Warrants: Ind. man removed items before home blast

(AP) INDIANAPOLIS - Search warrants show a man accused of rigging a fatal house explosion in Indianapolis removed his personal belongings from the home a week before the blast.

Records released Thursday also show police sought cellphone records that would confirm a Nov. 2 phone call in which Mark Leonard allegedly told a friend his house had exploded. That call came a week before the actual blast, following an alleged failed first attempt to destroy the home.

Leonard, his girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley, and his brother, Bob Leonard, are charged with murder and arson in the Nov. 10 explosion that killed a couple living in the house next door.

Investigators believe the three conspired to fill Shirley’s house with natural gas and programmed a microwave to start on a timer to spark it.