Only On 3: Crime Scene Cleanup

PALM SPRINGS – It’s a job most of us don’t want to even think about. But the people of Miller’s Crime Scene Restoration consider their work a “calling.”

They clean up scenes of death and devastation, and leave them pristine for family or anyone else who comes along.

You’ll see Miller’s workers in private homes, or out on the street, picking up, scrubbing, then spraying de contaminants on blood and other bodily fluids left behind after someone dies.

They cleaned up along Portola in Palm Desert after a deadly shooting.

Left untreated, blood-born pathogens and other bio-hazards could spread disease.

Mark Walwick works for the company and says “Between the odors that you get and some of the things we have to look at, it’s definitely not for the squeamish.”

You’re not supposed to just paint over bio-hazards, or wash them away, although it sometimes happens.

Melanie Miller says “The danger of flushing blood or other body fluids down the drain is that it ends up in our water systems.”

Miller started this business in 1994.

She’d been looking for work when a friend’s wife was brutally murdered. He didn’t know how to clean up the mess.

Miller says “Nobody even knew how to do it. We’d ask the homicide, we’d ask the coroner, we were basically self taught. We did trial and error, testing things to see what worked.”

Their job today is to clean this abandoned condominium and remove the bio-hazards inside, including the overpowering smell of cat urine.

First they have to remove everything inside the condo.

Anything salvageable is saved.

Everything else is carted off.

Once the heavy lifting is done, and all the furniture has been moved out, the process of disinfecting and deodorizing can begin.

Black and red garbage bags are used to dispose of the home’s items.

Things not meant for a normal landfill are placed in red trash bags for specialized disposal.

Coryn Wright thought she was applying for a housekeeper’s job when Miller’s hired her.

But she shares the company’s passion for serving crime or trauma victims with compassion and sensitivity.

She once cleaned up after her mother died and her body was not found for more than a week.

She says “The coroners only take the body. They don’t take anything else, so my sister and I, she was 17 and I was 19, had to go in and clean up my Mom.”

It was something she’ll never forget, and something she says no one should have to experience.

Wright “I feel very satisfied by this because this is helping people’s lives.

Millers contracts with cities and other public agencies around southern California who are responsible for cleaning up after accidents or deaths in public places.

They cleaned after this a wreck in palm springs where a motorist dead along Palm Canyon drive.

It took hours for worker to clean the scene, removing blood and making it safe again for the public.

Palm Springs Police spokesman, Mitch Spike, says these companies are valuable.

He says “And because of all the regulations and stuff like that, we don’t do it ourselves or call the fire department to hose down the scene. We call a company that has the equipment and the training to do it.”

Miller says she hates to admit it, but her business is pretty much recession proof.”

Wright says she feels satisfied. She says “You have a definite start and a finish. And it’s very rewarding because you do see it turn around.”

It can be a dirty job, not one for those with a weak stomach.

But Miller’s is there to do it…

A property manager where the company is working, says “She looks at it as she’s serving a purpose, and she is.”