FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Prosecutors laid out the "first phase" of their case against Richmond Hill Explosion suspect Bob Leonard this week – bringing dozens of residents to Fort Wayne to tell jurors about the night their lives were forever changed.
Trial Day 3
Neighbors who lived on Alcona Drive, on the east side of the subdivision, told jurors about being awoken by an enormous blast that blew out their windows and doors and sent them running in confusion into the street.
Jurors also heard from retired IMPD officer Stephen Pridemore – one of three neighbors who found Dion Longworth trapped in his home.
"My neighbor called out and said, 'We need help, somebody's trapped here,'" Pridemore said. "I could see [the Longworths'] home was almost completely leveled to the ground. I could see where the chimney was there was a hole, and there was somebody trapped down there."
What jurors didn't hear, though, was testimony from another resident, Doug Aldridge, about his interaction with Monserrate Shirley at Mary Bryan Elementary School the night of the explosion. Unlike in Mark Ray Leonard's trial, Bob Leoanrd's judge ruled the testimony was hearsay, and therefore unadmissable.
MORE FROM DAY 3 | Full testimony from Day 3 | Neighbors testify about homes mangled, torn from foundation | Judge blocks testimony about Monserrate Shirley
Trial Day 4
Richmond Hill resident Tony Burnett, who lived right across the street from Monserrate Shirley, told jurors he saw two men and a white van at 8349 Fieldfare Way on the day of the explosion – but that neither was Bob Leonard.
"His hair's different. His build's different. He has pasty white skin," Burnett said. "The guys I saw were kind of tan. There was no match at all."
His testimony came on the same day a neighbor, Bryan Hollingsworth, told jurors about the ultimately doomed efforts to save Dion Longworth from the basement of his collapsed home.
"To this day I'm amazed at how calm he was," Hollingsworth said. "He was just concerned about Jennifer. And, obviously, if we were going to be able to help him."
MORE FROM DAY 4 | Burnett: '100% sure' Bob Leonard wasn't man I saw | Richmond Hill: 'He was just concerned about Jennifer'
Trial Day 5
"The news had just come on. The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air," Glenn Olvey testified.
He and his family were trapped inside their home by the explosion and had to be pulled out by neighbors who ran to their rescue.
"We kicked down the gate so I could get out," Olvey's youngest daughter said. "I walked down the street and found a firefighter. I turned around and there were houses on fire. Houses missing."
After the Olveys, jurors heard a recording of some of Dion Longworth's last words as he talked to an agent from his home security company. Then they heard from Dion's father, John Longworth.
Longworth said he drove to nearby hospitals looking for his son and daughter-in-law, Jennifer. When he returned to Mary Bryan Elementary, where emergency crews were directing residents of the neighborhood, he received the news.
"That's when a chaplain told me that 8355 [Fieldfare Way] was ground zero," Longworth said. "They told me they would be getting a coroner … that once they got the fire under control, they would be searching for bodies. That's when I called Jennifer's parents and Dion's mother and told them they probably needed to head to the school."
MORE FROM DAY 5 | Full testimony from Day 5 | Blast buried family under wreckage of burning home | Richmond Hill: 'They told me … they would be searching for bodies'
Trial Day 6
The first full week of testimony ended with a veritable science lesson Friday as prosecutors called witnesses from Citizens Energy Group and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to talk about natural gas.
Jurors heard about how natural gas is odorized and piped into homes, and saw how a home gas manifold works. They also learned about Maxitrol regulators – a key item in the arson conspiracy case the prosecution will eventually lay out.
Chris Braun, vice president of energy operations for Citizens Energy, then testified that, based on the amount of excess natural gas potentially in Monserrate Shirley's at the time of the explosion, he calculated the force of the blast within the range of 3-5 tons of TNT.
Testimony was scheduled to pick up Tuesday as prosecutors continue taking jurors through the at-times painstaking investigation of the explosion.
MORE FROM DAY 6 | Full testimony
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Call 6 Investigator Rafael Sanchez and Senior Digital Correspondent Jordan Fischer will be in Fort Wayne covering the trial every day. Download the RTV6 app to get the latest live blog posts as the proceedings unfold.
FOLLOW | Rafael Sanchez on Twitter | Jordan Fischer on Twitter
RELATED LINKS | Richmond Hill Special Section | Mark Ray Leonard convicted on all counts
PREVIOUS | Timeline of events | Gallery: The Richmond Hill Explosion | Where were you at 11:11 PM?
INTERACTIVE MAP | Residents relive Richmond Hill explosion
View Explosion Damaged Homes in a larger map
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