Explosion in Southern Indianapolis...possible meteor fragment??

[Gimpy]

"Breaking news" One of the men in question is said to be the boyfriend of the home owner, but I can't find anything to back that up with.



http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-officials-gas-intentionally-released-into-home-in-south-side-explosion-20121120,0,5349864.column


By Fox59

5:51 p.m. EST, November 20, 2012

Indianapolis

Police have two people in custody for questioning following the deadly explosion on the city's south side.

Officials confirmed Tuesday that gas was intentionally released into a home at the center of the investigation. The resulting explosion killed two Richmond Hill residents and injured seven others.

One of the men was taken into custody was picked up in the 4100 block of Rybolt. The other man was taken into custody at Glen Highland Heights Trailer Park on Foltz Road. Fox59 has learned police are looking for a third person to bring into custody for questioning.

Police are currently serving search warrants at one of the homes one of the men was staying at. We have a crew heading there now.

No arrest warrants or arrests have been announced.

Monday, officials announced they were turning the investigation into a homicide investigation.

A total of $11,000 has been set aside for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

 

[doublea1535]

I just read this (from yesterday) where they recovered the gas meter, which is presumably what lead to the detention of those two men. They say from the meter itself they can determine if there was an unusually high amount of flow through it the day before. From what very little I know about gas meters, this is not possible. Unless they have smart meters w/o a network connection to the head office, and thus does local storage to flash drive and they use wifi to read the meter from the street. Otherwise if they had a smart meter tied to constant network connection, the gas company would have been able to tell them that. Depends on their sampling interval, how often they are checking the amount of gas flowing. They bill monthly it looks like, and more data is more storage, more bandwidth so I am not sure they would poll for data that often from the meter (if its smart) - if that is the case I would guess every hour or so, but possibly more. In networking, standard intervals are typically 5 minutes to check for reach ability, as a comparison. Some companies do every minute if their systems can handle it, and they are very sensitive to outages.

_http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-police-house-explosion-was-not-an-accident-20121119,0,839314.column

Investigators have also recovered the gas meter from the home. They will test it to determine if it registered an unusual spike in natural gas usage the day of the blast.

If it's just a plain 'ol meter like I have seen dozens of times, there is no way they could tell usage amounts during a given period of time, without a previous period of time to compare it to. So in order to know what they used the day of the blast, they need a reading from the day before. With the info Gimpy posted, sounds like in this release they started planting the seeds for it being an intentional gas bomb scenario.

 

[Beau]

IndyStar says no one has been taken into custody:

The investigation into the Richmond Hill explosion continues, but no one has been taken into custody for questioning, Capt. Craig Converse of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department homicide office told The Star this evening.

Converse and Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry both told The Star that various rumors and reports in media outlets other than The Star that surfaced this afternoon about arrests were erroneous.

The investigation is, however, continuing full bore, with investigators interviewing and questioning scores of people and following up on myriad tips and leads, Converse said.

Curry confirmed that people have been questioned and search warrants have been served, but he said he couldn’t discuss who was questioned or where the search warrants were served. He said the investigation is ongoing, and he anticipates that there will be additional search warrants issued.

He said he wasn’t sure when arrests would be made.

“Obviously, we have had a lot of work to do already and we’re just continuing to work on the case,” he said. “And what the time table is, it’s impossible to know right now.”

 

[SeekinTruth]

As was mentioned before, there wasn't such a "thorough" investigation into 9/11. As well as, keeping investigation details under raps. By this many days after the 9/11 event, there was not only all the alleged info in the mainstream media that could not have been collected and investigated in that short a time, they never took any of the usual steps to protect the integrity of the investigation into 9/11.

So, this is now used to keep the information under raps when it seems unlikely that a crime has taken place in Indianapolis.

 

[Gimpy]

There was quite a dust up yesterday regarding information on that. I've subscribed to a FB page on the explosion, and it did track all the articles on that....I'm not sure what the goal of releasing them was, unless it was to muddy the waters and work on hiding the details?

The details do not support the idea that it was a deliberate explosion. The gas meter is one point. The fact that, even if insurance paid the home owner for damages, that money would go to the mortgage company is another point. The boyfriend is a convenient scapegoat. He's got a record, is generally despised, and is easy to smear?

