Love and Greed in the Heartland

At 11:09 p.m. on the night of November 10, 2012, the sleepy Indianapolis neighborhood of Richmond Hill lay quiet, its single road empty, its residents at ease and tucked into their homes for the evening. The air was warm and balmy, cooling off after a beautiful day. Muffled chatter from the televised college football game drifted out from neighbors’ illuminated windows.

At 11:10 p.m. a blast that shook homes up to five miles away shattered this scene. In the following minutes and hours, a sudden inferno consumed houses and lives, and devastated the neighborhood’s sense of security. Meanwhile, some 90 miles southeast of the explosion that ripped through their community and leveled their own house, Monserrate Shirley and her lover, Mark Leonard, relaxed at the Hollywood Casino.

Love and Greed in the Heartland is the story of simple insurance fraud gone terribly wrong. On that night, what was meant to be a small fire mushroomed into a major explosion that laid waste to more than 80 houses and killed two Richmond Hill residents. With patience and meticulous attention to detail, former Indiana Police Department captain and Commander of the IPD Homicide Branch Robert L. Snow, and veteran Fox 59 investigative reporter Russ McQuaid lay bare the details of the crime scene and track the case that grew into the largest homicide investigation in Indiana’s history. The first complete account of the Richmond Hill Murders, Love and Greed in the Heartland is a thrilling story of a tempestuous love coupled with arson, and an account of the careful detective work that unraveled it all.

About the Authors

Robert L. Snow is a former captain in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the author of 17 published books, including Killers in the Family, Looking for Carroll Beckwith, and Slaughter on North Lasalle.

Russ McQuaid has worked as a television journalist in Indianapolis since 1993. A veteran Fox 59 investigative reporter, he covered the investigation of the Richmond Hill explosion and murders for four years, as well as the trials of Mark and Bob Leonard.