Over the past few weeks, Linda Lodmell could see something coming — her daughter's illness was getting worse.
But never in the worst of dreams did Linda Lodmell imagine that Kelley Jean Lodmell would kidnap her own grandchild and then attempt to take both of their lives, as investigators now allege.
"Something was wrong, she was acting strange, but I never thought she would take it this far," Linda Lodmell told the Deseret News. "It could have been prevented. I know it."
Police believe that on Sunday, Kelley Jean Lodmell, 38, kidnapped 19-month-old Acacia Patience Bishop and fled to Idaho Falls, where on Monday she allegedly jumped into the Snake River with her granddaughter in what appears to be an attempted murder-suicide.
Lodmell was arrested Monday and charged Tuesday with one count each of kidnapping and murder by aggravated battery and/or kidnapping, both first-degree felonies.
Search and rescue crews have been searching the Snake for the toddler's body but had not found it by this morning.
Twelve years ago, Kelley Lodmell was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, her mother said. The illness has gotten progressively worse, with Kelley Lodmell occasionally spiraling out of control.
Like many people who suffer from mental illness, Lodmell not only wreaked havoc in her own family but in her community as well.
She's been arrested for public intoxication, driving under the influence, disorderly conduct and twice for aggravated assault. While in the county jail and while on probation, she benefited from medications and counseling services, only to fall off the wagon once back on her own, Linda Lodmell said.
A few weeks ago, Kelley Jean's father, Dick Lodmell, was concerned enough to call his daughter's probation officer. But the Lodmell family says their requests for assistance were ignored.
"The system would not help us," Linda Lodmell said. "They said 'budget cuts.' "
However, the system has tried.
Utah Adult Probation and Parole records indicate Lodmell had been receiving mental health services as well as making regular appointments with her probation officer, Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said. Although it's likely the help Kelley Lodmell received for her mental illness worked to a degree, it may have been so intermittent that her disorders were never really under control.
She has received court-ordered treatment through Valley Mental Health since 1998 and was last seen for services this past October. She was listed as generally noncompliant but not dangerous. Treatment was provided but always by court order, said Valley Mental Health spokeswoman Connie Heinz, noting that she could not legally disclose exactly what treatments were offered.
Kelley Lodmell did receive treatment but presented no apparent serious threat to the safety of herself or others, said Randy Bachman, director of the state Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
"Clearly, if someone is presenting serious or threatening behavior, that's the priority," Bachman said. "But the clinics have more than they can handle dealing with people who want services. They won't go out nagging them to get treatment unless they meet civil commitment criteria."
He pointed out that people shouldn't jump to the conclusion that mental illness was a factor in the case. "Something else entirely could have been going on. At this point it's all speculation," he said.
In any case, families who live with mental illness face continual frustration with how to handle the loved one who is ill and often very disinclined to accept treatment, Bachman said.
Linda Lodmell said her daughter was living at home at one point, but the disruptions that resulted when Kelley Lodmell allowed her illness to go untreated caused repeated and significant problems for everyone in the family.
"She would just stir everything up," Linda Lodmell said.
Law enforcement officers are equally frustrated.
More and more, those with mental health issues are becoming a public safety issue. The Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain has some 750 inmates currently receiving mental health care, Ford said. The same is true at the Salt Lake County Jail, where the number of inmates requiring mental health care is significant, said Troy Dial, who oversees all medical and mental health services for the jail.
"Jails and prisons are the biggest mental health institution in the country," said Dial, adding that everyone booked into jail gets a health evaluation that includes a mental health component. "It's a societal problem we all need to deal with."
Often, as an illness progresses, the type of problems presented from a public safety standpoint spiral upward into bigger problems with greater consequences, he said.
"It's a revolving door, there's no question about it, because there is no place for them to go," Dial said.
The state just made it easier for families to have that treatment given by force. Prior to the Susan Gall Memorial amendments, which took effect May 5, family members seeking involuntary civil commitment had to demonstrate "immediate" danger to the person or to others. Now they must show that someone is posing a "substantial" danger to himself or others.
Kelley Lodmell's earlier abduction of Acacia could have been considered a danger by a judge in a commitment plea, said Vicki Cottrell, president of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Utah.
"It's so sad that untreated mental illness is apparently a factor in another tragedy," Cottrell said, referring to the two accused abductors of Elizabeth Smart, who have diagnosed mental disorders but refused to accept treatment or take prescribed medication.
Susan Gall, the namesake of the new law, was killed in December 2001, allegedly by her bipolar son, who had stopped taking his medication and whose mother had tried unsuccessfully to have him committed. In that case, the son could always pull himself together whenever he interacted with police.
If a family is unsure about what behavior is possible with a member and they don't believe they're getting enough help, "the family has to become the squeaky wheel," Cottrell said.
The biggest mistake family members make is "listening to that little voice that says 'He really wouldn't do that.' As much as those of us who have been through this would like to hope, our loved ones in this condition aren't thinking rationally. They can be saying and doing one thing, and can be thinking about doing something that would never occur to us."
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com; jdobner@desnews.com