couple was away at a casino at the time of the blast. The daughter was staying with a friend, and the family's cat was being boarded.
Monserrate Shirley's attorney, Randall Cable, declined comment on the announcement Monday evening.
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Homicides are not solely premeditated but can come in different forms. And labeling it so openly works in the favor in investigators to rattle those involved.
But I agree there is a lot of information but not much follow up by the report.
The couple have nothing in their biography to suggest there's any motive for such a sensational homicide. There are no connections to the Albanian Mafia.
The reason the furnace pilot light went out in the neighboring home is because there was no gas in the line that connects to the neighbor's house. That's because of the leak that spewed natural gas into the soil. There, it's noxious odor was filtered out, and then it spread through the ground until it found a basement with a leak in the wall, such as a basement that floods in heavy rain.
There's no homicide. The couple were in the basement trying to figure out why their own pilot light went out. Someone lit a match and the odorless gas that seeped in from the soil through the crack exploded.
Look, there is one and only one question here... why is the jury going to award the billion dollars? The public has already decided the question and the amount, they just some lawyers to give them the legal mumbo-jumbo to rest their decision upon. Dwelling dwellers are very harsh on public utility gas companies that blow up other dwelling dwellers.
Maybe the gas company can say the homebuilder is also at fault since the gas would have never leaked into the basement if the basement had been sealed properly. If you can't escape the defense table, get someone else at it with you.
My guess is the insurance company got finished testing out the gas valve and reported that the valve was functioning properly and that there is no evidence of a gas leak. People don't understand how incredibly overdesigned gas lines are in a home. Unless you do something to them, they simply just don't start leaking. The gas pipes could easily survive the explosion with their joints intact and it wouldn't take much observation to figure out there was no leaks.
And with the house being on the market for a year then withdrawn - a major asset like that tied up in a divorce settlement that both parties want to cash out - there's plenty of motive to burn it down for the insurance money. Likely they had no idea how dangerous a gas explosion is.
Don't be surprised if you read in a month that Mark is charged with murder and arson and property destruction, followed by him turning states witness against John and Monserrate.
Unless of course your a politician.