IndyStar says no one has been taken into custody:

The investigation into the Richmond Hill explosion continues, but no one has been taken into custody for questioning, Capt. Craig Converse of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department homicide office told The Star this evening.

Converse and Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry both told The Star that various rumors and reports in media outlets other than The Star that surfaced this afternoon about arrests were erroneous.

The investigation is, however, continuing full bore, with investigators interviewing and questioning scores of people and following up on myriad tips and leads, Converse said.

Curry confirmed that people have been questioned and search warrants have been served, but he said he couldn’t discuss who was questioned or where the search warrants were served. He said the investigation is ongoing, and he anticipates that there will be additional search warrants issued.

He said he wasn’t sure when arrests would be made.

“Obviously, we have had a lot of work to do already and we’re just continuing to work on the case,” he said. “And what the time table is, it’s impossible to know right now.”

 

[Gimpy]

A swat team?


More recent update included on this one:

http://www.wthr.com/story/20151177/two-people-in-custody-in-south-side-explosion?Clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass

Posted: Nov 20, 2012 5:14 PM EST Updated: Nov 21, 2012 5:07 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS -

There are still no arrests in the investigation of the explosion that killed two people and nearly leveled a south side neighborhood.

Two people were questioned last night - one of them, Bob Leonard, is the brother the boyfriend of the homeowner whose house was at the center of the devastating blast.

Police raided a trailer on South Rybolt in the mobile home park where Bob Leonard lives. Witnesses say authorities searched his trailer, then found Leonard walking down a nearby street.

Bob Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, the boyfriend of Monserrate Shirley. Shirley and Mark Leonard were living in the house that exploded, but had left town for the weekend before the house blew up, killing the couple who lived next door.

We've also learned that a white van has been impounded by investigators to be searched for evidence possibly related to the explosion.

Tuesday evening update:

Search warrants were issued Tuesday in connection with the November 10 explosion in a south Indianapolis neighborhood and Eyewitness News has learned that one person is in custody.

Indianapolis Metro Police served the warrants in a Mars Hill mobile home park on the Indianapolis west side. Police also served search warrants.

Bob Leonard is in police custody. He is a relative of Mark Leonard, who lived in the house that exploded. Leonard is the boyfriend of Monserrate Shirley, who also lived in the home on Fieldfare Way.

Gary Coons, the director of the Indianapolis division of the Department of Homeland Security, says no arrests have been made in the investigation.

"The investigation is still ongoing and we are still processing the scene. No arrest (sic) have been made at this time," Coons said in a release Tuesday evening.

Eyewitness Brad Horton reported that a SWAT team arrived in his neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.

"They came down the road in two tactical trucks and pulled in this yard right here," Horton said, indicating the mobile home where Bob Leonard lives. "I was walking down the street and three guys with guns said 'Get in your house!' and we all got in the house and, uh, just watched from there."

Horton said two officers took Bob Leonard into custody and they went inside the trailer looking for others.

Much of the investigation into the explosion has centered on a white van. Horton said that Bob Leonard had a white van parked outside his mobile home for nearly two weeks.

"He said it was his brother's van, 'cause he came over and talked to us. We seen the police here previously before that and he said it was his brother's van. Didn't say his name or anything, but it was sitting here for about two weeks and it's been gone for about a week and a half now," Horton told Eyewitness News

Police have said that Mark Leonard owns a white van. They also issued a plea for anyone who might have seen a white van in the Richmond Hill neighborhood on the weekend of the explosion.

13 Investigates has learned Mark Leonard has an extensive criminal history, dating back to the 1980s. Police arrested him in 1992 for dealing marijuana. He was also convicted of theft, receiving stolen property and resisting law enforcement.

Leonard faced jail and prison time for serious felonies in 2002, including stalking and violating probation. In 2007, he made a plea deal on an intimidation charge.

In other developments Tuesday, Eyewitness News partners at The Indianapolis Star reported that a source close to the investigation believes that natural gas was intentionally released into the home on Fieldfare Way that is at the center of the investigation, and that a spark ignited the gas - possibly from a remote source.

Experienced private fire investigators tell Eyewitness News that the damage appears to be too extensive and far reaching to be the result of a natural gas leak alone.

The comments under this article are slanted toward charging these men with domestic terrorism. The people seem to be convinced this was done for insurance money, which doesn't make sense.

