Leah Roadman’s Story: Overcoming drugs, violence and homelessness

Note to Reader:  You are about to read one homeless woman’s account of why she was homeless.  This individual consented to the interview and could refuse to answer any question. This is her story; take it as you will.

Leah Roadman descent into homelessness began in April 2003 when her father passed away. At the time, she was preparing to graduate from Shelton High School, where she was an outstanding student and volleyball player.

“It was very tragic … traumatizing to my brothers and me,” began Roadman. “He had been injured while in the Marine Corps; he suffered from the complications of a bad blood transfusion; he had a history of alcoholism; and his renal system was shutting down.”

Since her mother and father were divorced, and as the oldest child of that marriage, the 18-year-old Roadman had been empowered to make medical decisions.

“His last coma resulted in a bowel perforation, and the risk of further surgery far outweighed his chances of survival. I made the decision to ‘pull the plug,’” she said quietly.

Then came the guilt and with it the beginnings of “more than experimenting with drugs and alcohol.”

Roadman’s mother noticed the substance abuse and suggested that she move to West Virginia to live with her grandmother.

“I started to drink heavily on weekends, and I got deeper into marijuana and opiates,” she continued. “My mother thought it was a good idea for me to leave Shelton and live with my grandmother and attend college in West Virginia.”

With her grades and athleticism, she received a full-ride scholarship to play volleyball at West Virginia State College. While there, she majored in biology, maintained a 3.25-grade point average, and starred on the volleyball team. But she came up one class short of graduating with the class of 2006.

“By then I was using cocaine, and I was in the midst of a mental health crisis,” continued Roadman. “I called my mom and grandmother and said ‘If you don’t get me on a plane to come home, I’m not going to survive.’”

She returned to Shelton where she endured the withdrawal from cocaine without medical help.

“I then tried to avoid drugs and alcohol,” she continued, “but I failed.”  She added that she was employed for the next two years and that she had a boyfriend. In 2008 she lost both due to an alcohol-fueled domestic violence situation that landed her in a Seattle jail.

Roadman explained that she and a male friend decided to leave Shelton in 2010 for Connecticut so that she could be with her fiancé.   Stopped by the South Dakota State Police outside of Deadwood, she was arrested for possession of drugs. She needed $5,000 for bail, which her mother paid after some hesitation.

“I got to Danbury, Connecticut but had to make multiple trips back to South Dakota for court dates,” she continued, “where I received two years’ probation.”  Through an interstate compact, Roadman could live and work in Connecticut while staying in touch by telephone with her probation officer.

She added that while on probation, she continued to drink heavily and use drugs – in particular oxycodone. “This led to some drug-induced instances that resulted in injury and run-ins with the police,” she added.  

After a second stay in jail in 2010, Roadman was told if she attended  treatment and anger management classes the charges against her would be dismissed. She complied; the charges were dismissed.

“In early 2011, I started to use China White Heroin, and I was working two jobs to support my habit,” she explained. By the end of the year, Roadman knew that her life was falling apart and that she had to leave again.

“My fiancé’s mother offered to let us live with her in San Antonio, Texas,” she explained. By the time they arrived, however, they were on the verge of withdrawal.  

“He (her fiancé) soon found some homeless people and bought some Black Tar Heroin,” continued Roadman, “and we started using. I don’t know how I got myself out of bed and to work; I worked as a caregiver; and it was easy to remain high.”

While working at an OfficeMax in 2012, Roadman met a woman who offered to rent her a room in her home. Wanting to get away from her fiancé, she took the room. But her partying continued, and she was soon kicked out of the house. Now without a place to stay, she called and convinced her mother to cosign for an apartment.

But nothing changed. Reunited with her fiancé, they began to use suboxone to withdraw from opiates only to relapse, only to use again, only to relapse and so on. “It happened over and over and over,” Roadman stated.

By the end 2014, she was combining cocaine and methamphetamines. “There began my descent into psychosis, and that led to more crazy behavior,” she continued.

Evicted from her apartment,  she received help from a family she had met at a Methodist church in 2015; they offered to help her return home to Shelton to seek help. Roadman left with next to nothing to her name.

“The amount of things I’ve left behind across the United States in trying to avoid my own self is tremendous,” she added.

But she did not get out of her own way.

In early 2016 she reunited with the friend who had driven her to Connecticut and became pregnant. “My drug use continued,” she explained, “but I quit three months into my pregnancy, and my child was born healthy.”

But her drug use persisted; her mother called Child Protective Services;  she lost her child; and she was pregnant with a second child.

“I got myself into a treatment program, and I got my first child back,” Roadman related. Now living with her mother, Roadman had the second child. But when she resumed using drugs, her mother kicked her out of her house.

“I then got into a six-month treatment program,” explained Roadman, “and I got my two children back; I started working for Mason County; my life changed for the better; and I was free of drugs.”  In July of 2019, she had a third child.

But she started using drugs again.By May 2020 she had lost custody of her three young children, lost her job, had been arrested for felony assault and was now homeless.

“I lost everything, she said. “I was living in cars and on the streets.”

Roadman then added that in February 2021 she almost died from an overdose. A month later, she was arrested by Lacey police and jailed in Olympia.

“I knew at that time I was looking at significant jail time or going to prison,”  she said.

While jailed, she received an evaluation that led to treatment at St. Peter Hospital and at a clinic in Wenatchee. While there, Roadman learned about some of the services provided by the Olympia Union Gospel Mission.

“My counselor in Wenatchee came across the OUGM and connected me to it,” related Roadman. “I cannot thank Jodi Yarbrough and Sherry Chapman enough for all they did for me; my life began to ascend.”

After attending the mission’s Life Transformation Program and further treatment and clean since March 2021, she was hired to work as the office manager at OUGM in January 2022.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she concluded. “God has opened and closed doors, but He has kept me alive for a purpose, and I believe He does the same for everyone.”

JM Simpson - jm@theJOLTnews.com - is a veteran photojournalist who lives in Lacey.