by Kent Berg
National Institute Decontamination Specialist
As an instructor in crime and trauma-scene recovery and a board member of the American Bio-Recovery Association, I am often approached by attorneys, the public and insurance adjusters to evaluate the service they or their clients received from other crime-scene cleanup companies.
For the most part, these are just routine questions from people who want to make sure that the service they received was within the normal parameters of good practice. But a few times each month I receive calls that just cause my stomach to knot up and my blood to boil.
With the bio-recovery industry in its 14th year, it is mind-boggling to find individuals who still decide that they are going to start-up a new company and declare themselves “experts” in crime and trauma scene cleanup without any research or training.
It is even more outrageous to find that, although they know almost nothing about the science, chemistry, biology or laws of our industry, they are charging fees that are often four or five times the industry average.
The majority of those operating in the industry today are honest, ethical professionals. It’s the few bad apples in the bio-recovery barrel, so to speak, that amplify the problems tainting our industry.
Example 1: The Hit-and-Run Guys
A husband argues with his wife in their kitchen. As she prepares supper, he grabs a shotgun and, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, blows his head off.
It is still daylight when the police arrive. In order to see better, they open the brain-splattered dining room drapes. Splatter is on the dining room and kitchen walls, but since the body fell onto the vinyl tile floor of the kitchen, the largest amount of blood pooled there.
The family asks the police about scene cleanup, and is directed to a local company. The company tells the family that payment will have to be made in cash prior to starting the job, and that the family will not be allowed inside of the house while the cleaning process takes place.
The family agrees and stays with relatives until they get the call that the job is complete and they can return. The company is long gone, and upon cursory inspection, the rooms look contaminant-free.
It is now night and, in an effort to keep neighbors from seeing into the dining room, the wife pulls the drapes closed. To the horror of the family, the drapes had apparently never been checked and still have blood and brain matter clinging to the material.
The kitchen floor appears to be clean but, when the wife walks across the floor, bright red blood spurts up between the tiles, making little puddles and polka-dotting her shoes.
If this isn’t enough to re-traumatize the family, the wife goes to remove the now-cold pot of chili from the stove and promptly throws up when she sees a 3-inch piece of her husband’s skull nestled neatly atop the pot.
The family contacted the attorney general for their state, who then called me to review the family’s statements prior to a decision on prosecution.
Example 2: The Little-Extra-on-the-Side Guys
A man who lived alone died in his bed of natural causes, but wasn’t found for several weeks. When the authorities were finally called, the decomposition could be smelled from the street.
When a crime-scene-cleanup company was called in, the man’s relatives were told that the odor had permeated everything in the house with disease. Their recommendation was that everything in the house should be removed and destroyed.
The family, already nauseated from the smell, relied on the “professional opinion” of the technicians and agreed to let them remove everything from the good silver and china to the appliances.
In short, every piece of furniture, appliance, electronic component and fixture was removed because they were declared “not salvageable.”
The relatives were then presented with a bill for approximately $40,000! If this wasn’t obscene enough, a few weeks later the family found many of the home’s contents that were supposedly “not salvageable” being sold at a local flea market.
Example 3: The Cutting-Down-on-Overhead Guys
It is standard practice for crime and trauma-scene cleanup companies to dispose of human-blood-contaminated items that can’t be salvaged. They do this by red-bagging and boxing these items and sending them to a medical waste processing facility. This includes dismantling recliners, mattresses, and other large items to fit in these containers.
In this case, a company responded to a gunshot suicide in an apartment. The victim had sat in his favorite recliner and put a pistol in his mouth. The subsequent wound bled profusely until there was no more blood for the heart to pump. This resulted in the complete saturation of the recliner.
In an apparent effort to save on labor and disposal fees, the crew decided that they would dispose of the recliner by wrapping it in plastic, putting it in the back of their truck and then dumping it in the woods of a neighboring county.
All seemed to go well until a few days later, when hunters found the chair and called police. Thinking that they had stumbled upon evidence of a homicide, the police launched a full-scale investigation that lasted for weeks and logged many detective hours before they were actually able to review the crime scene photos of every police department in the surrounding counties.
When the mystery was finally attributed to this particular crime-scene-cleanup company, not only were they slapped with fines for littering, they were saddled with reimbursing the cost of the investigation. Every law enforcement agency that heard about this dropped the company like a hot potato, and the subsequent media attention tarnished the reputation of crime-scene-cleanup companies everywhere.
I would like to emphasize the fact that these complaints are not clients disappointed with a poorly painted wall or an out-of-true vanity top. These are abuses by unscrupulous companies that are subjecting their clients to financial greed, improper disinfection, and re-traumatizing that no one should have to endure.
Could training and certification eliminate these types of abuse? Perhaps a good portion of them, but in the end, it is the honesty and character of the companies themselves that should be monitored. I believe the way to do that is to pursue standards, as well as meeting with our state legislators to create specific regulations for our industry.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Appeals panel agrees that failure to read document doesn't null contract
KEITH ARNOLD, Daily Reporter Staff Writer
A Franklin County appellate panel was unable to conclude that the Franklin County Municipal Court's determination in a breach of contract suit between a specialty home-cleaning service and the next of kin of a Grove City man who died in his home was against the manifest weight of the evidence in a recent decision.
