Woman Took an Uber to Church to Set the Building on Fire. Now, She’s Spending Years in Prison for the ‘Devastating’ Act

Natasha Marie O’Dell pleaded guilty to three charges after officials said the arson caused $3.2 million in damages

NEED TO KNOW

  • Natasha Marie O’Dell set fire to Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church, burning it “beyond repair,” on Aug. 25, 2023
  • Two years later, O’Dell was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to three charges: arson, damage to religious property and obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs
  • O’Dell took an Uber to the church to set it on fire, and surveillance footage showed her pouring gasoline on the building

A Texas native will spend six years behind bars for burning down a church in an act of arson that a judge described as “devastating and dangerous.”

In August 2024, Natasha Marie O’Dell was arrested for setting fire to Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church — a church in Maltby, a suburb of Seattle — 12 months earlier.

On Thursday, Sept. 4, about two years after the devastating blaze, O’Dell, 38, was sentenced to six years in prison for three federal felonies, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington…

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