00:00:05coroner have gone things must be put
00:00:08back in order even when things will
00:00:11never ever be the same it’s gruesome
00:00:14work but someone’s got to do it when a
00:00:21life ends in the worst possible way in
00:00:23the vicinity of Maryland or Washington
00:00:25DC it’s often a cue for Louise Burkhart
00:00:29to start work
00:00:30Louise excels at a job few want and even
00:00:34fewer could stand to do I go out to
00:00:39scenes of homicide suicide decomposed
00:00:42ravines or any kind of biological
00:00:44incident and clean up and restore it to
00:00:47the situation that it was prior to the
00:00:50incident occurring the first thing we do
00:00:58obviously is we observe the situation
00:01:00because every situation is totally
00:01:02different today we’re dealing with a
00:01:05suicide me flora
00:01:07sorry meet you like this that’s okay
00:01:09keeping the lady that we’re dealing with
00:01:11her husband committed suicide and they
00:01:13had three children basically what I’m
00:01:15gonna do is go in look at everything
00:01:17after I see exactly what we have to deal
00:01:19with and we’ll go ahead and start
00:01:21working okay hey guys very much
00:01:26now Louise must grapple with the horrors
00:01:28that lie beyond the bedroom door she
00:01:31focuses on the process yeah take your
00:01:36head with that one take it all in and
00:01:39what I’m going to do is fill the other
00:01:40sheet so we can wrap it on that they
00:01:43must look closely what seems to be a
00:01:45tiny stain
00:01:46maybe masking a hidden mass of residue
00:01:50what it does is it wicks store when it
00:01:53can be larger underneath than it is from
00:01:55the top surface if we can’t properly
00:01:59clean something obviously we have to
00:02:00remove it dispose of it as medical waste
00:02:09sometimes the crew must remove threats
00:02:11to help other times they try to shield
00:02:17survivors from even more heartbreak we
00:02:21take high-powered lights and check and
00:02:24recheck and recheck to make sure that we
00:02:27have everything so that when the family
00:02:29comes in they don’t have to deal with
00:02:31something unexpected we’re looking for
00:02:36if there was any overspray of blood any
00:02:39tissue um teeth Oum it could be anything
00:02:44okay
00:02:45there’s times where you found body
00:02:47actual body parts whether it be a nose
00:02:49or somebody they shot themselves it’s
00:02:51their eye it’s right there there’s a
00:02:55perp that’s the case of spoon you have
00:03:00to search everything you know in the
00:03:02area to make sure that there isn’t
00:03:03anything left behind
00:03:07Louise has been cleaning up after death
00:03:10for 11 years it’s a profitable business
00:03:13lately her son Mack has been helping his
00:03:16mom in the field to support herself and
00:03:20her children Louise started out working
00:03:22on contract with the local medical
00:03:24examiner’s office transporting bodies he
00:03:28started having people ask us when it was
00:03:31a homicide or a suicide wall could you
00:03:33clean this up and to be honest with you
00:03:35I didn’t think I could um however I
00:03:38turned around and at one point I said
00:03:41yeah well I could give it a shot and we
00:03:44tried it but we still thought it would
00:03:47just be a little sigh it was a little
00:03:49sideline kind of thing did not expect
00:03:51that there was much of a need but the
00:03:54market for post-mortem cleanup crews
00:03:56grew with surprising speed the new niche
00:03:59dovetailed with a sideline of Louise’s I
00:04:01had another business a regular maid
00:04:04service and I have to say that if you’re
00:04:06gonna be cleaning for a living this is
00:04:08definitely more satisfying than being a
00:04:11maid amid her heavy schedule with its
00:04:15inherent sadness Louise tries to stay a
00:04:18beat the best part of my job is having
00:04:22people say what a difference we made
00:04:25people really have gratitude for what
00:04:30you do they after they’re in those
00:04:32situations they realize what it would be
00:04:35like if they had to do it and they’re
00:04:36really grateful
00:04:40you
”