"Upon our review of the record, we find no error in the trial court's determination that an enforceable contract existed between the parties," 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Patrick McGrath wrote for the 3-0 court.
The appellate court's holding overruled Nancy Buffington's claim that the trial court was mistaken to find that the contract between her and the cleaning service was enforceable and, therefore, obligated the woman to utilize the company's services per the agreed terms.
Buffington's father died in his home on Nov. 10, 2005, case summary provided. The man's body was discovered one-and-a-half to two days after his death. Approximately one week later, the personal belongings were removed from the home and it was listed for sale.
On Jan. 14, 2006, Buffington contracted for the services of Aftermath Inc., which provides biological remediation and cleanup services. According to the contract, the woman agreed to pay for cleanup services concerning an unattended death in the Grove City home.
Aftermath's complaint alleged that after the firm rendered services, appellant refused to pay the amount due under the contract. After a trial to the bench, the trial court concluded that a valid written contract existed between the parties and that the company was entitled to payment for the services rendered in accordance with the contract. The court awarded damages in the amount of $6,189.36 to Aftermath.
The panel noted Buffington signed both a site cleanup agreement and a fee agreement for non-insurance-related jobs. Additionally, the court rejected the woman's claim there existed no evidence that she understood or agreed to biological remediation of her father's home.
"... As noted by the trial court, appellant's stated failure to read the documents prior to signing them is of no consequence as it is well-established that the failure to read the terms of a contract is not a valid defense to enforcement of the contract," as in Haller v. Borror Corp. (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 10, 14.
"Further, appellant's argument that she was 'mistaken' equally fails because 'relief for a unilateral mistake of material fact will not be provided where such mistake is the result of the negligence of the party seeking relief,'" as in Hikmet v. Turkoglu, 10th Dist. No. 08AP-1021, 2009-Ohio-6477, and Marshall v. Beach (2001), 143 Ohio App.3d 432, 437.
Fellow 10th District Judge Susan Brown and John Connor joined McGrath to form the majority.
The case is cited as Aftermath Inc. v. Buffington, 2010-Ohio-19.
Date Published: January 19, 2010
A Franklin County appellate panel was unable to conclude that the Franklin County Municipal Court's determination in a breach of contract suit between a specialty home-cleaning service and the next of kin of a Grove City man who died in his home was against the manifest weight of the evidence in a recent decision.
"Upon our review of the record, we find no error in the trial court's determination that an enforceable contract existed between the parties," 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Patrick McGrath wrote for the 3-0 court.
The appellate court's holding overruled Nancy Buffington's claim that the trial court was mistaken to find that the contract between her and the cleaning service was enforceable and, therefore, obligated the woman to utilize the company's services per the agreed terms.
Buffington's father died in his home on Nov. 10, 2005, case summary provided. The man's body was discovered one-and-a-half to two days after his death. Approximately one week later, the personal belongings were removed from the home and it was listed for sale.
On Jan. 14, 2006, Buffington contracted for the services of Aftermath Inc., which provides biological remediation and cleanup services. According to the contract, the woman agreed to pay for cleanup services concerning an unattended death in the Grove City home.
Aftermath's complaint alleged that after the firm rendered services, appellant refused to pay the amount due under the contract. After a trial to the bench, the trial court concluded that a valid written contract existed between the parties and that the company was entitled to payment for the services rendered in accordance with the contract. The court awarded damages in the amount of $6,189.36 to Aftermath.
The panel noted Buffington signed both a site cleanup agreement and a fee agreement for non-insurance-related jobs. Additionally, the court rejected the woman's claim there existed no evidence that she understood or agreed to biological remediation of her father's home.
"... As noted by the trial court, appellant's stated failure to read the documents prior to signing them is of no consequence as it is well-established that the failure to read the terms of a contract is not a valid defense to enforcement of the contract," as in Haller v. Borror Corp. (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 10, 14.
"Further, appellant's argument that she was 'mistaken' equally fails because 'relief for a unilateral mistake of material fact will not be provided where such mistake is the result of the negligence of the party seeking relief,'" as in Hikmet v. Turkoglu, 10th Dist. No. 08AP-1021, 2009-Ohio-6477, and Marshall v. Beach (2001), 143 Ohio App.3d 432, 437.
Fellow 10th District Judge Susan Brown and John Connor joined McGrath to form the majority.
The case is cited as Aftermath Inc. v. Buffington, 2010-Ohio-19.
Date Published: January 19, 2010
Nothing too messy for crime scene cleaners
MINOOKA, Ill. (AP) — It's meth lab season.
So they're hustling at Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup.
Although the 3-year-old company is licensed to clear away the aftermath of all kinds of things — bloody crimes and animal infestations among them — it specializes in crystal meth labs.
