Cleaning the Scene

After crimes, local business moves in to help restore people’s homes
As a longtime police detective, Virgil Hutchinson has spent countless hours investigating crime scenes. While his current police work keeps him confined to his desk for most of the day, Hutchinson spends even more time at crime scenes handling his second job: trauma scene cleanup.

“You wouldn’t believe the scenes we go through. I mean the scenes that happen,” Hutchinson said as his eyes widened to recount the memories. “It’s tough on the family so you need someone that could first of all know how to deal with stressful situations like this.”

Hutchinson is very cautious when speaking about his experiences cleaning up crime scenes because he said privacy is the most important thing he can provide to the people he helps. A 23-year veteran of the Syracuse Police Department, he often sounds like a psychologist when speaking of the effects a crime scene can have on victims’ families.
He remembers a time when he responded to a family who had just experienced a violent crime in the home. The family wanted Hutchinson to clean up the blood.

“That’s where we came in,” said Hutchinson, CEO of B-D Trauma Scene Clean, Inc. “We disposed of everything the right way and gave them their privacy.”

Inspiration for the name of Hutchinson’s business comes from his father’s nickname, B-D. The name has special meaning to Hutchinson, whose father died of lung disease. The idea to start a company came through his police work before he became a detective.
“I would often hear people say, ‘so when do you come back and clean this place up?’” Hutchinson said. “And so I did some research.”

Hutchinson was the first tenant to house his business in the South Side Innovation Center. He said he chose the space on South Salina Street because of his concern for the city in which he was raised.

Cleaning crime scenes is something that Hutchinson takes seriously and personally. That’s one reason he is hesitant to divulge too many details of his experiences.

“We don’t come to the house with this big van that says, ‘We clean crime scenes’ or anything of that sort,” Hutchinson said. “There’s psychological effects that go with that.”

Hutchinson said the sight of some crime scenes is sometimes hard to grasp and often takes a toll on him mentally. For that reason, he said finding people to employ is often difficult. He said he must be very selective and can tell within a few minutes during an interview whether a person has the stomach for the job.

Crime scene cleaning is just one of the jobs he and his employees provide. Some other features of B-D Trauma Scene Clean are biohazard cleaning, floor care, restoration after mold damage, and selling supplies to other companies.

Hutchinson remembers when he and his crew had to restore a house because water damage led to mold spreading throughout the whole property.

“We gutted the whole thing,” Hutchinson said. “We disinfected, sterilized and placed antimicrobial agents in the house.”

Whatever the situation, Hutchinson and his employees must dispose of materials “the right way,” he said.

“It needs to be autoclaved,” Hutchinson said, which means disposing of any remnants through a machine rather than in a large trash bin. Otherwise, he said, there is a risk of mold, hepatitis, or pathogens traveling through the air and infecting people.

“You really have to want to feel good about helping people, and that’s a lot of where my background in police work comes in,” Hutchinson said. “It’s that good feeling you get at the end of the day.”

CDC confirms Queens high school students have swine flu

BY Erin Einhorn and Tina Mooore
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

It's confirmed: it's swine flu.

Mayor Bloomberg said Sunday federal health officials have found that eight prep school students in Queens have the dreaded illness.

He urged New Yorkers to stay home from work if they have any symptoms of the flu - but also urged people not to panic or flood hospital emergency rooms.

"If you have a cough or a sore throat stay home," Bloomberg said at a morning news conference. "Do not go to work or school and if you're not very sick don't go to the hospital."

The warning came afte U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tests confirmed that human swine flu has infected eight students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens.

About 100 students - many of whom recently took a trip to Mexico - have flu symptoms.

The students have mild symptoms and many are improving, Bloomberg said.

But it has been linked to 81 deaths more than 1,000 illnesses in Mexico - and CDC officvials expect more illnesses around the nation. So far there six cases in California, two more in Texas and two in Kansas.

The World Health Organization has warned the virus threatens to become a global pandemic.

Eight of the students tested positive for Influenza A but did match any of the known human variants of that virus - the H1 and H3 human subtypes - by available testing methods.

