Murder-Suicide on the rise nationwide

In less than a week there has been a rise in cases of murder suicide. Nationwide there's reports of murder suicides, where the people had either made an attempt to kill their family then themselves, or successfully committed the act.

What drives a person to want to kill themselves and their family?

Is it the stress from the plummeted economy?

Whatever the case may be, in the pass four-days this has been the case. In Michigan alone there's been three cases involving people that killed their family and then themselves. The most recent killing involved a South Lyon mother who gave her 13- year-old daughter prescription drugs, killing the child and then the mother tried to kill herself. The mother survived and is in critical condition at a local hospital.
Questions surfaced whether the mother was stressed about caring for the girl because the teenager suffered from mental disabilities and health problems. Police say on two recent occasions the teen became violent, by assaulted her mother.

Michigan
In another Michigan story, a mother shot her 14 year-old daughter in the back, then turned the gun on herself. In this case the mother didn't survive, but the child did.

Texas
In Texas, a mayor of a Dallas suburb killed her teen daughter before turning the gun on herself, according to the county medical examiner. Police found the bodies of Jayne Peters, 55, and her 19-year-old daughter Corrine at their home after being sent to investigate the Coppell mayor's absence from a council meeting. Police found notes throughout the house, none of the notes explained what led to the shootings – only instructions about the care of the family pets. Two dogs were also found in the house.

California
In California, a horrific scene was discovered when a co-worker of a man went to his house only to find that the man had shot his wife and 3 year-old son. The child hid himself inside a trash dumpster for 12 hours until police discovered him there. The police found the boy bleeding from 3 gunshot wounds to his shoulder, stomach and chest. His parents were found dead on lawn chairs outside the Anaheim home, and his uninjured 5-year-old brother was hiding elsewhere in the house. The older boy told police he could hear his baby brother "screaming and hollering," but didn't know where he was.
A friend said the family had financial problems. Police are continuing to investigate. "It's very difficult to determine a motive for killing your own kids," the police spokesman said. In another case, a 58-year-old woman and 81-year-old man were found dead in a San Rafael hotel Saturday afternoon in an apparent murder-suicide.

Chicago
A man identified as Eugene Robertson, 27, walked into a Old Navy store and shot and killed, Tranesha Palms in her 20s. According to reports from the Chicago Tribune, the couple lived together in an apartment in the 10200 block of South Walden Parkway in the Beverly neighborhood on the South Side.
A police said that the two arrived at the store at the same time, the gunman followed his girlfriend through a State Street door that led to the restricted area for employees. Once inside, the shooting happened quickly, with no signs of a prolonged fight or struggle.

Connecticut
A man and a women were shot to death in a car late Sunday morning in what police believe is a murder-suicide. The shooting happened in the Rite Aid parking lot on Hazard Avenue. When police arrived they found the two slumped over in the car, both people suffering from bullet wounds.The pair was rushed to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield by ambulance, and later died. The couple drove in separate cars and met in the parking lot. Police are still investigating to find out what led to the killing.

Georgia
Matthew Justice, 37, his wife Amy, 36, two children ages 14 and 11 years-old were discovered shot. The man apparently shot his family and turned the gun on himself. The 14-year-old male was transported to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan where he remains in critical condition, the 11 year-old female who was also taken to the same medical center, got treated and released.

A shooting in Augusta, Georgia left one dead and one injured.

An insight into crime scenes clean up services

Crime scene cleanup companies also clean unattended deaths, damaged environments due to tear gas, and other crime and distress scenes. The larger crime scenes that involve mass murder scenes, terrorist attacks and anthrax and other biochemical damage is also taken care by these companies. Crime Scene Cleanup services may also include bird and rodent infested areas. The cleaners in this case require special experience and equipment than a typical cleaning company’s experience and equipment.

Typically, crime scene cleanups start taking place only after the coroner’s office and other government bodies releases the “scene” back to the owner or some other responsible person concerned with it. The cleaning task can not begin till the police investigation is completely finished on the contaminated scene.

