Police bust meth lab at quiet Raleigh home

A man and woman were arrested Thursday night in their North Raleigh home where police said they were running a methamphetamine laboratory.

Melissa Anne Godshall, 28, and Robert John Kennerley, 43, were charged with making and trafficking meth, possessing or distributing materials used to make meth, maintaining the house as a place to handle drugs and misdemeanor child abuse.

They also were accused of cruelty to animals involving three pit bulls who were in the house and possibly exposed to meth chemicals in the air, police said.

A 1-year-old child and a 7-year-old were in the house, a statement from police said, along with their mother. All three were taken for medical evaluations. Kennerley and Godshall also received medical evaluations.

Police said the woman and the children lived in a part of the house and were not involved with the methamphetamine.

Arrest warrants charged that Kennerley and Godshall had between 28 and 200 grams of meth, which is a Class F felony carrying a possible sentence of nearly 8 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Neither Godshall nor Kennerley have criminal records in Wake County.

The operation occurred in a rented, split-level home in the Brentwood neighborhood. The home’s owners, Lewis and Kathryn Deturk, live next door, according to county real estate records.

The home with the makeshift lab was also part of neighborhood watch group, according to a placard hanging from the mailbox.

Lewis Deturk declined to comment on the alleged crimes at his rental property, which police raided about 8:30 p.m.

Police said State Bureau of Investigation agents, Wake County Sheriff’s Office investigators and city firefighters came to the scene to help with the cleanup after the drug lab was found.

Haz-mat technicians were brought in to decontaminate the house, a process that has to be done for methamphetamine laboratories. Part of the process is taking the clothes of anyone in the building and putting them through a decontamination shower.

Nancy Locklin lives three houses down from where police found the meth lab. She said she’s spoken to the residents of the home only a handful of times, usually about their dogs.

“I wish we got to know them better,” she said.

Locklin said she never noticed anything worrisome at the house. Once, she brought one of the dogs home after it got out in the neighborhood.

On Thursday, the day police found the lab, she walked her own dog past the house.

“It was just like a normal day,” she said.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 4:39 AM with the headline "Police bust meth lab at quiet Raleigh home."