That led health officials to fear a new strain of the quickly evolving virus.

"We are concerned that we may have a new strain," Health Commissioner Tom Freiden said at a morning news conference. "But we have not identified an increase of influenza."

The Queens investigation began last week, when students at the prep school developed flu-like symptoms, including fever and sore throat. The Health Department's Public Health Laboratory tested nine nose and throat swabs.

The CDC also reported today that an investigation of sickness at a Bronx daycare facility has so far not identified any confirmed or probable cases.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said he spoke with the CDC and was informed that New York City was "better prepared than just abut anyone else."

Swine flu is a respiratory infection caused by influenza type A viruses that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can occur.

Human cases typically involve people who have had direct contact with pigs, but the CDC said likely person-to-person transmission has now been reported in California, Texas, Mexico and New York City.

While the cases in Mexico have had a high fatality rate, but the confirmed cases in the U.S. have been mild and all patients have recovered without treatment.

The symptoms of swine flu in people appear to be similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting as well.

hkennedy@nydailynews.com

Slaying Victim in Brooklyn Is Said to Have Been Part of Genovese Mob

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
A 70-year-old Brooklyn man who was found dead in his duplex apartment on Thursday was a longtime mob figure, the authorities said Friday.

The man, William Romano, was found submerged in a bathtub upstairs, and his companion, Elviza Aronova, 36, was found partially clad in a bedroom on the lower floor, the police said. She had apparently been beaten and stabbed to death, and Mr. Romano apparently died of head injuries, the medical examiner’s office said.

The bodies were found in the apartment Mr. Romano shared with Ms. Aronova at 8020 Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said at a news conference.

Both suffered head injuries, Mr. Kelly said. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office, said Ms. Aronova also had stab wounds to the torso. The authorities were investigating whether Ms. Aronova had been sexually assaulted.

Mr. Romano had owned the 54-unit apartment building where he lived until he sold it in 2006, retaining two apartments there, Mr. Kelly said. A man who lived in Mr. Romano’s second apartment often visited him and Ms. Aronova and had a key to their apartment, the police said. The tenant discovered Ms. Aronova’s body and called the police, who found Mr. Romano’s body when they arrived shortly after 5 p.m.

Mr. Romano kept an office in the second apartment, and the police found two shotguns, a .45-caliber handgun and a live hand grenade there, Mr. Kelly said. The police questioned the tenant but did not detain him, a law enforcement official said.

The official said the first apartment was in disarray, the electricity had been turned off and it appeared that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene with bleach.

Ms. Aronova’s mother had gone to the apartment, No. 7, on Thursday after her daughter said she needed food, but there was no reply, Mr. Kelly said. The door was ajar, and a neighbor called the police for the mother, the police said.

It was not clear how long the bodies had been there. Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Romano was last seen at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

State and federal law enforcement officials said Mr. Romano had long been associated with the Genovese crime family, in particular with the capo Salvatore Lombardi, known as Sally Dogs, who was heavily involved in narcotics trafficking.

Nearly two decades ago, Mr. Romano was arrested at Kennedy International Airport after customs inspectors found about two pounds of heroin taped to his shins and midsection, the officials said. He denied the charges, saying the drugs had been planted on him by the authorities. He was tried twice in Federal District Court in Brooklyn; the first case ended in a hung jury and the second in his acquittal.

His lawyer at both trials, Gerald L. Shargel, said Friday, “He was a longtime client, and I was saddened to hear of his death.”

William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.

CRIME-SCENE CLEANUP HELP

By FRANKIE EDOZIEN

It took six years, but the City Council finally passed a bill that established guidelines for the cleanup of grisly crimes scenes.
City Councilman Mike Nelson was stunned some years ago when a shootout on a south Brooklyn street left blood and guts spattered on a sidewalk and the stairs of a constituent's home.
The owner simply hosed it down but the stain remained.
"There were no rules. It was biohazardous and I was surprised to find out it just could stay there forever," said Nelson (D-Brooklyn).
Once Mayor Bloomberg signs the bill, homeowners in that situation will be able to call 311 to get information on how to clean up their property or recommendations on which companies can do it.