A couple from Missouri have discovered their dream house was once used as a meth lab, after their unborn baby tested positive for meth.
Tyler and Elisha Hessel’s joy at moving into their new home quickly dissipated after their doctor delivered the shocking news that both Elisha and her unborn child had tested positive for amphetamines.
Neither Elisha or Tyler had ever taken any amphetamines, and so the horrified couple decided to have their recently purchased house tested to try and get to the root of the problem.
Strange comments from neighbours had reportedly led the Hessels to wonder what their supposedly perfect family home had been used for prior to them moving in.
According to CBS News, Elisha said:
Just through normal conversations as we got to know them a little better they said they were so happy to finally have ‘normal’ people move in next door,
They had also mentioned that the police were there for a possible drug bust type situation.
Concerned by these comments, the couple tried out an at-home drug testing kit on their property. When the results came back as positive, they decided to have a full, professional test conducted on the house.
It was found the house tested positive for unsafe levels of methamphetamines, forcing Tyler and Elisha to move out immediately for the safety of their unborn child.
Most US states – Missouri included – require home sellers to disclose any material defects within the property to prospective buyers. Furthermore, home sellers in Missouri are specifically required to let buyers know if the property had been used to produce meth.
However, state and county legislation does not currently include penalties for those who do not disclose a meth contamination to a buyer or those who fail to adequately clean a property.
Tyler and Elisha were reportedly never told about the history of their property, and only found out it had been used as a meth lab after looking through Jefferson County records for a database of meth seizures in the area.
It will reportedly cost the parents-to-be more than $100,000 to gut and rebuild the house in order to rid it of any meth contamination. This immense financial burden – mere months before their baby’s birth – has led to a relative setting up a GoFundMe page for them.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.