But if a family member commits suicide, they'll scrub everything and bill the homeowner's insurance policy. If someone is a hoarder, meaning they stash piles of anything and everything inside a home, they'll handle that, too. They can remove tear gas and fingerprint dust.
Worried about the swine flu? They can disinfect specifically for H1N1.
Based in Minooka, the business has an exclusive contract with the Drug Enforcement Administration to do meth lab-related work in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After the feds find a homemade laboratory in either state, agents call Mike Frakes and Dan Reynolds, local firefighters and Minooka residents, and ask them to scour and decontaminate.
"There seems to be two seasons for the DEA," Frakes explained. "Meth season and everything else season."
In the summertime, drug dealers who make the amphetamine often move their operations to a secluded spot somewhere outside, so a bust is less likely. In the colder months, they have to move inside, to stay warm. But cooking up a batch of meth creates a strong chemical smell, a kind of trail leads authorities to the illegal labs. So the DEA seems to find more of them in winter, Frakes said. Right now, the company gets two or three jobs a week from the DEA.
"In the summer, the marijuana growing outside is in full swing, and they concentrate on that full time," Reynolds added. At this time of year, about 60 percent of their business involves dealing with meth labs, and much of the rest is related to suicides or unattended natural deaths. That ratio flip-flops in the warmer months, Reynolds said.
About five years ago, Frakes and Reynolds were working together at a Chicago company selling trucks and heavy equipment. Reynolds was looking for a new career, so he applied for a job at a crime cleaning company but wasn't hired. While having a few beers on a Super Bowl Sunday, they decided to open their own business, and vowed to do it better than any competitor. With the approval of their wives, they headed to Dallas for training.
"There were different tricks to the trade we were taught," Frakes said. "Different levels of protective equipment to use, what types of gloves we should buy."
During one lesson, they were taken to a doublewide house trailer parked in the woods on a secluded piece of property.
"About a month prior, they had gone out and slopped pig's blood all over the trailer and all over the mattresses inside," Frakes said. "It was about 95 degrees when we went out there, and the smell we were greeted with was unlike anything I had ever experienced."
At that point, Frakes had a problem tolerating nasty smells. He's since learned to tolerate them.
They learned how to find blood that can be hidden in corners or soaked into floor joists, and how to properly dispose of a contaminated mattress.
"In a couple of hours the trailer was like new and the odor was gone," Frakes said.
And they also were schooled in the proper way to run such an unusual business.
"We learned how to maintain a business that is compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's rules. Other companies don't have to have a hazardous materials communications program," Frakes said, adding that Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup is required by law to maintain certain records for 30 years. If an employee becomes ill in 2020, the company must provide information about the types of chemicals that person used on the job and during what type of situation, for example.
But there's more to the business than a specialized knowledge of solvents and record keeping. They also had to develop a bedside manner.
"We realized this industry is about half dealing with the crime scene, and half helping the families, helping them get through a tragic time," Frakes said. During the average work day, they confront calamity at a very personal level. "That is the most gratifying part of what we do, helping them so they don't have to deal with a mess left behind," Frakes said.
During one job, a man died in a bedroom but the mattress was untouched. Disposing of a king size set costs about $1,000, Reynolds said. But in this case, a garbage man could have hauled it away safely. At the family's request, Reynolds moved the mattress to a garage.
But he later realized visiting mourners would see it. Because the family was short of cash, he decided to take it away himself and have Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup foot the bill. Although that decision cost the company money, it was the right thing to do, Reynolds said.
"When the wife found out I had made that decision, she just broke down and gave me a big hug ... She said 'thank you, thank you,'" Reynolds remembered. "She never let on that it was bothering her until I packed it up to go. That is one that will always stick with me."
So they're hustling at Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup.
Although the 3-year-old company is licensed to clear away the aftermath of all kinds of things — bloody crimes and animal infestations among them — it specializes in crystal meth labs.
But if a family member commits suicide, they'll scrub everything and bill the homeowner's insurance policy. If someone is a hoarder, meaning they stash piles of anything and everything inside a home, they'll handle that, too. They can remove tear gas and fingerprint dust.
Worried about the swine flu? They can disinfect specifically for H1N1.
Based in Minooka, the business has an exclusive contract with the Drug Enforcement Administration to do meth lab-related work in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After the feds find a homemade laboratory in either state, agents call Mike Frakes and Dan Reynolds, local firefighters and Minooka residents, and ask them to scour and decontaminate.
"There seems to be two seasons for the DEA," Frakes explained. "Meth season and everything else season."
In the summertime, drug dealers who make the amphetamine often move their operations to a secluded spot somewhere outside, so a bust is less likely. In the colder months, they have to move inside, to stay warm. But cooking up a batch of meth creates a strong chemical smell, a kind of trail leads authorities to the illegal labs. So the DEA seems to find more of them in winter, Frakes said. Right now, the company gets two or three jobs a week from the DEA.
