Love and Greed in the Heartland: the Richmond Hill Murders by Robert L. Snow and Russ McQuaid tells the whole sordid story of the Richmond Hill Murders. The brightly colored “before” explosion and “after” explosion pictures on the book cover set the stage for the reader’s understanding of the gravity of the situation. The book starts by explaining why the residents of the Richmond Hill area of Indianapolis felt particularly safe on that lovely fall day of November 10, 2012. That quickly changed with the explosion that evening. The book is arranged in chronological order with the first chapter being The Explosion, through the fire and murder investigations and the trials.
The Richmond Hill explosion was so gargantuan that weather stations 40 miles away felt the changes in the infrasound subsonic waves and houses within a five mile radius shook. Fortunately the local fire station felt the explosion and responded immediately. Unfortunately the 911 communications center couldn’t locate the small street at the center of the explosion. Two people, Dion and Jennifer Longworth, died before emergency workers could extricate them from the remains of the home. The authors dedicate the book to them.
The explanations of the steps investigators went through to secure the scene and investigate the origins of the explosion and resulting deaths were fascinating. The authors also give enough biographical details on the perpetrators for the reader to have some understanding of why they did what they did. The authors also thoroughly describe all the aspects of the trials. The eight pages of photos illustrate the narrative well.
Robert L. Snow and Russ McQuaid drew upon their backgrounds as a police detective and investigative reporter respectively to learn and record everything about this horrendous episode in recent Indianapolis history. Meet them to discuss the explosion and buy your copy of the book at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Avenue, on Saturday, September 16 at 2:00 p.m.