In most cases crime scene cleanup is a small business activity. Mostly, small cleaning services like carpet cleaning or water damage companies add services for Crime Scene Cleanup for diversifying their activities. The prominent and recognized organizations in this field of cleaning consist of the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) and the American Bio-recovery Association (ABRA).

Earlier crime scene cleanup was a loathsome job but today it has become a lucrative business. Crime scene cleanup companies can charge anywhere between $100 to $600 per hour depending on the “level of trauma” and the quantity of hazardous material that the cleaners have to deal with and dispose of.

While a crime clean up service is ultimately a business like any other, advertising and marketing your services can be tricky. In a job that involves tragic death; most companies avoid mainstream methods of advertisement. Some choose the standard phone-book route while many others advertise on the side of their vans. Most of these companies largely depend on discreet options like passing out their business cards at service-industry gatherings, police stations and funeral homes.

An important requirement for success in this industry involves being considerate towards the sensitive nature of the work. There are certain crime scene clean-up companies that provide a grief counselor to the families at no cost while others offer discount to needy people. There are many countries where this type of service is funded by government or by religious organizations.

While some people call this emerging field a social trend of commercializing death, others call it plain capitalism. But for many others it still remains an essential service, a godsend. The fact is that whether you like it or loathe it but if you ever end up with blood and brains splashed all over your bedroom walls, you will definitely be relieved that there is someone you can call to clean it up.

Companies tackle mess a corpse can leave behind

Published on October 1, 2009
Angie's List
by Staci Giordullo

What happens to those who die alone — and no one notices? Welcome to the business of biohazard remediation. Originally limited to crime and trauma scene cleaning, the industry's scope has grown to include decontamination of homes soiled by human waste, tissue and body fluids, and other toxins associated with a decomposing body.


Ronald Gospodarski, owner of Bio-Recovery Corp. in New York City, started his business in 1988 after spending years as a paramedic and realizing no company was offering these types of services.

"No one is prepared for this type of thing," he says. "I come in and solve the problem."

According to Gospodarski, approximately 75 percent of his business is cleaning up after decompositions.

"I get calls from family, police, landlords — a lot of times it's the property manager," he says.

Stacie Salerno of Bradford, Pa., recently hired Gospodarski to clean her brother's apartment after he was stabbed to death, reportedly by a stranger police believe he likely met online. "I never knew this kind of company even existed," Salerno says. "But they took care of everything. You never would know there was a murder in that apartment."

Like many other industries, the prerequisites to be a bio-recovery technician vary greatly by state. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires proper training in order to handle blood-borne pathogens. In addition, companies should hold the proper permits for biohazard waste disposal as well as general liability and pollution liability insurance.

What happens to those who die alone? Welcome to the business of biohazard remediation. See examples of biohazard remediation >>Dale Cillian, president of the American Bio-Recovery Association, says the lack of a nationwide standard is unnerving because there are companies that grossly overcharge customers and don't thoroughly clean or properly dispose of the waste.

"Some of these companies will rob people blind," Cillian says. "They're hurting families at the worst time of their lives." Gospodarski, who's certified with the ABRA, agrees and says his average job costs between $1,500 and $3,500. "Customers need to do their due diligence before hiring a company like mine," he says.

Industry experts recommend verifying companies with ABRA — which has 80 members — Angie's List and the BBB.

While a coroner typically removes the body before the biohazard remediation team arrives, there are a number of threats left behind — many of which go unnoticed by the untrained eye.

"We see marks of contamination affected during the removal of the body such as fluid from the body bag touching walls and furniture," says John DiGulio, co-founder of USA Decon in Houston. "Light switches and door handles are usually left unclean."

Hiring a professional to clean up such a mess can lift an emotional burden from grieving family members. "There aren't many jobs in which you can provide unimaginable relief for someone," DiGulio says.

Originally limited to crime and trauma scene cleaning, the scope of biohazard remediation has grown to include the cleanup and decontamination associated with mold, human waste, tissue and body fluids, animal waste and other toxins.

If a body is left undiscovered in a home for any period of time, a bio-recovery technician is needed to remove the unpleasant consequences of that decomposition.