A Texas woman has been sentenced to six years in prison for her role in a 2023 arson attack on a Washington state church, federal prosecutors reported.
Natasha Marie O’Dell, 38, received the sentence Thursday for three felony charges related to the arson of Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church in Snohomish County, Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced.
Earlier this year, O’Dell pleaded guilty to arson, damaging religious property, and obstructing individuals in the free exercise of their religious beliefs.
“This was a devastating and dangerous crime,” U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said at Thursday’s sentencing. “Ms. O’Dell intentionally set fire to a church, resulting in its complete destruction.”
Rocks were thrown through the church’s stained-glass windows, and a car was destroyed, as part of a broader federal crackdown on violent crimes.
“The extent of the destruction is staggering. You destroyed the spiritual home of a congregation… The wounds you have caused grow deeper with each day they are away from their church,” the judge added.
The court will set a restitution payment at a later date.
O’Dell was visiting family when she set fire to the church in Maltby on August 25, 2023.
Authorities linked her to the fire through cell phone records, credit card transactions, and surveillance footage, according to the plea agreement and federal indictment.
Investigators also connected O’Dell to purchases at a gas station, where she bought lighters and a container holding just over a gallon of gasoline.
Although the church was destroyed, part of its security system’s video surveillance survived the fire and captured O’Dell moving around the building with a red gasoline container.
The footage showed her pouring gasoline on the church’s exterior walls and surrounding items. After moving out of the camera’s view, flames became visible in the areas where the gasoline had been poured.
O’Dell told prosecutors that she had expressed anger about churches, specifically targeting Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church, and later admitted to another person that she planned to set fire to a nearby church.
The fire caused more than $3.2 million in damage to the church, which has also faced additional expenses by renting a nearby middle school to hold services several times a week.
A firefighter was injured while battling the flames and was taken to an emergency room.
“Ms. O’Dell acted with extreme disregard for community safety when she poured over a gallon of gasoline on the church and ignited it,” Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said in a statement. “Her actions endangered anyone inside the church, nearby neighbors, and the responding firefighters. It is fortunate that only one firefighter was injured.”
