Ray Barnes doesn't have your average cleaning business. Instead of cleaning grit and grime, he's wiping up blood and guts, literally, from crime scenes.
"You could have someone who would shoot themselves in the head with a .38 (mm revolver). That, in some cases, would not be very messy," said Barnes, owner of Crime Scene Cleanup. "But some people prefer to shoot themselves with a shotgun, in which case you have the whole room saturated."Barnes, a former investigator with the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office, started the business in 1994 with wife Louise, who ran a maid service.
His company is called in by people to rid their homes of the visible signs of crime, and it has contracts with three Maryland counties - Harford, Baltimore and Howard - to transport bodies from crime scenes.
Fortunately for Barnes - but sadly for the rest of us - two years later, his business, based in Fallston, Md., just 30 miles north of Baltimore, is booming.
With six employees and a fleet of cars, Crime Scene Cleanup has expanded into the nearby nation's capital, is opening a satellite office in Philadelphia and even serving locations in New Jersey. The company also works with several Maryland counties, a testament to crime's growth in the area.
In the city of Baltimore, there have been 160 homicides so far this year, compared with 147 during the same period in 1995. The city had a total of 325 murders last year.
And in Baltimore County there were 15 murders in the first three months of 1996 compared to nine during the same period last year. The county had 38 murders in all of 1995.
The District of Columbia has recorded 188 homicides this year, already more than half the 372 murders in 1995.
"Obviously society is going downhill. That's right in front of us," Barnes said. "But this service was needed years ago."
Barnes admits it hasn't been an easy job. He and his workers have seen some of the most gruesome crime scenes ever.
One that sticks in his mind is a Middlesex, Md., man who in September 1995 detonated explosive materials in his car, killing himself, his wife and their three children.
Crime Scene does no general commercial advertisements but circulates brochures and flyers to police departments and funeral homes.
Often officers recommend the company's services to families after conducting investigations at a crime scene, said Barnes.
"The families have given us a positive response," he said. "They obviously appreciate us putting their house back in order."
Rates start at $275 per visit and vary according to the size of the job. The costliest was a $6,500 job.
A medical waste company works with Crime Scene to dispose of body parts. And all employees wear special protective gear.
"One mistake could be a death sentence and not a quick death," Barnes said, explaining workers are trained to be extremely cautious in this age of AIDS and other deadly diseases.