How to clean up a crime scene?

Bleach is good. But remember how those crafty CSI people do it on TV . . . they will find one strange hair in the hair brush, run a spectral analysis, determined the victim is a white female, age 29, with red hair, and determine that the killer had to be a head taller than the victim, have a pinky ring, and wears a cologne which can only be found at a gay bar on 43rd Street . . . and that could only mean one thing: the guy next door is the killer!

;-)

Prawn said:

I know that the feds may kick down my door for asking this, but what is the best way to clean up a crime scene. My protag just came home to find a body in his house, killed and left there by someone wanting to frame him for murder.

Tile floor. What do I need, bleach? Is there something like salt which would destroy the blood to prevent a DNA test from working?

Thanks
P

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You might want to talk with a professional crime scene cleaner. Yes, there are such folks. I have heard one (who works in the San Francisco Bay Area, I believe) speak at a couple of meetings of mystery writers. Google might be your friend here -- search on "crime scene cleaners".

--Ken

I've actually been looking for a crime scene cleaner to come and talk at my local SinC chapter, but I guess there are none here in my state. There is a movie being filmed currently about two sisters who are crime scene cleaners and who realize their lives are not so bad after all. There is a Mythbusters episode (they put two pigs in a corvette for 2 months) where a crime scene cleaner gives them tips to get the gooey stuff and the smell out of the corvette.

That is my exhaustive knowledge about crime scene cleaners.

Also, I have ofen wondered what the CSI spectral lights would make of my baby-catching shoes. Ick!!!

I've often wondered it that wonder product Oxy Clean does a better job on blood and guts than bleach, especially if you're cleaning up upholstery.

Chlorine will degrade any DNA they might still find, but I've heard lye works bestest of all-est.

What's that stuff that makes blood fluoresce under black light? I saw it on FBI Files.

That stuff is luminol. But bleach can wreak havoc on luminol. Luminol attaches to the iron in blood.

scarletpeaches said:

What's that stuff that makes blood fluoresce under black light? I saw it on FBI Files.

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Its called luminol....I'm new to this board & everyone here is so knowledgeable & really into detail (like me). I am trying to get an appiontment with the local coroner so that I can get really accurate info for an autopsy scene that I am writing.
I interviewed a San Francisco police officer last weekend about homicide investigation proceedures. He must have thought I was a couple sandwiches short of a picnic.

Tori

Prawn said:

I know that the feds may kick down my door for asking this, but what is the best way to clean up a crime scene. My protag just came home to find a body in his house, killed and left there by someone wanting to frame him for murder.P

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A different approach to cleaning the crime scene is to mess it up. You could have your protag break into a blood bank and steal a bunch of different blood. Throw it around the room and then start cleaning. All sorts of DNA to sort out. Could also have his friends give him some blood. Animal blood is different, but would also confuse the situation. Go to a barber shop and get hairs from all their customers. Throw a party after cleaning.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Heck if I know. 'round these parts they call the local floor cleaners, if the floor cleaners won't do it, the people who own the building have to do it.

There was a doctor that committed suicide around here and my in-laws were called in. They refused to do the job because it was a big mess and they don't deal with these kinds of things, just dirty carpets like mud and such. So the family had to clean it up. I can't even imagine going through that.

As for meth labs they board up the windows, carry out the chemicals, and call it good.

That's how it's done with a low population area. Good thing we don't get too many violent deaths around here.

How attached is your protag to his home?
One word - FIRE

"... gee officer, I guess I just forgot that I left that 10 gallon can of gasoline sitting near the fireplace"

Ok ok, maybe that's a little too extreme for your story, but it would definately destroy the majority of physical evidence, especially if the place is completely burnt to the ground. Keep in mind too that if the police find his home scrubbed floor to ceiling, with new carpet and fresh paint everywhere that will be a major red flag to them also, although no matter what they suspect being a neat-freak will not be grounds for arrest.

I wonder if using a tile & grout sealer post-cleanup would make it impossible to get a sample. Opinions?

I would search for a local company that does bio-hazard training. These folks are trained in how to handle poop, blood, spew, etc. and they train health & safety people at companies (first responders). Plus, they may either know someone or have a side-job where they actually do clean-ups.

I've heard of a couple of registered nurses that started a company in San Antonio to do these kind of clean-ups and they are making lots and lots and lots of money.

Other thoughts on who to ask/call - industrial hygienists, ambulance companies, paramedics, apartment/rental owners associations, remediation companies (they deal with flood, fire, mold, etc.).

Judy

Just a thought. We had a murder where the bad guy cleaned up everything, but some of the victims had drained into the space under the floorboards and down into the joints under the stairs. It was a significant amount of blood and was a key factoring in sending aforementioned scumbum to jail.

He thought that if he got the surface area cleaned up it would do the trick. What he didn't expect was his girlfriend getting coldfeet, telling the po-po and a search warrant w/attached crowbar tearing up the floor and finding the pooled blood.

Gotta say, in your story, I hope you covered a few things besides the cleaning. Like how your person got past the smell, the possible nightmares after dealing with such sites. Especially if they were not prepared ahead of time to deal with it all.

But higher than the first floor, the fifth no less...Removal of the body wouldn't be UN-noticed. And taking the cleaning supplies (and equipment to sanitize and deodorize) up there - unless done in the middle of the night, might raise some eyebrows as well.

But tile floors, marble even, doesn't get you out of the fact blood seeps, and if any got in the groves, it then traveled under the tiles. And pulling them up, will get the killer in hot water for sure. (Or worse yet, if someone tried to cover it all up, and then he is looking guilty if indeed, he wasn't' at the start)

My best hint to anyone wanting to think about doing it - hire someone else that is trained for it. Lots of heavy weight to deal with if one tries to do it themselves.

Hi,

I researched this once and, as I recall, bleach was suitable for destroying DNA. But, as has been pointed out, it's all the hair and other tiny bits and pieces that will be a problem. Good luck.

Steve

I'm SO happy I saw this thread. This is precisely the info I needed for my current WIP! Woohoo!

Thanks everyone! =^D


(Does my over-enthusiasm for such knowledge give anyone pause yet? =^P )

Steve W said:

Hi,

I researched this once and, as I recall, bleach was suitable for destroying DNA. But, as has been pointed out, it's all the hair and other tiny bits and pieces that will be a problem. Good luck.

Steve

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Does it destroy the DNA? I thought it interfered with the Luminol. Anyone out there know for sure?