 

[Beau]

Now we have an explosion in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Scores Gentlemen's Club building at 453 Worthington St. has exploded following the report of a gas leak.

The building was flattened. At least two people were injured.

The Square One day care next door was heavily damaged. A five-story building at Worthington and Chestnut was heavily damaged.

Ambulances are being called in from all available areas.

At Chestnut and Taylor, a block away, there were blown-out windows on several buildings. Glass littered the streets and sidewalks.

All the windows on a two-story building on Chestnut and Taylor, facing Worthington.

People in Wilbraham and South Hadley felt the explosion.

A number of emergency vehicles have responded.

Dave Cutter, who owns a tattoo parlor at 378 Dwight St., about a block and a half away, said his front windows were blown out, and that the ceiling in his cellar was blown down.

There's a large crowd downtown tonight because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

At Theodore's, about two blocks away from the blast, the crowd was startled, said Stephanie Simmons, a waitress.

"It rocked us so hard the windows smashed. It felt like an earthquake or a large explosion. There was pretty much chaos."

She said about 30 to 40 people were at the bar, all on their feet, and many went out side to see what happened.

Worthington Street is blocked off at both Dwight and Chestnut streets.

Albert Fuster, was in his apartment at the corner of Chestnut and Taylor, a block away, with his two dogs, Moochie and Papi.

“All of a sudden I hear the boom and all my windows blow out. All the smoke started filling up the place,” Fuster said, standing with a crowd of people after the blast in the parking lot of the Mardi Gras. “I thought someone set off a bomb.”

He and the dogs were the only ones home at the time. “So I grabbed my babies and got the hell out,” he said.

One observer reported five ambulances on the scene.

“There is shattered glass everywhere,” he said over the sound of a fire alarm. “It looks like a war zone.”

 

[Gawan]

Now we have an explosion in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.

There happened one in China too:

TAIYUAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from an explosion at a hot pot restaurant in north China's Shanxi Province on Friday evening rose to 14 early Saturday with another 47 people being injured, local investigators said.
The explosion, which occurred at 7:52 p.m., triggered a blaze at the Xiyangyang (Happy Sheep) Hot Pot Restaurant in Shouyang County of Jinzhong City.

Initial investigations showed the explosion was caused by a gas leak.

Hot pot, the Chinese counterpart of fondue, is a kind of stew using a metal pot kept simmering by charcoal, electricity or gas.

Investigators from the local county government said the injured, including 17 severely, were sent to hospital after the accident.

They said among the dead, six were killed at the scene and eight others died in hospital despite medical treatment.

The powerful explosion shattered the windows of the two-storey restaurant and some neighboring shops as far as 20 meters away. Iron gates of some shops were twisted by the force of the explosion, a Xinhua reporter said.

Witnesses said that there was nothing unusual before the explosion happened.

"Suddenly, there was a big bang and the hot wave ensued," said Yuan Heping, who was dining in the restaurant with his wife and friends when the explosion happened.

"The whole room was engulfed in black smoke and I had to use my sweater to cover my mouth before I managed to jump from the second-floor window," said Yuan, who suffered slight burn injuries in the explosion.

Right now it is supposed to be a gas leak.

_http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-11/24/c_131995770.htm

 

[Mike]

Well with these additional two explosions maybe it has something to do with the 'opening up' phenomenon seen with the increase of sink holes, etc. The Indianapolis explosion might be something entirely different though with the little that has been reported with the investigation, but I wouldn't put it past TPTB to cook up an entire investigation and theory to cover something up.

 

[seek10]

A swat team?


More recent update included on this one:

http://www.wthr.com/story/20151177/two-people-in-custody-in-south-side-explosion?Clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass

Posted: Nov 20, 2012 5:14 PM EST Updated: Nov 21, 2012 5:07 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS -


"They came down the road in two tactical trucks and pulled in this yard right here," Horton said, indicating the mobile home where Bob Leonard lives. "I was walking down the street and three guys with guns said 'Get in your house!' and we all got in the house and, uh, just watched from there."

Horton said two officers took Bob Leonard into custody and they went inside the trailer looking for others.

Much of the investigation into the explosion has centered on a white van. Horton said that Bob Leonard had a white van parked outside his mobile home for nearly two weeks.