"In the summer, the marijuana growing outside is in full swing, and they concentrate on that full time," Reynolds added. At this time of year, about 60 percent of their business involves dealing with meth labs, and much of the rest is related to suicides or unattended natural deaths. That ratio flip-flops in the warmer months, Reynolds said.
About five years ago, Frakes and Reynolds were working together at a Chicago company selling trucks and heavy equipment. Reynolds was looking for a new career, so he applied for a job at a crime cleaning company but wasn't hired. While having a few beers on a Super Bowl Sunday, they decided to open their own business, and vowed to do it better than any competitor. With the approval of their wives, they headed to Dallas for training.
"There were different tricks to the trade we were taught," Frakes said. "Different levels of protective equipment to use, what types of gloves we should buy."
During one lesson, they were taken to a doublewide house trailer parked in the woods on a secluded piece of property.
"About a month prior, they had gone out and slopped pig's blood all over the trailer and all over the mattresses inside," Frakes said. "It was about 95 degrees when we went out there, and the smell we were greeted with was unlike anything I had ever experienced."
At that point, Frakes had a problem tolerating nasty smells. He's since learned to tolerate them.
They learned how to find blood that can be hidden in corners or soaked into floor joists, and how to properly dispose of a contaminated mattress.
"In a couple of hours the trailer was like new and the odor was gone," Frakes said.
And they also were schooled in the proper way to run such an unusual business.
"We learned how to maintain a business that is compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's rules. Other companies don't have to have a hazardous materials communications program," Frakes said, adding that Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup is required by law to maintain certain records for 30 years. If an employee becomes ill in 2020, the company must provide information about the types of chemicals that person used on the job and during what type of situation, for example.
But there's more to the business than a specialized knowledge of solvents and record keeping. They also had to develop a bedside manner.
"We realized this industry is about half dealing with the crime scene, and half helping the families, helping them get through a tragic time," Frakes said. During the average work day, they confront calamity at a very personal level. "That is the most gratifying part of what we do, helping them so they don't have to deal with a mess left behind," Frakes said.
During one job, a man died in a bedroom but the mattress was untouched. Disposing of a king size set costs about $1,000, Reynolds said. But in this case, a garbage man could have hauled it away safely. At the family's request, Reynolds moved the mattress to a garage.
But he later realized visiting mourners would see it. Because the family was short of cash, he decided to take it away himself and have Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup foot the bill. Although that decision cost the company money, it was the right thing to do, Reynolds said.
"When the wife found out I had made that decision, she just broke down and gave me a big hug ... She said 'thank you, thank you,'" Reynolds remembered. "She never let on that it was bothering her until I packed it up to go. That is one that will always stick with me."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Home Sweet Homicide: Was Your House or Apartment Once the Site of a Crime?
By Mark Saxenmeyer, FOX Chicago News
You've found the home of your dreams at a bargain basement price. Original hardwood floors, a brand new roof, and you even like the neighbors. There's got to be a catch!
There's a little-known loophole in Illinois real estate law. It turns out, no one ever has to tell you about the cold-blooded gunman or the vengeful psychopath who once committed an unthinkable crime on those original hardwood floors.
They may look like perfectly fine houses, places anyone might enjoy calling home, but something very bad once happened inside so-called ‘stigmatized’ homes. So bad, in fact, that some say there is no way anyone would ever, or should ever, live in stigmatized homes again. They're haunted, they claim, or ruined. They say the homes should be torn down and destroyed.
"It's something to talk about," said John Testa, who lives in the Pine Crest Apartment building at 3941 North Pine Grove Avenue.
Sixty five years ago, inside Testa's apartment, police and press called the vicious murder that occurred there "the crime of the century." The victim’s name was Frances Brown, one of three Chicagoans killed by William Heirens.
In December 1945, Heirens somehow snuck into apartment 611 and attacked Brown, who lived there. The two did not know each other; to this today the motive is unclear.
Today, Testa lives in the exact same studio. Aside from some bathroom and kitchen upgrades, the apartment looks very much like it did in 1945.
Heirens shot Brown twice, went to the kitchen and got a knife, and then stabbed her in the neck.
"She was in there," Testa said, pointing to the bathtub. "He bathed her after he killed her and cleaned her up."
Heirens became infamously known as The Lipstick Killer for what he wrote on the wall in apartment 611.
"For heavens sake", he scrawled with Frances Brown's lipstick, "catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself."
"I started like getting myself freaked out," Testa said. He now knows every detail about the lipstick killer, but only because he received a letter from FOX Chicago asking to discuss the violent incident.
Testa said his landlords never once mentioned the horrific history of the place he calls home.
"If they'd told me about what happened here, I don't think I would have rented this place," Testa said.
Ursula Bielski knows about apartment 611 at Pine Crest because she takes thousands of people past the building every year as part of a Chicago Hauntings tour she owns and runs. She's certain that building management would prefer everyone forget about the property's past.
"The owners really need to make sure they keep tenants, so probably the less said the better," Bielski said while touring Testa's apartment recently.
Mabel Guzman, the president-elect of Chicago Association of Realtors, says real estate agents, sellers and landlords in Illinois aren't required to disclose a history of violent crime to clients, buyers or potential tenants.
