Most people ask me what the worse thing I have ever seen is on a job. I must say its probably a human decomposition. There is no other smell like the smell of death. I remember when I was in the police academy and was required to do my ride alongs. I accompanied some detectives to an old folks independent living facility. When I got off the elevator to the 4th floor I immediately smelled something repulsive. I thought it smelled like rotten eggs. However, it didn't have that spoiled food smell, but it was the only thing I recognized that might have come close to the smell of death. When the detectives opened the door I saw a man, who appeared to be in his 60's lying on the floor. The smell was overwhelming. The man's stomach was enormous, bloated with gases. His legs and arms were blue. His face pasty. His bowels had released and there was a pool of feces and urine lying beneath him. The detectives immediately cupped their ties around their noses to get some type of barrier between their nose and the obnoxious smell. Being the first decomp that I had ever been on the smell for me was unbearable.
Once the funeral home arrived to pick up the body they rolled out the body bag and unzipped it. One guy picked up the old man's arms, while the other grabbed the ankles. The guy that picked up the arms got a surprise. The old mans skin immediately fell off and body fluids leaked out. The smell immediately worsened as if a can of old spoiled meat was just opened. The tried another method. Just roll the guy into the bag. The fluids remained along with the smell in that room. At that time I never wondered what happened to the remains after the body was removed. I was too wrapped up in police work to even consider it.
Fast forward 10 yrs later and I am cleaning these scenes up for a living. I have become accustomed to the smell and about half the time I don't need a respirator. Every once in awhile, about once a month, we will get a decomp where the person has been unattended for a month or so. I always wonder how a person can go unattended, never missed for such a long time. One particular job made me ponder these very questions. An elderly community in the Tampa metro area, a woman died and was left unattended for 3 to 4 wks. I received a call from the victim's son. He was very irritated that one of my competitors had read about the death either in the obituaries, or figured it out because he's a fire fighter. This individual called the deceased relatives in Michigan and TN to try to get this job. The guy was so put off by this he told my competitor to stop calling him, and that he would not get the job. Hence the reason he called Spaulding decon. We get a lot of work from our creative marketing, and we definitely don't ambulance chase, or result to other stupid tactics to get jobs.
We responded to the residence and met with the son. He was leaving town the next day and requested the house be cleaned up and completely cleaned out. We are able to provide this service as well. The woman was dead in the master bedroom on the floor. She leaked through the bedding, through the carpet and padding onto the wood sub flooring. The smell was horrific. Her entire body imprint was on the wood sub floor. It was amazing. A perfect human outline, as you would see written in concrete by the police with chalk. This outline, however was sketched in black. Needless to say it was a job that took many processes for odor control, and many stages.
Visit www.spauldingdecon.com for your unattended death clean up scenes.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Crime Scene Cleaning Companies
When the unthinkable happens in your life, a death of a loved one, what do you do? The only thing certain in the world are death and taxes, so everyone will be left with this question one day or another. As the owner of crime scene cleaning company we get calls daily from people who have no idea what to do. This is just one aspect of their grief. They must deal with the funeral arrangements, the cleanup, the property and possessions, and the lawyers. If I have learned anything its that probate attorney's are definitely in it for their fair share. Families have complained that the monies are stuck in probate and they are using credit cards to pay for large ticket items like caskets and funeral arrangements. When someone dies, the ones who survive don't really get to grieve until several months later after everything else has been taken care of. But I digress......
When grief stricken families find their loved ones have passed away whether naturally or by violent means they usually have no idea where to find help with the clean up. Most of them try to get friends and other family members to help them clean it up. Not only is that a bad idea, but you are setting yourself up for potential lawsuits if the friendly gesture turns out to give that person nightmares, psychological problems, or a blood borne pathogen disease.
If the friends and family thing isn't an option, the person turns to the police which in most cities will get you no where. The police are told to not recommend any particular company, but most of them don't even direct the family to the right place to get the help they need. As a former police officer this is most disturbing. First of all, police departments are a public service, paid by you and I in our taxes. If you are broken down on the side of the road, the police officers will come and sit with you and ask you which tow company you would like. Most people have no clue which tow company they prefer so they ask the officer to choose. The officer then orders a "non preference tow", which simply means, the citizen doesn't have a choice, please order the next in line of our certified tow companies. Yes, there are several tow companies on a rotation, who are called to help citizens. For some reason, crime scene cleaning companies are not treated equally. There are no regulations or requirements to clean up a crime scene. Even in public places blood and tissue are left on the side walks and streets. Amazing....
As I said, there are no regulations (except in California) regarding the cleanup, so there are many rogue companies. My company, Spaulding Decon, http://www.spauldingdecon.com/ is a certified company in Florida. There is a local company in Tampa, owned by a man who has no training whatsoever. Admittedly trained on the Internet, this person is allowed into unsuspecting homes and performs clean ups after homicides, suicides, decompositions, and other wonderful circumstances. There is no way the public can tell the difference between his company and my company.
Advise to the public: Ask for references, ask for certifications, ask for insurance documents, and do your research. Check the better business bureau for complaints on the company. This is hard to do when you are in crisis mode, but you won't regret it. References may be hard because most families want to remain anonymous, because they don't want to re-live the agony.
Anyone can always contact me for information or advice no matter where you live.
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