"He said it was his brother's van, 'cause he came over and talked to us. We seen the police here previously before that and he said it was his brother's van. Didn't say his name or anything, but it was sitting here for about two weeks and it's been gone for about a week and a half now," Horton told Eyewitness News

Police have said that Mark Leonard owns a white van. They also issued a plea for anyone who might have seen a white van in the Richmond Hill neighborhood on the weekend of the explosion.

In other developments Tuesday, Eyewitness News partners at The Indianapolis Star reported that a source close to the investigation believes that natural gas was intentionally released into the home on Fieldfare Way that is at the center of the investigation, and that a spark ignited the gas - possibly from a remote source.

Don't they have any street cameras or traffic camera's near the house that are taping to identify registration plates of the van ?. How can one put so much gas into house with no body observing the smell?. Even the Lead amount they offered seems to be small to not motivate people. The amount of time they took to conclude it as deliberate act is some what suspicious.

 

[ocean59]

Don't they have any street cameras or traffic camera's near the house that are taping to identify registration plates of the van ?

A typical U.S. suburban subdivision such as this does not generally have street cameras. Maybe a nearby gas station, or interstate, if lucky.

How can one put so much gas into house with no body observing the smell?

The 'smell' is a safety additive, my understanding is that heating gas/propane has no smell in its natural state.

 

[anart]

Don't they have any street cameras or traffic camera's near the house that are taping to identify registration plates of the van ?

A typical U.S. suburban subdivision such as this does not generally have street cameras. Maybe a nearby gas station, or interstate, if lucky.

Actually, many do - at least in Colorado. They've installed them at all the red lights, even in suburbs.

The 'smell' is a safety additive, my understanding is that heating gas/propane has no smell in its natural state.

Yes, it's an additive, but if the gas in the house came from the gas line, it would necessarily have the additive in it, since the gas companies add it, so there should have been a strong smell since no house is air-proof (and some would leak out).

 

[ocean59]

A typical U.S. suburban subdivision such as this does not generally have street cameras. Maybe a nearby gas station, or interstate, if lucky.

Actually, many do - at least in Colorado. They've installed them at all the red lights, even in suburbs.

Yikes. I guess I should have qualified with 'this region of the midwest' U.S. since they are not at all that prevalent here, yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time though.

The 'smell' is a safety additive, my understanding is that heating gas/propane has no smell in its natural state.

Yes, it's an additive, but if the gas in the house came from the gas line, it would necessarily have the additive in it, since the gas companies add it, so there should have been a strong smell since no house is air-proof (and some would leak out).

True. I guess one important question would be - how long does it take to fill up a house with enough gas to create an explosion that large? If they are thinking it was remotely ignited, I imagine the attackers would not try to let any more time pass than need be. If that's even at all what happened of course. Still a lot of possibilities floating around at this point.

On the other hand, the Mass. explosion seems to indicate that gas had been leaking all week long, and gas company had already been out to inspect days earlier (and found nothing, according to the detailed article posted by Heimdallr).

 

[seek10]

On the other hand, the Mass. explosion seems to indicate that gas had been leaking all week long, and gas company had already been out to inspect days earlier (and found nothing, according to the detailed article posted by Heimdallr).

http://news.yahoo.com/utility-worker-pierced-pipe-mass-gas-blast-191329296.html

A utility worker responding to reports of a natural gas leak in one of New England's largest cities punctured a pipe and an unknown spark ignited a massive explosion that injured 18 people and damaged 42 buildings, the state fire marshal announced Sunday.

Friday night's natural gas blast in Springfield's entertainment district was caused by "human error," State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said at a news conference. He didn't name the Columbia Gas Go. worker who pierced the high-pressure pipe.

The worker was trying to locate the source of the leak with a metal probe that tests natural gas levels when the probe damaged the underground pipe, Coan said. A flood of gas then built up in a building that housed a strip club, and a spark touched off the blast, officials said.

Columbia Gas planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon. A message left for a company spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned. Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of public company NiSource Inc., announced earlier Sunday that it planned to open a claims center for residents and businesses affected by the explosion at City Hall on Monday.

Preliminary reports showed the blast damaged 42 buildings housing 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned, and 24 others require additional inspections by structural engineers to determine whether they are safe. The building that housed the Scores Gentleman's Club was completely destroyed.

