Woman, 32, who quit her job as a hairdresser to become a CRIME SCENE cleaner reveals the grim realities of her morbid profession – from finding body parts to slipping on human fluids

A crime scene cleaner has revealed what it’s like to clean up after a murder scene – from finding body parts to slipping on human fluids.

Brazilian Clícia Mulet has been working in the field since 2019 after quitting her job as a hairdresser.

The 32-year-old went to work at the company where her father also worked and was immediately introduced.

But Clícia quickly realized how difficult some of these cases can be – with one of her first cleanups including a room where a man was found five days after his death.

“The person died at the top of a ladder. “I was cleaning the stairs when I suddenly saw a piece of his foot there,” she recalled.

‘It was scary because there was only skin left and it was dark in color due to the body’s breakdown process.

‘The worst part of the job was that the steps were so slippery from body fluids and blood that I was very afraid of falling down the stairs.’

In another example, Clícia discovers a woman’s body in a hotel as part of a failed drug smuggling scheme.

“This was actually in a hotel and a lady leaving the country to transport drugs in her body, but that bag of drugs exploded,” she said.

‘She died in her room and her body was only found after three days.

“It was (a) very shocking case, it felt like it was haunted as there were other deaths in the same building.”

Another shocking cleaning job that Clícia and a team of cleaners tackled was an abandoned house.

“One of the most memorable jobs was when we were cleaning an abandoned house,” she said.

‘Two drug addicts had moved in. But some time passed and they got into a fight, it didn’t end well and one of the boys ended up choking the other.

‘His body wasn’t found for two weeks. However, the house was so dark when we went to clean it because there was no energy, it made it much (scarier).”

Clícia was also booked to clean the house of a man who had been living alone while his body had been undiscovered for days.

“He was very sick and couldn’t get up, so he had to poop and pee in soda bottles and sleep on top of a very dirty mattress,” she recalls.

‘The place was infested with cockroaches and very dangerous insects such as spiders.

“The neighbors told us that he was always asking for some food and when we were cleaning the apartment we discovered that the refrigerator was full of very smelly, rotten, old food.”

Clícia and her team have specialist cleaning products, some of which are specific to blood and other bodily fluids.

On arrival, she will examine the area and check whether there is ‘blood splattered from multiple sides’, including under wooden floorboards or on top of the ceiling.

The cleaner should also look for any further evidence of crimes, such as hidden weapons or knives.

“I also check how many days decomposition took place, because the longer the body remains in a house or apartment, the worse the odor and the biological risk of infections from bacteria,” she explained.

“Once we finish cleaning the place, we also need to deodorize because everything in the scene has pores and some of them absorb all the bad odors.

‘We consider all blood to be contaminated with biological hazards because we do not know if the deceased has had any form of illness, so we have to take into account that this could be HIV, Hepatitis and especially all kinds of bacteria that spend longer periods of time in decomposition can resist. liquids.

‘And when the liquids are dried, we must always protect ourselves against airborne pathogens using mask(s) with carbon filters, goggles and the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment).

‘The most difficult are the stains above the wooden floor(s).

“If it’s soaked and filtered, you can’t clean it, so I have to remove all the dirty bits.”

But despite the shocking scenes and terrible cases, Clícia wouldn’t change her job for the world.

“Generally people are surprised because no one wants to do this kind of work,” she admitted.

‘Some are proud of us, others are disgusted.

‘We are emotionally prepared for this kind of work, we understand that these events are part of the human problems and we, as professionals, do our best not to get emotional and much less to bring them to our homes.

“But because I am also human, I have a strong empathy for others who suffer with the loved ones they have just lost and always will.”