That being said, when there is no family involved, we can make an exception and we give you what we know.

This clean-up was at a property that had been repossessed by the bank. Before the property had been cleared out of the belongings the previous owners had left behind, a squatter had moved in. It is unclear if this person was a former owner or just a run-of-the-mill squatter, but he moved in and for some reason committed suicide – self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Here’s what we saw when arrived on-scene:

There were a few drops of blood in the bathroom and a bunch leading to and in the kitchen sink. We presume that he shot himself with a small caliber weapon – like a .22 or 9 mil. – as there was no bullet hole and minimal splatter. It then appears that he didn’t die instantly and went into the bathroom first, then the kitchen and finally died in the living room. I can only imagine what he was thinking after pulling the trigger. He was most likely very panicked and scared, which makes the situation even worse.

Once he finally died, he went undiscovered for some time – at least a week or so. The spot on the carpet was bigger underneath and was infested with maggots.

The clean-up was fairly simple and when we were done, the house was free of contaminants and was turned back over to the bank.

We see a lot of sad situations on this job. Whether it’s a suicide, accidental death or a decomposition – it’s never a happy scene. But, we have to stay positive and we can’t allow it to affect us. People in these situations need help – they need us. So, we stay strong, push through and do our job like anyone else does theirs.

And in the end, we can rest easy knowing we were able to help someone in a difficult situation.

Greetings, all.

This week’s quote you may find a bit morose. However, I post it not with any dark-humored intentions. I simply post it to point out that there are different points of view on death. Some may find it perverse. But realize that life goes on even after the loss of someone we love. A brighter point of view may help that life go on a little better.

Another week, another quote. I’m going to keep it short as I’ve got another post to get written on a subject that may be of interest.

So, here you go:

“What is Death? Death is the ending of life. When people die, their bodies stop working. The heart stops beating and the brain stops functioning. People have always wanted to learn the secret of living forever. In ancient times, explorers and scientists searched for the secret of eternal life. The truth is, nothing can live forever. Everyone and everything will die in time. Plants, animals, and people all die. Death is a natural part of life.”

Here is the next installment of our quotes of the week. It seems oddly comforting in a situation that most would cringe at.

“Most of us were not afraid of death, only of the act of dying; and there were times when we overcame even this fear. At such moments we were free–men without shadows, dismissed from the ranks of the mortal; it was the most complete experience of freedom that can be granted a man.”

However, there are some rare occurrences where there is no family involved and we can post information without the fear of upsetting anyone related to the scene.

The following is a decomposition cleanup we did in a foreclosed and vacant house. It wasn’t a very involved cleanup so there’s not a lot of details to give, but I’ll take you through what we encountered.

Apparently a squatter had taken up residence in this house (a common enough occurrence, especially these days). Due to circumstances unbeknownst to us or the company managing the property, he died. As the house was vacant, nobody discovered him for some time. Here is what we first saw:

As you can see, you can tell the exact position the body was laying in. There is a detailed outline of the body including feet, knees, buttocks, torso, head and arms.

In a situation like this, you will very often see lots of flies and maggots. Although there were a prodigious amount of flies, they were all dead, which means that this had been sitting for some time after the body was removed.

There were some smears of blood on the wall down the hallway (some of which can be seen in the above photo). These smears were most likely, in my opinion, from vomit or possibly a nose bleed? There was no blood spatter or pool of blood (beyond the fluids you see), nor were there any bullet holes in the wall or ceiling,  so it is doubtful that it was a gunshot – self-inflicted or otherwise.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot to tell. The cleanup was relatively simple. Most of the fluids were retained to the carpet and padding so there was not a whole lot of spreading.

Once the contaminant was decontaminated and removed, along with the rest of the carpet, the odor was virtually dissipated. With a fresh coat of paint and some new carpet, the house is good to go.

We’ll post more on similar scenes, but as I said earlier, this is not a common situation and you probably won’t see this very often. I’d be happy to answer any questions anyone has and, as always, we appreciate any comments.

