SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) _ A neighbor of a woman whose house exploded and devastated an Indianapolis neighborhood says she was incomprehensible on the phone after the blast.
Edgar Salas told jurors Monday afternoon that Monserrate Shirley called his wife after the November 2012 explosion. He says his wife handed the phone to him because she couldn't understand Shirley, thinking she was speaking in Spanish. But Salas said Shirley was crying and hysterical.
Shirley has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson and to testify against her former boyfriend Mark Leonard and three others. Leonard is on trial on charges of murder in the deaths of a married couple who lived in the home next door as well as arson and other charges.