After the pipe was ruptured, authorities evacuated several buildings. Most of the people injured were part of a group of gas workers, firefighters and police officers who ducked for cover behind a utility truck just before the blast. The truck was demolished.

Some officials said it was a miracle no one was killed. Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant praised the actions of city firefighters.
.

How come a Probe ( a Sensor ) can damage a pipe , unless he recklessly threw it to physically damage?. Yes, In this case, this looks like a human error.

 

[Gimpy]

The local news is starting to fill with 'human interest' and 'hero' stories about the explosion, I suspect to turn attention towards the holidays.


http://www.indystar.com/article/20121124/NEWS/211240337/Teen-recalls-helping-trapped-neighbors-get-out-house-affected-by-blast?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Indianapolis%20News

There were a lot of heroes on the night of Nov. 10, when a house exploded in the Richmond Hill neighborhood, spreading devastation all around it. One of the heroes was 17-year-old Michael Koerner.

Michael, a junior at Herron High School in Indianapolis, says he doesn't remember how he went into the rubble of a house on Fieldfare Way moments after the blast.

He said he believes God guided his steps that night, and authorities say his actions, with those of other neighbors, helped save the lives of the family trapped inside -- Glenn and Gloria Olvey and their two daughters, ages 14 and 15.

"What I remember most is the image of the house being gone and just fire where the house had been," Michael said in an interview Saturday afternoon. "And the image of the girl standing in her house, screaming, covered in blood."

The blast injured seven people and killed two, Jennifer and Dion Longworth. Investigators believe the explosion involved natural gas and was intentionally set. No one has been arrested, but it is being investigated as a homicide.

Recalling the events of that night, Michael said he had just dropped off some videos and was driving through the Southeastside housing addition, almost to his home, when the explosion rocked his car.

He pulled into his driveway at 8332 Alcona Drive, thinking initially that it was his car that had blown up. He recalled pounding at the door for his parents, unable to get in because the blast had jammed the door into its frame.

But Michael can't remember what happened next.

To get to the Olvey house, he would have had to run through his backyard, duck under some trees and hop a fence -- but he said he recalls nothing of it.

Michael ended up at the area where the explosion originated. He saw the house at 8349 Fieldfare Way was gone. The house next door, 8343 Fieldfare, was standing but had no back wall.

Michael heard cries and saw a girl's face in the rubble. She was dimly lit by her cellphone as she tried to make a call.

"The wall on the back fell down and you could see into the house," he said. "That's where the girl was. She was standing in four feet of rubble."

Michael dove in and started throwing debris. He said it didn't occur to him until days later that he was risking his own life.

"Another man came and started throwing stuff. We got her out in a matter of minutes."

Michael doesn't know who that man was. He is believed to be Marc Hickson, an off-duty Lawrence firefighter who lives in the neighborhood.

Hickson, contacted through an official with Indianapolis Professional Firefighters Local 46, has declined a request for an interview.

"He said he just did what any of the 2,400 of us in Marion County would have done," said Jason Hansman, a Firefighter's Union service representative.

Michael and the man helped the girl to the street. There was a cut on her neck and she was covered in blood. Michael waited with her until a firefighter arrived and started first aid.

Then he went back to his house and hunkered down with his family. He was in shock, he said, and not quite sure if what had just happened was real.

Among the other heroes in Richmond Hill that night: Two neighborhood residents, off-duty Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Detective Shawn Looper and off-duty White River Township Firefighter Ryan Cox. They reportedly helped neighbors to safety amid the chaos while their homes and property were damaged. Both also have declined to be interviewed.

There are stories of other neighbors -- their names still unknown though neighbors shared stories of their heroism -- who ran towards the flames and smoke in those minutes before help arrived.

Some, like Michael, tore into the rubble and tried to pull victims to safety.

Michael's mother, Vicky Koerner, believes God was with her and her neighbors that night.

"I know evil was here and two people were called home way too soon, but God was here too," she said, sitting with Michael in a friend's house elsewhere in Richmond Hill. "There were many that were protected and saved. There's no other explanation."

Koerner's home is one of the more than 30 in Richmond Hill that will be demolished. She said her family plans to rebuild and stay in the neighborhood.

"How many neighborhoods do you know that a neighbor would risk his life for a neighbor?'' she asked. "How many neighborhoods do you know where heroes reside?

"Angels have tread here. Why would I want to go anyplace else?"