# Who cleans up after a murder/suicide/etc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758 "2004-11-09T01:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/1 "2004-11-09T01:05:23Z")
Pretty self-explanitory on this one. Let’s say that Mr. Smith blows his brains out in his living room. Big, messy suicide. So…the police and coroner take care of their bit. The body is carried away. Then what? Who cleans up? Do they just give Mrs. Smith a complimentary NYPD Sponge™ and tell her, “Good luck”? Is there someone whose job is strictly to clean up such scenes? If so, how does someone end up in that job? Are they volunteers, or is it punishment duty? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/2 "2004-11-09T01:09:20Z")
Looks like that after the authorities are done, it’s up to you to clean up. Hey, it’s not the government’s job to clean up the blood. But help is on the way. [Crime Scene Clean-Up](http://www.crimeclean-up.com/) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/3 "2004-11-09T01:11:55Z")
There’s specialist companies, supposedly innovated by a bunch of LA cops who realised there was money to be made taking on the jobs that regular cleaning companies wouldn’t touch. However, I admit that outside of homicide hotspots, this doesn’t answer your question, and nor does it answer it historically. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/4 "2004-11-09T01:12:45Z")
[A couple](http://www.crimescenecleaners.com/about.php) [more examples](http://www.scenecleanup.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/5 "2004-11-09T01:15:09Z")
There are businesses that specialize in ‘crime scene cleanup’ or ‘crime scene cleaning’ (also called ‘trauma scene cleanup/cleaning’). Google that and you’ll find quite a few of them. I discovered this interesting and fast-growing\* business segment on a TV show. (I don’t remember what, but it was a Discovery or TLC show about unusual jobs.) The owner had a very nonchalant view of his work, though I guess that’s psycholgically necessary to deal with it: ‘If you get your head blown off, I’m the guy to call’ sort of thing. \*: Well, it’s not _actually_ growing, but that’s not the conclusion you’d make after watching the nightly news. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/6 "2004-11-09T01:20:17Z")
In car accidents, if the car is not totaled, they throw out a lot of stuff, and send other items to a specialty cleaner. You never have to deal with it. (It was deer gore in my experience, but I imagine gore is gore.) ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/7 "2004-11-09T01:21:33Z")
Thank ye, BobT, for that link which used the word ‘remnants’. A fine word for such a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/8 "2004-11-09T02:31:33Z")
You have to call The Wolf… and you need a hose. ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/9 "2004-11-09T04:03:35Z")
There was an episode of Insomniac where Dave rode along with a guy who does this out of Oakland. He was also on an episode of MythBusters where they let a dead pig rot inside a car to see if they could get the smell out. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/10 "2004-11-09T04:57:55Z")
NPR did a feature once on unlikely jobs, and they featured two women who set up their own business to specialize in these sort of traumatic messes. It sounded so gruesome and was a fascinating interview. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/11 "2004-11-09T05:07:15Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > NPR did a feature once on unlikely jobs, and they featured two women who set up their own business to specialize in these sort of traumatic messes. It sounded so gruesome and was a fascinating interview. I’m not sure if it was the same thing you heard, but “This American Life” had an episode that followed one of these companies. That was some great radio. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/12 "2004-11-09T05:10:18Z")
There was an interesting movie made about this subject: [Curdled](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115994/). It makes the rounds on cable every few months. Very moody movie; good performances, even from the Baldwin brother who was in it. However, I have notoriously low standards for movies; YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/13 "2004-11-09T05:55:40Z")
I second the **Curdled** recommendation. It is an extremely underrated and underappreciated movie about a Columbian gorehound who gets a job at an American crime scene cleaning company. Angela Jones (you might recognize her from a bit part in Pulp Fiction) is adorable and charming. Graphic, but in a silly way (you get to see a lot of the actual cleaning, plus a few examples of things these people have to deal with e.g. tough stains, skull fragments mistakenly left behind after a clean up). ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/14 "2004-11-09T06:10:29Z")
My aunt comitted suicide in January. She used a shotgun. No one ever contacted us about “clean up,” and honestly, it didn’t even cross my mind. None of the police/sherrifs, ambulance team or funeral home made any mention or referral along those lines. All that happened was that the room as closed and locked. Her husband “Joe”, left the house and went to stay with his family, and the house was left empty for several days. About four days after it happened, “Joe’s” brother-in-law called to ask if he could enter the house, saying vaguely that there was some things that Joe needed and some things to take care of. Probably if we all hadn’t still been in shock, it would have stuck us as odd, especially since “Joe” was staying with them-- why would he need to ask us? A handful of “Joe’s” relatives went down to the house and cleaned the room, including removing floorboards and whatnot. I never met these people, but I hold much gratitude towards them in my heart for sparing my family an agonizing job. While I know such services exist I’d have no idea how to contact them, especially considering I wasn’t in the most clear state of mind during all of this. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/15 "2004-11-09T06:12:25Z")
> [@astro](#): > > You have to call The Wolf… and you need a hose. As well as some appropriately dorky clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-a-murder-suicide-etc/273758/16 "2004-11-09T07:18:31Z")
All you need is a big can of Murder/Suicide-Strength Pledge! Also, Murder/Suicide-Strength Palmolive for when it happens in the kitchen.