Man facing trial in Indiana home explosion faces additional charge

INDIANA (WITI) -- There is another twist in the deadly Indianapolis home explosion that left two people dead and dozens of homes destroyed.

Prosecutors say the man facing trial for the blast will now face an additional charge: conspiracy to commit murder.

Officials say Mark Leonard, along with his girlfriend and brother, intentionally created a gas explosion last November in the hopes of collecting insurance money.

Now, prosecutors say Leonard also tried to hire a hit man to kill a witness.

He was allegedly going to pay someone $15,000 for the murder, and an additional $5,000 if the killing was made to look like a suicide.

"Mr. Leonard stated that he wished to arrange for the death of a witness in the explosion case identified as 'MD.' That Mr. Leonard believed that he would be immediately released upon the death of 'MD.' That Mr. Leonard was willing to pay $15K for the killing of 'MD.' And it is further alleged that Mr. Leonard drew a map for directions to that target's house & signed an agreement to pay $15K upon the death of 'MD.' Mr. Leonard was given the name of an individual to contact; that individual was an undercover agent of the federal ATF," Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said.

"On Mar 13th Mr. Leonard placed a call to the undercover agent in which Mr. Leonard again confirmed his intent to have 'MD' killed. Again (he) confirmed his willingness to pay $15K for the killing of 'MD' & in addition provided information to the undercover agent regarding the location of the target's house, information regarding the neighbors of the target & information about the target & things of that nature," Curry said.

All three defendants face murder, arson and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors are trying to get life without parole for the trio.