This job not for the squeamish

Crime scenes test cleaners' fortitude

Most crime scene cleaners get into the business by accident.

They open a cleaning service, begin restoring homes and apartments, and then one day they get the call, usually from grieving family members after a shooting or stabbing.

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Most business owners soon learn to become amateur decorators and last-minute therapists. They discover that some people like to talk about the dead, and a few like to watch them clean.

Last year gave them plenty of practice, with Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recording a 10-year high of 85 killings. This year at least 79 people have been killed.

Owners are now bracing for a flurry of calls this winter, because people tend to get depressed and arguments are taken indoors, they say.

David Perry, owner of Crime & Trauma Scene Restoration, keeps a log of graphic pictures that he shows to curious friends and family.

"This is what happens when you get depressed," he tells them. "You should look for help."

Perry got into the business after retiring from the Concord Police Department for medical reasons. The goal is to help people forget what happened in their homes, he said.

"I might say, 'Your walls are an antique white now, have you thought about going to this Navajo color? It might brighten the place up a bit,' " he said.

Crime scenes become less daunting if cleaners follow two precautions, owners say:

* Stay focused.

"It's easy to walk into the crime scene and sit in there and stare, but you have to remember you're there to provide a service, and not be a distraction to the family," said Steve Alsop, owner of Charlotte's Bio-Hazard Response Team.

* Come well prepared.

Tyvek suits, respirators, ultraviolet lights and ozone machines are essential. Then come the extras. Alsop, for example, packs almost 20 types of spatulas that he buys at a local hardware store for scooping and scraping.

Many people mistakenly think police officers are responsible for cleaning scenes. They're not, although some officers will recommend a list of cleaning companies, which number at least 10 in Charlotte. Costs can run about $150 to $200 an hour, and services range from simple carpet cleanings to renovating homes.

Natural deaths, and not violent crimes, are the ultimate test of someone's cleaning ability.

One Charlotte man was discovered in a 75-degree room almost two months after he died.

"He sort of cooked himself," Perry said.

In Gastonia, a 300-pound decaying body was discovered 10 days late. It was summer, and the remains had seeped through the couch, the padding, the carpet and a slab of concrete, said Mark Fagala, owner of Gastonia-based Fagala Mortuary and Bio-Hazard Specialist.

"The smell is just like a right punch to the chin," he said.

The man's family wanted to keep his computer, but Fagala explained that electronic equipment, especially TVs and computers, will keep emitting foul smells when plugged in.

Slippery, sticky, smelly scenes aren't for everyone. "It's just eerie," said Matthew Powers, who used to work at a cleaning company. "I don't know why anybody would want to get into that."

A couple of years ago, Powers was asked to clean up a man who shot his girlfriend and then himself. He didn't know where to look. Up to that point, Powers' job was to repair apartments damaged by mold, fire or water, not recover someone else's DNA.

He quit after six months. The company owner, Powers said, "was making money on someone else's misery."

Others in the business see it differently. They say it's a chance to console people

Some employees get sick at a crime scene.

"This is what I know what I'm ready for," said Fagala, who says he's never gotten sick.