By IRA PORTER
The News Journal
When Bryon Brainard was called to a crime scene in Milltown, he looked like an astronaut in a lab suit and respirator.
But instead of exploring space, Brainard was recruited in March to clean up after a man fatally stabbed his wife and then himself in their home in the 2700 block of Charles Place, according to police.
"It wasn't an in-and-out job type situation," Brainard recalled.
The wife's bloody remains were in the entrance way while the husband's were in the living room.
It also wasn't an unfamiliar scene to Brainard, the lead technician for Wilmington's Diamond Chemical & Supply Co.
"I feel like we do something good for the family, because you'll have good memories and I think that goes a long way," he said about the company's specialty -- wiping away the gory reminders of violent crime.
Because of the amount of blood at the Milltown house, Brainard needed to assemble a team of technicians that was armed with tools ranging from scrub brushes and sponges to ozone air purifiers.
"It's typically not a pretty scene," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro of New Castle County police. "We do not do cleanups. We take pictures, video and DNA for blood fibers, but we're not involved in the actual cleanup."
Because police focus only on evidence, companies such as Diamond Chemical & Supply are popping up all over the country to clean up after slayings, suicides and some deaths from natural causes.
Though police don't endorse any of them, they generally advise crime victims' families to let professionals eliminate the messy, bloody and potentially infectious telltale signs of a violent death.
"I would certainly recommend to a family to have a professional company do it for all the safety reasons," Navarro said.
Not for the faint of heart
After 12 years on the job, Brainard is no stranger to what sometimes happens when emotions turn violent.
And he's cleaned up settings that make even the most bloody horror films seem tame -- the stench of decaying flesh, coagulated blood on hardwood floors, skin left behind by gunshots.
"I must have a strong stomach," said Brainard, 51, of Wilmington. "A couple of my technicians have gotten a little queasy at times."
Recently he was called to a Wilmington apartment where a man died of natural causes but wasn't discovered for days. Brainard grabbed an air purifier to remove the stench, scrubbed the floor with a deodorizer and disinfectant and then sealed it.
Any items made of cloth -- including the sofa, clothes and shoes -- were tossed, he said. The job was done in less than a day.
Though he's now a veteran, Brainard got into the business in 1997 when he needed a job and answered a newspaper ad.
At first, managers at Diamond talked to him about their air and odor division but then asked if he would be up to cleaning trauma scenes.
"They explained it to me, and I thought it would be a good experience," Brainard said recently, while dressed head to toe in a biohazard suit and full-face respirator.
"I had the stomach to do it," he added. "It's funny. My wife likes to watch TV shows with doctors in the emergency room. I can't watch that stuff, but I can do this. I guess I just don't think about it."
But he does think about the potential hazards of his job.
"Anytime anyone has a carpet and blood has gotten on it, I advise them to get rid of it," Brainard said.
That's because blood -- and its ability to spread disease -- is always a concern for Brainard and his crew, whether they have to clean up specks or pools, he said.
Before starting a job, they interview families and try to learn if the person who died had hepatitis, HIV or any other infectious disease. And because blood can get into the air, they're quick to respond.
"Our response time is immediate," said Richard Ventresca, president of Diamond Chemical & Supply. "If you call me and tell me that you have a situation, I'll try to have someone out there within an hour."
The business of it all
Diamond Chemical & Supply has 27 employees, Ventresca said, adding that some have been with him for 28 years.
The company charges anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per job, based on its complexity, he said.
Although cleaning up trauma scenes is not a top career choice among most, the market for companies such as Diamond Chemical is growing across the country.
Firms that clean crime scenes are represented by the American Bio-Recovery Association, a trade group based in Ipswich, Mass., that was founded in 1996 and now has 75 companies as members.
President Dale Cillian said there are hundreds of other companies across the country, some that specialize in crime scene cleanup and others that also offer trauma restoration services.
"I thought about doing something else -- but then I wondered, 'What else can I do?' " said Cillian, who owns a crime scene cleanup company in Phoenix.
Though grisly to some, the work helps families who could not deal with clearing away the physical reminders of what happened to a loved one, Brainard said.
"You don't want that to be your last memory of your loved one," Ventresca said. "You want to have good memories and I think that goes a long way."
Additional Facts
DO-IT-YOURSELF TIPS
Diamond Chemical recommends that families call professionals for help after a tragedy. But if they try to clean up themselves, they should:
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