MALTBY — A federal grand jury indicted a Texas woman this week on charges she set fire to the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church near Maltby.
The three felony charges filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle are on top of a felony arson charge Natasha Odell, 38, already faces in Snohomish County Superior Court. The grand jury charged her with damage to religious property, obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs and use of fire to commit another felony offense.
Early the morning of Aug. 25, 2023, the church at 22420 102nd Ave. SE was destroyed in a fire. Estimates pegged the damage at more than $2.5 million. But though it was badly damaged, the church’s surveillance system partly survived, according to court documents.
The video shows a car arrive at the church at 1:20 a.m. that morning, according to the charges filed in Superior Court in August. Someone can reportedly be seen exiting the passenger side, and walking toward the church with a white bag in their hands. The car left and the person disappeared from the camera’s view.
A few minutes later, the person reappears. The bag is empty and dripping with liquid, according to court papers. The suspect throws the bag into a dumpster, and can then be seen pouring liquid from a red gas can onto the church wall.
The footage then shows a fire spreading from where the person poured the liquid, the charges say. The cameras stopped working.
Cell phone data shows a device associated with Odell, of Temple, Texas, was at the church from 1:13 a.m. to 1:20 a.m. the morning of the fire, according to court papers. Odell’s mother and stepfather lived in Woodinville. Flight records indicated she travelled to Washington on Aug. 19.
Phone data also showed she went to the Bear Creek United Methodist Church and Avondale Bible Church, both near Woodinville, the night before, according to the charges.
And at 11:41 p.m., she went to a Shell gas station and bought two lighters and more than a gallon of gasoline, prosecutors allege.
When police contacted Odell, she reportedly declined to give a statement.
In August, authorities in Texas arrested Odell. Early last month, she was transferred to the Snohomish County Jail, where she remained Thursday with bail set at $100,000.
Odell has no felony criminal history, but a dozen misdemeanor violations, mostly in King County, court records show.
She is set to be arraigned in federal court Monday.
The church bought the Maltby-area property in 1982 with the hope of accommodating 500 people for services, according to the church website. The 11,000-square-foot building was constructed the following year, county assessor’s office records show.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.
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