St. Louis-area cleaning crews tackle the aftermath of crimes, deaths [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Dec. 04--ST. LOUIS</location> -- They tried blotting out the blood stain on the hallway carpet that marked the spot where Antionette Wilkins collapsed and died of a gunshot to her back.

Antionette's mother, Tracei Dixon, and aunt, Courtnei Dixon, used several home remedies -- bleach, milk, hydrogen peroxide and water -- to erase the reminder of the 17-year-old girl's death after she was hit by gunfire from a vacant lot across the street on Nov. 13.

"We can't get it up," said Tracei Dixon, 39. "The bleach just bleaches the rug."

The Dixons planned to move out of their apartment in the 4000 block of St. Louis Avenue, leaving the task for their landlord.

After murders, suicides or deaths that have gone unnoticed for an extended period, authorities remove the bodies. But the job of erasing the physical reminders often falls on the families of victims, an additional burden on those already left coping with a loved one's death.

But they do have somewhere to turn. At least a half-dozen companies based in the St. Louis area do a job almost no one wants: scrubbing the mess the dead leave behind.

Twin sisters Sharon Grammer and Karen Wahby of Fenton started Benecorp after their own experiences with death. About seven years ago, they cleaned their sister's home in Evansville, Ind., after she died. A short time later, their father died in Florida and they traveled there to clean his home.

They said they saw a need to help people dealing with traumatic situations and decided to launch their own company. They said they're not in business to get rich. Rather, their primary goal is to help people -- without judging or intruding on families' personal problems.

"We're not there to ask questions," Grammer said. "We're there to clean. And the people are so appreciative of what you do."

That interaction with family can be the most challenging part of the job, said Tao Martinez, 31. His company, Archangels Biorecovery in Aurora, Ill., was called last month to clean up after an Alton man was killed in an accident involving a wood chipper.

"You can get used to the tissue, the blood and the fluids, but handling the family is the hardest part," Martinez said. "No matter how many scenes you come to, every family that you handle will always leave a portion of their grief and sorrow for you. Our main purpose is to try to avoid any more trauma on the family."

Suffice it to say, the men and women who work in the field have all seen gruesome things. Sometimes they can see a whole story, a crime from beginning to end, in what's left behind after police, paramedics and medical examiners move on.

"The blood and guts doesn't bother me, but a lot of people don't have the stomach for it," said Will Bluemel, 57, a partner in the Bridgeton-based St. Louis Trauma Services.

Cleanup costs vary depending on the severity of the scene, ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. It can be expensive work because of liability insurance, supplies and the cost of training employees. Homeowners insurance typically covers the cost of cleaning up after a person is found murdered or dead of natural causes, but usually not suicides.

In Illinois, a victim compensation fund reimburses crime scene cleanup costs to those lacking adequate insurance. Missouri's victim compensation fund, however, does not cover uninsured costs of cleaning up crime scenes, said Julie Lawson, executive director of the Crime Victim Advocacy Center in St. Louis.

Although many cleaning companies tout having certifications in handling hazardous waste and complying with federal standards for reducing exposure to diseases, most states, including Illinois and Missouri, do not regulate the niche industry by requiring minimum training or a license to mop up the carnage of a crime scene.

On job sites, workers don full blue or white protective suits, shoe coverings, gloves and respirators. They often spray rooms with disinfectants before cutting out sections of walls, carpets and furniture splashed with body fluids. Contaminated materials are bagged and stored in plastic bins labeled as biohazards and carted off to medical waste disposal facilities.

"If it's porous, it's gone," said John Denny, co-owner of Bio Clean 911 in Ballwin. Denny and his college fraternity brother, Brian Stinson, started the company a year ago.

They say they saw a business opportunity in offering a service to families, but also think it's important to help people understand the potential hazards of flushing blood and other bodily fluids down the drain.

"People don't think about how dangerous that is to the community," Stinson said.

Several St. Louis-area businesses said the demand for cleaning up after deaths isn't enough to support a business, so they tackle other residential cleaning challenges such as hoarding, mold and residue left from methamphetamine labs.

For example, Grammer and Wahby, the sisters from Benecorp, said about 75 percent of their business comes from clearing out homes where hoarders live. (Sometimes they are called back to homes they've previously cleaned.)

But Bluemel, of St. Louis Trauma Services, says he sees the potential for significant growth within the industry as the nation's population ages.

"Every month, there are 365,000 Americans turning 65," Bluemel said. "All the baby boomers are coming up to that age, including me."

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