A Texas woman who deliberately torched a Seattle-area church — reducing it to ashes and uprooting an entire congregation — has been sentenced to six years in federal prison. Prosecutors say she plotted the attack, bought gasoline, called an Uber, and set the blaze that caused $3.2 million in damages.

On August 25, 2023, 38-year-old Natasha Marie O’Dell left her relatives’ home in Woodinville, Washington, climbed into an Uber, and headed for the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church in Maltby.

But she wasn’t going there to pray.

According to investigators, O’Dell had purchased over a gallon of gasoline, a red plastic container, and several lighters from a nearby gas station earlier that night. When she arrived at the church, prosecutors say she calmly walked up to the building, doused the exterior walls and surrounding items with gasoline, and lit it on fire.

Part of the church’s security system survived the flames — and what it captured left investigators stunned.

The footage shows O’Dell walking around the church with the gas can, splashing fuel along the building’s exterior and nearby items. Moments later, she disappears off-camera. Within seconds, flames explode where she poured the gasoline.

Prosecutors described the act as “methodical” and “deliberate.”

During sentencing on September 4, U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead delivered a blistering rebuke.

“Ms. O’Dell deliberately set fire to a church causing complete destruction,” he said. “You burned down the spiritual home of a congregation. The wounds you’ve inflicted deepen for each day they are away from their home.”


The fire left the 40-year-old church “burned beyond repair,” according to officials. Google now lists the Seattle-area church as “permanently closed.”

For now, the congregation has been forced to worship in a nearby middle school.

The Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church had been a spiritual anchor in the community for four decades. Its destruction devastated parishioners, many of whom watched firefighters battle the massive blaze from the parking lot.

“It wasn’t just a building,” one longtime member told local reporters after the fire. “It was where our kids were baptized, where we buried our loved ones, where we celebrated weddings. Losing it feels like losing part of ourselves.”

U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said O’Dell’s actions showed “a shocking lack of concern” for human life.

“Ms. O’Dell acted with extreme disregard for community safety when she poured more than a gallon of gasoline on the church building and used a lighter to start the blaze,” Miller said in a statement. “This conduct put anyone inside the church, the neighbors around it, and the firefighters who responded in extreme danger.”

One firefighter suffered injuries battling the inferno, but officials called it “fortunate” that no one else was hurt.

O’Dell might have thought she could get away with it. But investigators pieced together a detailed timeline of her movements using:

  • Surveillance footage from the church
  • Credit card records showing her gasoline purchase
  • Uber receipts linking her directly to the scene
  • Cell phone data placing her at the church that night
  • Witness statements from acquaintances who recalled her talking about “burning a nearby church”

According to her plea deal, O’Dell admitted she was “angry at churches” in general and specifically harbored resentment toward the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church. No further motive was revealed.

In April, O’Dell pleaded guilty to three federal charges; arson, damage to religious property and obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs

On Thursday, September 4, Judge Whitehead sentenced her to six years in federal prison. Restitution, expected to total millions, will be determined during a separate hearing.

For the small congregation in Maltby, the scars left by the fire are deep. Church leaders say they plan to rebuild but warn that recovery will take years.

“The building is gone,” one church elder said, “but our faith isn’t.”