A Crime Scene Cleaner Answers 20 Questions We’ve Always Wanted To Know
Though years of watching CSI and Dexter taught you the basic protocols for investigating a crime scene, those series never show the most gruesome part of all: what goes into a crime scene cleanup. If you consider yourself a junkie for true crime, specifically gross crime scenes, then you’ll definitely want to hear these crime scene cleanup technicians explain their jobs.
Gruesome site sanitation requires so much more than just mopping and vacuuming. While cleaning up after criminals doesn’t seem like an ideal job, some professionals experience a great sense of satisfaction when they complete a particularly tough job.
Would you want to make $50K or more tackling these crime scene cleanup horror stories?
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How Badly Does A Dead Person Smell?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Every dead person smells different. I learned that lesson quick on the job. The smell is rancid. We wore air-filtered respirators and you can still smell the decomposition through the mask. But it all depends on the room temperature. I went to a scene where an old man died of natural causes and you [could] smell the decomposition down the street, and then after that I went to a guy’s RV home where there was no AC when he died. Air temperatures is a big part in the smell.”
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How’d You Get This Job?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Indeed.com is my best friend when it came to finding jobs!”
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Are Cleanups Cheap?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Our jobs run people around 5k to 100k. My last job cost a family 60k to do. So imagine walking to a widow and telling her that’s it’s gonna cost her 30k to clean up her husband. It’s very heart wrenching to do.
“For starters, the job was located 60 miles from our home office, so we charged them travel fees then we charged them for the initial estimate, including any and every supply that will be used or not used. The house was a three-day decomposition job; there was blood in every room of the house so we had to quarantine all the rooms off.”
“Since the house has a the bad smell of decomposition, we use Hepa fans that will filter the air in the house and those fans will run constantly scrubbing the air. And there are two techs and one supervisor at each job so the job has to cover the on-job pay rate and travel rates.
“But what make this line of work hard and expensive for the company is the state permits needed to handle Biohazards. The company has to pay the state fees to drive and dispose of it properly so we charge the customers that. After all that is totaled then we get to cleaning. When each bottle of cleaner costs $75 and you use three bottles for each room in a four-bedroom home (and that’s just the cleaner) that runs up the bill pretty quick.
“Most home owner insurances will pay for majority of the job then it’s up to the client to pay their deductible before or after the job is complete.”
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What Part Of Town Do You Do The Most Work In?
Response from dariusjl3:
“I’m glad someone finally asked this question! The thing is most of our work is done in the nice ‘rich’ parts of town due to homeowners insurance and the high rate of suicides in the wealthy community.”
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How Many Bodies Have You Seen?
Response from Chrisbrn:
“I have actually never seen one. We go in after the coroner picks up the body. Most I’ve see was a couple pieces of jaw and skull.”
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What’s Your Creepiest Encounter?
Response from dariusjl3:
“This lady was going through an ugly divorce so she committed a very bloody suicide while her four dogs where in the house… When we arrived the dogs were soaked in her blood and she had animal skulls scattered around the house. I think that house is now haunted!”
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What Are Coworkers Like?
Response from dariusjl3:
“My coworkers were very intelligent, educated individuals. You kinda had to be in that line of work. They had their weird moments, I admit, but they were funny characters. Our humor made the work bearable.”
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Is The Pay Decent?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Yup it was great, but the catch is can you handle being on call 24/7.
“[But] I quit due to… the social life I had to leave behind due to being on call 24/7, 365. And the lack of work. One week you can bring in $1k+ and another week you can bring in zero. It’s very stressful when it comes to budgeting.”
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What Are The Hardest Things About The Job?
Response from Chrisbrn:
“The hardest part of the job is dealing with the next of kin and the media. The worst part is media. The last job I did I was cleaning up after a stair collapse. There were six news cameras on me the whole time, most awkward ‘what the f*ck am I doing with my life’ moment.
“Normally it’s just cleaning up a mess, but when you start finding out who that mess belongs to or how it came to be it starts to get very difficult. The worst was definitely the old lady in a bathtub after four months. Had to use shovels and absorbent (Spill-B-Gone) to get all the fluids out! What did upset me was that her family was there, bawling their eyes out. I don’t know if they were because they neglected her or because they were actually sad.”
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What Was The Worst Experience?
Response from Chrisbrn:
“Worst was body in the apartment for five weeks, HIV+, heroin addict, and a hoarder. You literally had to pick up each piece of trash individually to make sure there weren’t any [needles] in the pile. Imagine doing that in an 800-square-foot house, with trash [about] four-feet-deep all around.”
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Is The Pay Worth It?
Response from Chrisbrn:
“For the time being it is ($50 to 60k for a 21-year-old with no minimal college), but we get burned out, and no amount of money is worth my sanity or health.”
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If You Defend Your Home Against An Intruder, How Much Will That Cost You?
Response from Chrisbrn:
“Insurance [will cover it]! But some churches and cities have funds to cover that if you don’t have homeowners’ or renters’ insurance.”
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Do You Travel A Lot?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Yup, we traveled everywhere. Our office was based in Houston so we would travel to Oklahoma all the way to Florida.
“So let’s say they call me while I’m at home. I have 30 to 45 to be at the home office, then from there we will leave in the company vehicle to the client’s location in the time frame that we projected.”
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What’s The Best Part Of The Job?
Response from dariusjl3:
“The best part was the initial assessment! Driving to the location, not knowing what to expect when I get there, it becomes a game trying to figure out what happened and the best way to approach the scene from a efficiency stand point. It’s a rush!”
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Why Did You Quit?
Response from dariusjl3:
“I quit because I was tired of the 24/7 on call, never knowing when I would go in to work. It took a toll on my social life.”
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What Kind Of Suits Do You Wear? Are They Air-Conditioned?
Response from dariusjl3:
“We wear OSHA certified biohazard suits that protect us from liquids at the scene. We wear air-filtered respirators that attache to the suit so we get clean air. And I think our gloves were the classic blue and yellow heavy duty lab gloves.
“I sure wish they were! The suit had a fabric that would wick the sweat but that was pretty much it.”
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What Accreditation Is Needed?
Response from dariusjl3:
“A degree will definitely help you get your foot into the door, but competition is very competitive due to the great pay and benefits.”
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How Do You Decompress? Do People In The Field Suffer From PTSD?
Response from dariusjl3:
“After work I would just talk to people. It made me appreciate living people and relationships. It’s not a job to have if you’re a loner or don’t have someone to talk to. It sucks when people ask me about my work day because when I tell them it really messes up the mood in the room, you know?
“And yes this job can cause PTSD due to being surrounded by violence and blood all the time.”
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How Did This Change Your Outlook On Life?
Response from dariusjl3:
“My view on life completely changed in that line of work. I am happier because life could always be worse. And when you’re so close to death and seeing families fall apart due to a death, it makes you treasure the people you love.”
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How Satisfying Is It?
Response from dariusjl3:
“Oh it was very satisfying! The families we helped would be so grateful and happy to have us clean and would say it helped with their mourning. I had a guy cry on my shoulder after his wife killed herself, and he thanked me for making the situation less painful for him. I told him I [was there] to help him in any way possible and he needed to hear that.”