This week’s quote is very short but powerful. It reminds us that those that we have loved and lost are not truly gone. They may not stand beside us in body, but they will live on forever in our hearts.

“When do the dead die? When they are forgotten.”

LAURA ESQUIVEL, The Law of Love

In our industry, we deal with death on an almost daily basis. We see it in many forms and we see the many different emotions it instills in family members.

As difficult as it is to lose a family member, friend or even a pet, it is important to know that death is nothing more than the end of a cycle of life. We can run, looking over our shoulder, for many, many years, but in the end, when we think we’ve escaped and turn around, there is Death, welcoming us with open arms.

Some may find we are a special breed of person because we can clean up the aftermath of sometimes gruesome deaths day in and day out. It’s not because we are special or better than anyone else. We accept death for what it is: an inevitable stage of life for everyone.

Throughout history, many great men and women have shared their views on death. We have decided to share those views with you. Every week, we will be posting a quote on the subject of death. Feel free to come and go as you please and check it out. You may find there are some unique ideas that may help you or someone you know accept it when the final moment comes for all of us.

“Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.”
- Susan Ertz

Simply go to www.facebook.com/cendecon and “Like” our page. Then share and tell all of your referrals to comment and tell us who sent them. Whoever refers the most “Likes” wins!

As in any industry, you have your “white hats”  and your “black hats.” The “white hats” are usually those who are in the industry because they love what they do. They usually have excellent dealings with their customers and they present themselves in a professional manner.

The “black hats” are those who are, usually, just trying to make a quick buck. They will cut corners wherever possible and treat their customers just nice enough not to blow them off, and sometimes not even then!

The above is something I have observed, first-hand, in many different fields, as I’m sure you have also.

Before you misjudge, this post is not about Cendecon being better than everybody else. As above, there are good companies and bad. The truth is, that there are a number of “white hats” in our industry. It would be prudent to think that we are the only ones capable of providing excellent-quality crime scene cleanup services.

We at Cendecon don’t like to play dirty and trash-talk other companies. I personally would not hire any company who trash-talked a competitor – it’s just plain unprofessional, in my opinion. You may think this post a little hypocritical, but I am not here to name names or point fingers. I’m only giving some examples of what I have seen in this industry so that you know what to look out for should you ever find yourself in need of a crime scene cleaner.

One crime scene cleaner landed a TV deal. I don’t believe it was on for very long and, after watching it, I’m glad! This particular crime scene cleaner was disrespectful to his staff, minimally respectful to his customers (at times, less than that) and exuded an air of arrogance. Now, before you think I’m being judgmental, let me just say this is all taken with a grain of salt. I’m sure (at least I hope) that a good part of the “drama” and attitude was exaggerated for effect and ratings, but the fact remains that this is how he presented himself to the world and, unfortunately, portrayed the crime scene cleaning industry.

For one example, after his staff had completed a decomposition cleanup, they were meeting with their customer. This guy noticed something he really liked, picked it up and walked up to the customer and said, “I want this.” I don’t know about you, but my jaw dropped and my eyes almost popped out of my head. Seriously, who does that? I mean, you could see the shock on this poor girl’s face. You could also tell she was reluctant to let him have it because it was one of her father’s prized possessions! Why press the issue after you found that out?

I can’t speak for all other companies out there, but I know that our crews are compassionate and professional and this is certainly not something any of us would ever think of doing.

On another episode of this train wreck, this guy was lying on the deceased’s bed at a suicide cleanup with his hands behind his head. His comment was something akin to “I don’t think about the people. All I think about is ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching.”

Now, there is no rule saying that all crime scene cleaners have to be compassionate or discreet. But, who would you rather have working for you: Someone who’s compassionate and discreet; who does the job and gets out so you can attend to everything else you have to deal with, or some scavenger of shiny things who is only there for the money and could careless about you or your feelings?

