But what happens then?
Who cleans up the potentially hazardous, biological mess that’s left behind? To find out, Wired followed Steri-Clean, a company that specializes in bio-remediation, including cleaning up after dead bodies have been removed from a scene.
The body the company was dealing with on this day had been dead for over a month. The smell was distinctive and unforgettably obnoxious. The garage was littered with dead cats and something that looked like a rabbit or a guinea pig. Its walls were covered in scratch marks, evidence of the forgotten animals’ desperation to escape.
The house was littered with animal feces. Dishes were piled in the sink. A bicycle stood up against the wall. One of the Steri-Clean crew opened the fridge and immediately shut it, but not before it added to the putrid stench. “This isn’t so bad,” they assured us.
In this video we find out what happens when the coroner leaves.
