Crime Scene Cleanup with Cory Chalmers
November 18, 2021
LIVE EVENT
Cory Chalmers, host and expert cleaner on the TV show "Hoarders" and the founder and president of Steri-Clean, Inc., joined us live this Wednesday. His company specializes in not only cleaning hoarding situations, but also the aftermath of accidents, death, and violent crime.
Our crimeHQ host Kelly McLear began by pointing out that while we in the community are all so immersed in the true crime world and spend our time thinking about and studying violent crimes, many of us don't really think about what happens in the aftermath.
In too many instances, loved ones of victims of crime or suicide are left to clean up the blood, gore, and other bodily fluids while they are still reeling from their trauma and grief.
Chalmers, who McLear describes as an "unsung hero" in the crime world, started his career as a paramedic on an ambulance and was exposed to a lot of horrible and bloody crime scenes. While going from crisis to crisis, he always felt such sympathy for the loved ones who have to clean up the grisly results, whether it was a homicide or suicide. He was directly inspired by these experiences and his feelings for these families and loved ones of victims to start his company. Back then there was no business model for a crime scene cleanup company or any available certifications about things like working with biohazard, so he is self-taught. While he was a pioneer in the industry, learning as he went, these days such businesses have a lot of standards and regulations in place about handling hazardous materials.
As Chalmers began to talk about what might be a typical day on the job, he said, "It starts with a phone call."
He shared a touching image of a teenage girl having to mop up bloody remains after both of her parents were fatally shot. It's stories like that that propelled Chalmers to take on the difficult work that he does, to relieve others of the burden.
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