Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 26, 2004
Jeffrey Gold, AP Business Writer
When someone is murdered or commits suicide at home, family members or friends are responsible for cleaning up. Carroll's Newark company, Tragic Solutions, specializes in removing the human residue after a death or shooting.
"That's almost as tragic as losing a person," said Carroll, who witnessed hundreds of grisly scenes while a detective with the Morris County sheriff's department. He founded Tragic Solutions two years ago with Tom Rohling, another retiree from the department.
Despite only slight increases in murder and suicide rates, the industry has grown to dozens of companies. Carroll and other operators say that's because of concerns over contracting diseases such as AIDS or hepatitis.
"Twenty years ago, AIDS was in its infancy, so it was never thought of," Carroll said. "You could pretty much go in with bleach and a sponge and clean it up. But with the diseases out there today, you want a professional who knows what they're doing."
He and his crews wear protective outfits made of a puncture-resistant material also used in building construction, along with gloves, boots, masks and occasionally, breathing equipment.
"I look like the Pillsbury Doughboy in my Tyvek suit. As far as I'm concerned, everyone has everything," said Carroll, 39.
He urges families to check for credentials that show cleaning company workers are insured and have permits to handle and transport medical waste to a licensed incinerator.
The cost, a minimum of $500 for Tragic Solutions, is generally covered by homeowner's insurance. Motels and other businesses that use the service usually pay out of pocket, Carroll said.
Cleanup costs vary because each situation is different. It costs $1,000 to $2,000 for a suicide cleanup that takes three to six hours, said Michael Tillman, who in 1999 founded Biohazard Solutions, which primarily serves the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"That would be a typical gunshot in the bedroom, where you have a mattress that needs to be disposed of, and walls that need to be cleaned," said Tillman, noting the cost includes incineration fees and personal protection gear.
"It's a lot messier than people think it's going to be," he said.
His most notorious case involved Terry Lee Hankins, an auto mechanic from Mansfield, Texas, who in 2002 was sentenced to die after confessing to killing five of his relatives.
One part of the cleanup involved a recliner where Hankins' father was shot and sat, decomposing, for 10 months until found. The fabric was stripped and burned, while the frame was decontaminated and sent to a landfill, Tillman said.
Tragic Solutions and Biohazard Solutions rely on a core of about four full-time employees, augmented by part-timers, to handle several hundred jobs a year. Tillman said he hopes to offer franchising opportunities in six to eight months.
Unattended deaths, whether from natural causes or accident, appear to account for about half of the jobs, with suicides and then murders accounting for most of the rest.
Some companies, such as Bio-Tec Emergency Services outside Minneapolis, are getting more calls to sanitize trailers and barns often used as transient labs producing illegal methamphetamines.
The labs are laden with hazardous chemicals. "People are more aware of the dangers, and they're not going to put their neck out," said Mark Kropidlowski, who founded Bio-Tec in 1991 and now claims to have over 900 employees and offices in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
"When we started there was absolutely nobody. Now there's upwards of a 100 companies, maybe more," he said.
He started the business after his brother-in-law killed his wife and baby, and then himself, in Los Angeles.
"We just went out and took care of it, because there was no one to take care of it," Kropidlowski said. It took 40 hours. "I couldn't imagine being a mother and your son committed suicide and taking care of it."
Personal experience also prompted Chris Wilson and Tim Reifsteck, who had been procuring subscriptions for Chicago newspapers, to found Aftermath Inc., of Plainfield, Ill., in 1997.
They helped clean up after a neighbor of Reifsteck's committed suicide, Wilson said.
Aftermath now has more than 90 employees nationwide handling 3,200 jobs annually, he said.
"Tear gas has been a big one lately. There are certain chemicals that will remediate tear gas, but they have to be applied correctly," said Wilson, 32.
He said Aftermath handled the cleanup at the Naperville, Ill., home of Marilyn Lemak, who slashed her wrists after drugging and smothering her three children in 1999. She is now serving a life term.
"It really baffles you what one person can do to another person," Wilson said. Or to themselves. "We had a situation where a guy hung himself and wasn't dying quickly enough, so he pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot himself in the head."
Despite the demands of the job, company operators said they have no problem finding workers, many of whom appear motivated by crime scene investigation television shows.
Aftermath gets 40 to 60 e-mails a week from people who want to join. "They are crime scene junkies. They want to see what a crime scene looks like. We have to weed them out," Wilson said.
Bio-Tec's Kropidlowski said the cleaning business isn't for those wanting to get rich quick. Cleaning companies often face long waits for payment, whether from insurance companies or stricken families.
"They're going through a situation in which the last thing on their mind is whether you get paid," Kropidlowski said.
On the Net: Aftermath Inc.: www.aftermathinc.com
Biohazard Solutions: www.biohazardsolutions.com/about.html
Bio-Tec Emergency Services: www.crimeclean-up.net
Tragic Solutions: www.tragicsolutions.com
Crime scene cleanup directory: http://crimescenecleanupdirectory.com
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