"If I know the answer and you ask me that question, I am going to answer it. I'll tell you everything," Guzman said, though she won't necessarily initiate the conversation out of fear a property or a neighborhood could be ‘red-lined’. Real estate agents need to be very careful about the nations' fair housing laws, she added.
Interestingly, the law does require disclosure about structural defects like cracks in the foundation, or environmental hazards like mold, lead-based paint and even previous production of methamphetamine in a home. But not murder.
Fox Chicago requested interviews with the current residents of a dozen so-called stigmatized homes in the Chicago. We reached out to property owners everywhere -- everything from the townhouse where Richard Speck strangled and stabbed eight student nurses in 1966 to the Oak Park home where mobster Sam Giancana was shot seven times in his basement in 1975. Most of the current residents never answered us, and some asked us -- even begged us -- not to not put their homes on the news again, and we've complied.
Other properties, like the historic Naperville mansion where Marilyn Lemak notoriously drugged and suffocated her three young children in 1999, have been given new life. North Central College took over the home two years ago and hopes to make it the official residence of its next president.
Still others, like the childhood home of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson remain in limbo. Representatives for Hudson would not comment on what she plans to do with the now-abandoned house, site of the murders of her family members in 2008.
"We do know that 25 to 30 percent of the population believes in ghosts, believes that they have seen ghosts, and I would suspect that being in a house in which someone was subjected to a violent death leaves behind some kind of aura,” said Dr. Arthur Lurigio, professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University. “I think people believe that if you don't leave the earth naturally, if it's a suicide, a homicide, an
accidental death, that spirit isn't resting and therefore, it still has a presence on your property and its going to affect your life adversely."
Bielski says the spirit of Louisa Luetgert definitely isn't resting. Bielski is scouring the bowels of a former sausage factory on West Diversey for signs that Luetgart's ghost might be hovering. Luetgert was murdered by her husband Adolph at the factory in 1897.
"Police found her skull and part of other parts of her body in the furnace here in the basement and also a ring of hers with her initials on it," said Bielski.
113 years later, this building has been converted into trendy condos and, according to Bielski, some residents have reported seeing a woman in a long dress from the late 1800s. Could it be Luisa? Well, who else could it be, right?
The former mansion of Marshall Field Jr., who was found shot to death in his bedroom in 1905, has also been divided up into condos. The people who live there now, like Kim Horowitz, say he's still living with them.
"Upstairs, water turns on by itself," Horowitz says. "And sometimes it smells like cologne from olden days."
Horowitz believes it's one thing to live in a place where the crime is nearly a century old, another if the crime had happened in her lifetime.
"If a murder had happened here five years ago, as opposed to a hundred, it would freak me out," she said.
At the Pine Crest Apartments, Testa now says he's tempted to demand a decrease in his $600-per-month rent.
"If I came in here when they first showed me the place and they said, 'here is the apartment, by the way the lipstick killer once killed here,' I would be like 'I don't need this place, there's 100 other apartments to look at," Testa said.
Full disclosure, he says, would be the right thing to do.
"I get why they don't disclose, but I think they should," he said.
A recent study of more than 100 known stigmatized houses for sale found that they sat on the market about 45 percent longer than other properties. Still, they eventually sold for only about three percent less than similarly priced and marketed homes.
In Chicago, though, there are some huge exceptions to that rule. One North Side home, in which a nationally publicized double-murder occurred about five years ago, sold for about $150,000 below the original asking price.
About half the states in the United States require sellers to disclose a home's so-called traumatic history, but some of those regulations mandate disclosure for only a certain amount of time after a crime has occurred.
You've found the home of your dreams at a bargain basement price. Original hardwood floors, a brand new roof, and you even like the neighbors. There's got to be a catch!
There's a little-known loophole in Illinois real estate law. It turns out, no one ever has to tell you about the cold-blooded gunman or the vengeful psychopath who once committed an unthinkable crime on those original hardwood floors.
They may look like perfectly fine houses, places anyone might enjoy calling home, but something very bad once happened inside so-called ‘stigmatized’ homes. So bad, in fact, that some say there is no way anyone would ever, or should ever, live in stigmatized homes again. They're haunted, they claim, or ruined. They say the homes should be torn down and destroyed.
"It's something to talk about," said John Testa, who lives in the Pine Crest Apartment building at 3941 North Pine Grove Avenue.
Sixty five years ago, inside Testa's apartment, police and press called the vicious murder that occurred there "the crime of the century." The victim’s name was Frances Brown, one of three Chicagoans killed by William Heirens.
In December 1945, Heirens somehow snuck into apartment 611 and attacked Brown, who lived there. The two did not know each other; to this today the motive is unclear.
Today, Testa lives in the exact same studio. Aside from some bathroom and kitchen upgrades, the apartment looks very much like it did in 1945.
Heirens shot Brown twice, went to the kitchen and got a knife, and then stabbed her in the neck.