The worst thing about this show was that the world now knows of this guy and may feel he’s their only hope in a time of crisis. This irks me to no end because I don’t feel anyone suffering the loss of a family member should be subjected to such insensitive behavior. However, in fairness, I don’t know him personally – only how he presented himself for the world to see.

There are great companies out there, who focus not only on their quality of work – but their customer service. We want you to know that you don’t have to do business with people who don’t respect you, your feelings and your current situation. The “white hats” will always be there to ride in and save the day.

One day, I was on my way to work, driving down the freeway. I saw a dog on the side of the road – That was the switch that got this whole train a-rollin’!

I wondered, “Who cleans up dead animals from the freeway?” I thought about Cal-Trans, but figured it’s not really up their alley. CHP? Not likely! That then triggered a thought about who cleans up after suicide, homicide or worse, human decomposition?

Armed with a computer and the internet, I began my research. It wasn’t long before I discovered this “behind-the-scene” industry that very little knew about. It was, of course, the crime scene cleaning industry. I discovered that there were people whose sole purpose was to clean up crime scenes. Unless you’re familiar with the industry, people tend not to think about after death cleanup, or violent crime scenes and the people who clean them, but when the scenario is brought to your attention, your first thought is that the EMTs or the coroner cleans up the aftermath – that was my first thought, anyway.

I almost gave up my research until I discovered that it was the family’s responsibility to clean it up. At first, I was shocked. How could anyone expect someone to clean up the aftermath of a suicide or, God forbid, a homicide of a family member?

It was then that I was on my way to becoming a crime scene cleaner. I must have called a handful of training companies before I found one that I respected. I didn’t waste any time, I registered for the next available class, figured out the financial aspect and worked out getting time off work.

My training was very exciting, extensive and informative and I knew that this was what I wanted to do. Once I got back, reality hit me. I had a great-paying job and all the niceties one could ask for. Was I really going to give all that up and start a business in an industry I had only just finished learning about? Unfortunately, no. I was not going to do that. I had just spent thousands of dollars and weeks learning how to properly cleanup after suicides, homicides, decompositions and crime scenes and it seemed like it was all for naught.

Flash forward… I was living with my now-husband in our new home, 7 months pregnant with my first child and still working at my safe and comfortable job that I had been at for 12 years when I got broad-sided. I was told by my boss that the company was going in a new direction and there was no place for me in the new format. I was devastated. What would I do? My future husband’s job wouldn’t support us alone, but who was going to hire an extremely pregnant woman?

Needless to say, my stress level was off the scale. I had never been in a position like this. Luck was on my side when I came across a company that was borderline desperately seeking a Receptionist. They were fine with my being pregnant and it was understood that when my baby was born, I would no longer be working there. It was a huge pay cut, but it would cover our deficit and allow us to squeak by until we could figure something more permanent out.

Then the second blow came. My husband got laid off from his job! However, Luck was with us again when the company I now worked at had another position that my husband fit the bill for just fine. It was a little bit of a pay increase, too!

Things were holding up ok until the 23rd of December, when my son decided he was done with my womb and was seeking some larger accommodations. Although I couldn’t have been more happy with the birth of my son (even at 2 months premature), I also realized that I needed to get back to work ASAP. How was it going to work? I couldn’t take my newborn son to work with me and I couldn’t bear to leave him with a babysitter – not at such young an age. Hello, Stress, my old friend. Welcome back.

I was soon to realize that the Universe had everything planned out. It seemed to be pushing me towards the Crime Scene Cleaning industry, that I was once so gung ho about.

I had mentioned to my husband early on that I had done the crime scene cleaning training and never did anything with it because of reasons I have covered earlier. He then pointed out that none of those reasons existed now. Why didn’t we do it now? It wasn’t like we had much to lose.

And so it began. We came up with our business name (also a gift from the Universe) and that was the first step of the journey we took together. We literally started from nothing and have built our business into what it is today.

Today, Cendecon provides professional decontamination services for suicide, homicide, unattended death (decomposition), hoarding, tear gas and much more. We pride ourselves on our service to our clients and are happy that we can help them out in a time of great need.