Shirley: Words can't describe the pain after deadly explosion

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Monserrate Shirley wants to set the record straight.

She said she has heard the rumors and saw posts on social media sites pointing the finger at her home as the cause of the blast.

Shirley says she's a victim , just like everyone else in the Richmond Hill subdivision.

Shirley says she and her boyfriend were out of town at the time of the blast. Her daughter was staying with a friend. None of them have been back to the Richmond Hill neighborhood yet.

She says watching the video on television is even too much to bear.

"I'm just hurt like everybody else in the neighborhood. I'm devastated like everybody else," Shirley said.

Shirley said words can't describe the pain she's feeling about the explosion that rocked her neighborhood Saturday night. "The whole thing is like a shock," she said.

Shirley left town Friday night for a weekend getaway at a southern Indiana Casino. Saturday night, the trip was cut short.

A little bit after 11p.m. I got a call.

"It was my neighbor and all I hear, she was screaming. She says Moncy, Moncy, are you alive are you alive and I said what happened? And she said the whole neighborhood blew up," Shirley said, "You don't have a home; you don't have nothing to come to. It's gone. She says Moncy, It's gone. I'm glad you're alive; We were looking for your body and Brooke."

Shirley's home was one of two leveled in the explosion .

On top of losing everything, she said people are blaming her for causing the explosion.

"People said it started at my house, but they don't know. The police said it may have started at another house. They don't know. I don't blame myself for it. I feel horrible, you know people died," she said.

Shirley said she has talked to investigators twice about the smell of gas and the investigation.

"I smelled a little bit in the laundry room and then I went inside and I didn't smell nothing," Shirley said, "I'm just a victim like everybody else, you know, I'm sorry we all lost everything."

Shirley and her daughter are now living in a hotel. She said she doubts they will ever return or rebuild their home in the Richmond Hill neighborhood.

Shirley boarded her cat for three days while they were out of town.