"She was in there," Testa said, pointing to the bathtub. "He bathed her after he killed her and cleaned her up."
Heirens became infamously known as The Lipstick Killer for what he wrote on the wall in apartment 611.
"For heavens sake", he scrawled with Frances Brown's lipstick, "catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself."
"I started like getting myself freaked out," Testa said. He now knows every detail about the lipstick killer, but only because he received a letter from FOX Chicago asking to discuss the violent incident.
Testa said his landlords never once mentioned the horrific history of the place he calls home.
"If they'd told me about what happened here, I don't think I would have rented this place," Testa said.
Ursula Bielski knows about apartment 611 at Pine Crest because she takes thousands of people past the building every year as part of a Chicago Hauntings tour she owns and runs. She's certain that building management would prefer everyone forget about the property's past.
"The owners really need to make sure they keep tenants, so probably the less said the better," Bielski said while touring Testa's apartment recently.
Mabel Guzman, the president-elect of Chicago Association of Realtors, says real estate agents, sellers and landlords in Illinois aren't required to disclose a history of violent crime to clients, buyers or potential tenants.
"If I know the answer and you ask me that question, I am going to answer it. I'll tell you everything," Guzman said, though she won't necessarily initiate the conversation out of fear a property or a neighborhood could be ‘red-lined’. Real estate agents need to be very careful about the nations' fair housing laws, she added.
Interestingly, the law does require disclosure about structural defects like cracks in the foundation, or environmental hazards like mold, lead-based paint and even previous production of methamphetamine in a home. But not murder.
Fox Chicago requested interviews with the current residents of a dozen so-called stigmatized homes in the Chicago. We reached out to property owners everywhere -- everything from the townhouse where Richard Speck strangled and stabbed eight student nurses in 1966 to the Oak Park home where mobster Sam Giancana was shot seven times in his basement in 1975. Most of the current residents never answered us, and some asked us -- even begged us -- not to not put their homes on the news again, and we've complied.
Other properties, like the historic Naperville mansion where Marilyn Lemak notoriously drugged and suffocated her three young children in 1999, have been given new life. North Central College took over the home two years ago and hopes to make it the official residence of its next president.
Still others, like the childhood home of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson remain in limbo. Representatives for Hudson would not comment on what she plans to do with the now-abandoned house, site of the murders of her family members in 2008.
"We do know that 25 to 30 percent of the population believes in ghosts, believes that they have seen ghosts, and I would suspect that being in a house in which someone was subjected to a violent death leaves behind some kind of aura,” said Dr. Arthur Lurigio, professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University. “I think people believe that if you don't leave the earth naturally, if it's a suicide, a homicide, an
accidental death, that spirit isn't resting and therefore, it still has a presence on your property and its going to affect your life adversely."
Bielski says the spirit of Louisa Luetgert definitely isn't resting. Bielski is scouring the bowels of a former sausage factory on West Diversey for signs that Luetgart's ghost might be hovering. Luetgert was murdered by her husband Adolph at the factory in 1897.
"Police found her skull and part of other parts of her body in the furnace here in the basement and also a ring of hers with her initials on it," said Bielski.
113 years later, this building has been converted into trendy condos and, according to Bielski, some residents have reported seeing a woman in a long dress from the late 1800s. Could it be Luisa? Well, who else could it be, right?
The former mansion of Marshall Field Jr., who was found shot to death in his bedroom in 1905, has also been divided up into condos. The people who live there now, like Kim Horowitz, say he's still living with them.
"Upstairs, water turns on by itself," Horowitz says. "And sometimes it smells like cologne from olden days."
Horowitz believes it's one thing to live in a place where the crime is nearly a century old, another if the crime had happened in her lifetime.
"If a murder had happened here five years ago, as opposed to a hundred, it would freak me out," she said.
At the Pine Crest Apartments, Testa now says he's tempted to demand a decrease in his $600-per-month rent.
"If I came in here when they first showed me the place and they said, 'here is the apartment, by the way the lipstick killer once killed here,' I would be like 'I don't need this place, there's 100 other apartments to look at," Testa said.
Full disclosure, he says, would be the right thing to do.
"I get why they don't disclose, but I think they should," he said.
A recent study of more than 100 known stigmatized houses for sale found that they sat on the market about 45 percent longer than other properties. Still, they eventually sold for only about three percent less than similarly priced and marketed homes.
In Chicago, though, there are some huge exceptions to that rule. One North Side home, in which a nationally publicized double-murder occurred about five years ago, sold for about $150,000 below the original asking price.
About half the states in the United States require sellers to disclose a home's so-called traumatic history, but some of those regulations mandate disclosure for only a certain amount of time after a crime has occurred.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Teen Suicide Risk Factors: Parents Are Too Often Clueless
By Nancy Shute
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help.
Parents can be clueless when it comes to recognizing suicide risk factors, or at least more clueless than teens. In a new survey of teenagers and parents in Chicago and in the Kansas City, Kan., area, which appears online in Pediatrics, both parents and teenagers said that teen suicide was a problem, but not in their community. Alas, teen suicide is a universal problem; no area is immune.
