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This Article was Featured in the Idaho Statesman
They look like an all-American family. But Shelley Odlum and her husband, Trent
Mitchell, represent an all-American problem: methamphetamine abuse.
Odlum, 31, of Caldwell, "had great support and a great life" when she tried the
drug in 1994. She later met Mitchell, another user. In 2003 the couple, by then
married with four children, were cooking meth in their Marsing home when their lab
blew up.
Meth criminals have pushed Idaho prisons beyond capacity. Three-fourths of the Ada
County Drug Court´s cases involve meth, the viciously addictive drug that causes
a longer-lasting high than cocaine.
This is Odlum´s story.
More than half of Shelley Odlum´s body -- including her hand, suffered third-degree
burns in the fire. "I have no feeling left in any of my fingers." She had to undergo
intensive physical therapy to move them again.
METH: From hell to healing
When I graduated from Challis High School, I was the third highest in my class.
I had been student body president, a cheerleader, and involved in various sports,
speech and debate. I won a scholarship to Syracuse University and went there for
a year until I transferred to Boise State University.I was at BSU the first time
I used meth. I had been drinking downtown with some friends and was offered some
at an after-hours party. I had never heard anything bad about it. With my judgment
clouded from drinking, I decided to try it. It was like total euphoria. I was wide
awake and happy, and everything I attempted to do was fun.I did it again the following
weekend. Soon I found myself buying enough to last me two weeks, until my next paycheck.
Using every day quickly took its toll. I could not attend class or go to work. In
about a year, I had quit school and lost my job. Soon the only social life that
I had was with other users. I had alienated my family and any friends who weren´t
also users.A couple of years after I started getting high, I met my husband, Trent
Mitchell. He also liked to get high. We started living out of my car together, going
from house to house partying with other people who used meth. We did this for about
three years until I became pregnant with our first son. Somehow we managed to find
a place to live, and instead of buying meth, we learned how to make it. I began
to shoplift everything we needed to make meth, as well as food, clothes, shoes,
and anything else we needed. A year after our first son was born, we had our second.
We continued using heavily and making our own meth for about another year and a
half until we finally lost our house because we could not pay the rent. The next
eight months were a whirlwind of living out of a camper on the back of our truck,
moving here and there. 56 percent of my body was burned I got arrested for burglary
and possession of methamphetamine, as well as three other petty-theft charges. Just
after I realized I was pregnant again, I was sentenced to four months in the Ada
County Jail. In custody, I learned I was pregnant with twin boys. During this time,
Trent managed life on his own with our two older sons.I completed intensive drug
treatment and rehabilitation classes covering cognitive self-change and parenting.
I was released on probation six days before the twins were born. My parents had
rented a house for us to live in with the hopes that I had learned my lesson.I had
a good attitude about everything and was happy for a second chance. I had honest
aspirations about staying clean. I felt confident that I would be able to, even
though Trent was still using. I was wrong.Four months after I got out of jail I
started using again. An old friend came by with some meth and offered it to me.
I wasn´t receiving care at the time and wasn´t prepared for this kind of situation.
Even though I had been clean for eight months, my addiction was stronger than ever.
Within a matter of days I was stealing again, and we were cooking meth in the home
my parents had rented for us.Three months later, on July 10, 2003, I was burned
severely in a fire resulting from our meth lab. All four of my children were in
the home. I was flown to a burn unit in Salt Lake City, and Trent was taken to jail.
Our children were placed in state custody.I awoke in the burn unit to find that
56 percent of my body had third-degree burns. I endured eight grafting surgeries
during my two-month stay there and went to at least six hours of intense therapy
a day. When I returned home, I faced many consequences from Idaho Health and Welfare
and from Canyon County Probation and Parole. To get our children back, we had to
complete a case plan that consisted of weekly visitation, staying drug free, taking
parenting classes, obtaining a job and a proper place to live, completing the Family
Connections program, and complying with all of our legal obligations.15 months later,
we got kids backTrent was sentenced to six years. Instead, the judge sent him to
the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood for six months for a cognitive
self-change program. After his release from that program, he completed relapse-prevention
counseling.I was sentenced a few months after Trent. I was still going to therapy
three days a week and still recovering physically from my burns. The judge felt
I would not be able to receive the medical attention I needed in jail. He sentenced
me to 13 years, but suspended all of that time and placed me on probation.He ordered
me to do 500 hours of community service in the form of a presentation that I had
written about meth and how it has affected my life. I want to stop people from going
down the path that I did.We have come a long way since then. Trent got out of jail
and was referred to Easter Seals Working Solutions by Health and Welfare. He completed
another parenting class and received financial help purchasing the tools he needed
to start working at the Upson Co., a roofing company.After 90 days, Upson enrolled
him in the journeyman´s apprenticeship program and helped him obtain a commercial
driver´s license. I completed counseling. We found a place to live in Caldwell,
and our children returned home in October 2004, one year and three months after
the fire.I have been given another chanceThere were some times when everything seemed
overwhelming, but I knew that if I just stayed clean, everything else would fall
into place. Trent and I have done this as a team, and without each other we wouldn´t
be where we are today.Our children have been home for a year now, and they are doing
great. We have a wonderful relationship with the foster parents who had them, and
they are still a big part of our lives.We worked hard to get where we are, but we
also had huge support from our families, Health and Welfare, Working Solutions,
the foster families, Probation and Parole, Upson Co., and many other people.Our
lives are much better now. As I´m writing this I´m reminded of just how awful my
life had become using meth. It can happen to anyone, and once it does, it is such
a hard struggle to get away. But it is possible. There is help out there. You just
need to be willing to work hard for yourself first. No one is going to do it all
for you.Although it may seem strange, I am thankful to God for the day of the fire.
I am not proud of my past. It is not pretty. But I must move on from here and be
the best person I can be. Guilt and regret are things that could send me back to
my past.I am very sorry for the things that I have done, and I hope to stop others
from making the same mistakes. The day of the fire was the worst day and the best
day of my entire life. I have been given yet another chance in life, and I am not
going to waste this one.
Another Artcle was ran when the home exploded. It is the following:
Meth lab explodes in Marsing house
Four children, including two toddlers, were staying with relatives Friday after
an illegal methamphetamine laboratory exploded in Marsing, injuring the two adults
in the house.
Owyhee County Sheriff Gary Aman said Shelley Odlum, 28, was burned over 50 percent
of her body and was flown to the burn center in Salt Lake City. Her husband, Trent
Mitchell, 32, was treated for lesser burns at a Canyon County hospital Thursday,
he said.
"It looks like she was standing right over the lab when it exploded," the sheriff
said.
The couple was apparently using an outdated, dangerous method for making the drug,
Aman said.
They face felony charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and endangering children,
he said.
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