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Last updated on Wednesday, January 31, 2018
(CARLISLE) - The man convicted as the mastermind behind the fatal Richmond Hill explosion in 2012 is dead.
The Indiana Department of Correction confirms Mark Leonard was declared deceased at an Indianapolis hospital. Leonard had been at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility where he was serving a term of life without parole for his role in conceiving of an insurance fraud plot that resulted in an explosion that rocked the south side of Indianapolis, destroyed more than 80 homes, caused $4 million in losses and killed two people.
In the days before his death, Leonard had been on imminent death watch, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Leonard and his half-brother Bob were both convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit arson.
Bob Leonard, who is also serving a term of life without parole, is likewise incarcerated at the maximum security prison in southwest Indiana.
During one of his several brushes with the law in the decade leading up to the Richmond Hill tragedy, Leonard threatened he would kill himself rather than be returned to prison.
An autopsy will determine his cause of death, but officials believe he died of natural causes.
Leonard's girlfriend and owner of the home on Fieldfare Way, Monserrate Shirley, is serving 50 years in prison for her role in the plot. In 2012, Leonard had a life-threatening blood disorder which Shirley nursed him through.
Two other men, Glenn Hults and Gary Thompson, were convicted and sentenced to lesser terms.
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