The teenagers correctly said that drug and alcohol use was a big risk factor for suicide, with some even noting that drinking and drug use could be a form of self-medication or self-harm. By contrast, many of the parents shrugged off substance abuse as acceptable adolescent behavior. As one parent told the researchers: "Some parents smoke pot with their kids or allow their kids to drink."
Both teenagers and parents said that guns should be kept away from a suicidal teen. But since parents said they didn't think they could determine when a teenager was suicidal, parents should routinely lock up firearms, the researchers suggest. That makes sense. Firearms are used in 43.1 percent of teen suicides, according to 2006 data, while suffocation or hanging accounts for 44.9 percent.
The good news: Both parents and teenagers in this small survey (66 teenagers and 30 parents) said they'd like more help learning how to know when someone is at risk of committing suicide and what to do. Schools and pediatricians should be able to help, but we can all become better educated through reliable resources on the Web. These authoritative sites list typical signs of suicide risk, and they also provide questions a parent or a friend can ask a teenager to find out if he is considering killing himself. Here are good places to start:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry lists signs and symptoms of suicidal thinking, such as saying things like "I won't be a problem for you much longer."
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to ask the child directly about suicide. "Getting the word out in the open may help your teenager think someone has heard his cries for help."
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free advice to someone considering suicide, as well as to friends and relatives, at 800-273-TALK.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness's teenage suicide page makes the point that talking with someone about suicide will not "give them the idea." "Bringing up the question of suicide and discussing it without showing shock or disapproval is one of the most helpful things you can do," the NAMI site says. "This openness shows that you are taking the individual seriously and responding to the severity of his or her distress."
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help.
Parents can be clueless when it comes to recognizing suicide risk factors, or at least more clueless than teens. In a new survey of teenagers and parents in Chicago and in the Kansas City, Kan., area, which appears online in Pediatrics, both parents and teenagers said that teen suicide was a problem, but not in their community. Alas, teen suicide is a universal problem; no area is immune.
The teenagers correctly said that drug and alcohol use was a big risk factor for suicide, with some even noting that drinking and drug use could be a form of self-medication or self-harm. By contrast, many of the parents shrugged off substance abuse as acceptable adolescent behavior. As one parent told the researchers: "Some parents smoke pot with their kids or allow their kids to drink."
Both teenagers and parents said that guns should be kept away from a suicidal teen. But since parents said they didn't think they could determine when a teenager was suicidal, parents should routinely lock up firearms, the researchers suggest. That makes sense. Firearms are used in 43.1 percent of teen suicides, according to 2006 data, while suffocation or hanging accounts for 44.9 percent.
The good news: Both parents and teenagers in this small survey (66 teenagers and 30 parents) said they'd like more help learning how to know when someone is at risk of committing suicide and what to do. Schools and pediatricians should be able to help, but we can all become better educated through reliable resources on the Web. These authoritative sites list typical signs of suicide risk, and they also provide questions a parent or a friend can ask a teenager to find out if he is considering killing himself. Here are good places to start:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry lists signs and symptoms of suicidal thinking, such as saying things like "I won't be a problem for you much longer."
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to ask the child directly about suicide. "Getting the word out in the open may help your teenager think someone has heard his cries for help."
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free advice to someone considering suicide, as well as to friends and relatives, at 800-273-TALK.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness's teenage suicide page makes the point that talking with someone about suicide will not "give them the idea." "Bringing up the question of suicide and discussing it without showing shock or disapproval is one of the most helpful things you can do," the NAMI site says. "This openness shows that you are taking the individual seriously and responding to the severity of his or her distress."
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Crime Scene Leftovers Pose Problem For Sanitation
Call it the Case of the Bloody Mattress.
City sanitation workers in southwestern Kentucky were recently left with the problem of how to dispose of a bloody mattress put out with the trash.
The mattress came from a home where police say a 37-year-old man appears to have died from self-inflicted stab wounds. The problem came when trash collectors realized they couldn't pick up a potential biohazard, but didn't want to leave it by the side of the road in a residential neighborhood in Hopkinsville.
"This was an area of concern for us because blood is considered a biohazard and not only can our trash trucks not pick it up, but it could be dangerous for people in the community," said George Hampton, a route supervisor for Hopkinsville Solid Waste Authority.
The Kentucky New Era reports that the mattress disappeared by midweek, but sanitation officials didn't take it and were still trying to make sure it was properly disposed of. The location of the mattress remained a mystery at week's end.
Hopkinsville sanitation workers received an anonymous call reporting a mattress, possibly covered in blood, that had been set on a curb outside of a home. That was the concern of the anonymous caller, Hampton said, who said children in the neighborhood could start to play on the mattress and come into contact with the dried blood that might have diseases.
Because there was blood on the mattress, sanitation workers couldn't haul it off with the rest of the trash.
"It raises a question for us about where we take it from here," Hampton said. "Someone has to clean up messes like these and we can't do it."
