Crime Scene Cleanup A Booming Business

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Realtors walk through several empty homes each day with potential buyers, but most of the time they do not know why the seller has placed the property on the market.

Chris Pedon, with HER Real Living, said one house he sold several years ago was more of challenge, Arica Robbins, from 10TV's statewide affiliate ONN, reported on Wednesday.

"We had an incident where there was a murder of a wife, and then a suicide by the husband, and that was very tough," Pedon said.

It most municipalities, once the police, fire department and crime-scene investigators leave, it becomes the responsibility of the victim's family to clean up.

Until recently, very few cleaning companies would handle that kind of job, Robbins reported.

Brett Jones, a Columbus firefighter, noticed a need and started Casualty Cleanup; a biohazard firm that helps families pick up the pieces.

"As a technician, you're able to go in and help a family because they are already under a lot of stress," Jones said. "You've got to get funeral arrangements done and it was likely unexpected. That's emotionally distressing."

Crime scene cleanup can also be dangerous.

"A lot of times it's just not something that you should be attempting to do if you don't know how to do it," said Chris Kincaid, co-owner of Casualty Cleanup.

Once an unconsidered concern, the crime scene clean up business is a growing one, Robbins said.

"There are pathogens that you can contract when you're dealing with blood and body fluids," Kincaid said.

Pedon said in Ohio there are no set rules on whether to disclose a suicide or crime in a home that is listed for sale.

"Commonly people wait until the house is shown and once somebody showed interest, they'd disclose at that point," Pedon said.

Some non-profit organizations help families with crime scene cleanup, which can be costly and time consuming.

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More Information:

Netcare
Here4Hope
Casualty Cleanup