Solid Waste Superintendent Bill Bailey said sanitation workers aren't allowed to pick up possible biohazards, including blood, from the side of the road. Instead, Bailey said, the department needs to call other landfills to see who will pick up and take the items.
"Sometimes we can process and wrap it in plastic and dispose of it that way. But other times we have to contact a company that deals with disposing of medical waste."
Charlotte Write, a spokeswoman for Stericycle, a national company that specializes in medical waste disposal, said medical waste is generally burned to kill pathogens that can live in dried blood.
"It is important to dispose of all medical waste, especially waste that comes from the body, so as not to spread diseases," Write said.
Hopkinsville Police Chief Guy Howie said the families must clean up the scene of a murder or suicide or pay to have it done.
"It doesn't sound very friendly, I know, but that's just how it has to be handled," Howie said. "Someone has to clean it up and someone has to dispose of all of this, it's just a matter of figuring out who. It's amazing that just one mattress on a curb can raise so many questions."
Someone solved sanitation's problem by taking the mattress from in front of the home. Bailey said sanitation workers didn't remove it, but finding out what became of the mattress is important. It had to be properly sterilized and disposed of.
"We can't just stick it in our landfill and be done with it," Bailey said. "Whether it's on that curb or not, it's still hazardous material."
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Grenade startles home cleanup crew
AURORA,Il
How did a grenade end up in an otherwise unspectacular home in a quiet neighborhood on the far West Side of Aurora?
Neighbors and police were still trying to figure that out Monday evening after a hand grenade was discovered in the home of woman who died in May.
Family members stumbled across the grenade in a satchel while cleaning out the one-story home in the 200 block of Central Avenue.
The relatives took the grenade to the back yard, then called Aurora police. The Aurora cops then called in the Kane County bomb squad, who arrived around 1 p.m.
The commotion caused quite a stir in the neighborhood. Three cop cars. Police tape around the back yard.
Kane County Sgt. Willie Mayes said the bomb squad made the grenade safe so it could be transferred and removed it. Monday evening, officers did not yet know if it was a live grenade.
But with everyone safe, the more intriguing question becomes: Where did it come from?
When cleaning out a loved one's house, you expect to find many things -- family photos, old letters and plenty of mementos. Explosives are a bit more uncommon.
Neighbors said the woman had lived in the house for about 20 years. She was quiet but friendly, and was often seen walking down the street to the store.
She was 81 when she died. Her husband had died many years before, neighbors said.
Was he in the service? Was this a souvenir he brought back, as some veterans did?
Or did she bring it home herself? Neighbors said she was a bit of a collector, but a grenade is a hard thing to pick up at a flea market.
Her house is overgrown with bushes and trees. A dumpster on the driveway and red tape labeled "BIOHAZARD" is stretched across the door.
Monday night, a random collection of knickknacks was lying near the curb, free to anyone who cared to wander up.
The trash/treasures included glass jars, vases, a 1995 Smashing Pumpkins CD, 19 Ray Coniff (and his orchestra and choir) vinyl records, women's leather boots (size 6), a mug with a 1997 calendar on it and a brass bottle opener shaped like a Coke can.
But no clues as to the origins of the grenade.
How did a grenade end up in an otherwise unspectacular home in a quiet neighborhood on the far West Side of Aurora?
Neighbors and police were still trying to figure that out Monday evening after a hand grenade was discovered in the home of woman who died in May.
Family members stumbled across the grenade in a satchel while cleaning out the one-story home in the 200 block of Central Avenue.
The relatives took the grenade to the back yard, then called Aurora police. The Aurora cops then called in the Kane County bomb squad, who arrived around 1 p.m.
The commotion caused quite a stir in the neighborhood. Three cop cars. Police tape around the back yard.
Kane County Sgt. Willie Mayes said the bomb squad made the grenade safe so it could be transferred and removed it. Monday evening, officers did not yet know if it was a live grenade.
But with everyone safe, the more intriguing question becomes: Where did it come from?
When cleaning out a loved one's house, you expect to find many things -- family photos, old letters and plenty of mementos. Explosives are a bit more uncommon.
Neighbors said the woman had lived in the house for about 20 years. She was quiet but friendly, and was often seen walking down the street to the store.
She was 81 when she died. Her husband had died many years before, neighbors said.
Was he in the service? Was this a souvenir he brought back, as some veterans did?
Or did she bring it home herself? Neighbors said she was a bit of a collector, but a grenade is a hard thing to pick up at a flea market.
Her house is overgrown with bushes and trees. A dumpster on the driveway and red tape labeled "BIOHAZARD" is stretched across the door.
Monday night, a random collection of knickknacks was lying near the curb, free to anyone who cared to wander up.
The trash/treasures included glass jars, vases, a 1995 Smashing Pumpkins CD, 19 Ray Coniff (and his orchestra and choir) vinyl records, women's leather boots (size 6), a mug with a 1997 calendar on it and a brass bottle opener shaped like a Coke can.
But no clues as to the origins of the grenade.
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