After a death, shooting or accident, surviving victims go to the hospital, while authorities take bodies into custody. But blood, skin and other biological materials remain at the scene, and bugs and rodents may soon arrive. The location has to be cleaned in order to be accessible and safe for subsequent use—which is where biohazard cleaners come in.
Tom DeSena and Junior Lallbachan are experienced biohazard and crime scene cleaners. Via their TikTok account, thesoulmediators, they share what it’s really like to do this kind of work, racking up more than a quarter-million followers along the way.
DeSena and Lallbachan demonstrate what’s involved in cleaning different sites, including the strenuous physical labor and the need to cut out and remove things that can’t be fully cleaned, such as baseboards or carpeting. Sensitive to the fact that graphic content isn’t for everyone, they warn viewers before showing anything explicit, and take care not to reveal personal or potentially identifying information about their customers.
In addition to working together, the two twenty-somethings live together as roommates in Florida. From there, they travel to jobs up and down the East Coast and across the South. They recently spoke to A&E True Crime about their work and social media impact as they were on the road. Lallbachan was at the wheel for much of the conversation, so DeSena answered more questions.
What kinds of biohazard cleaning jobs do you two work on?
DeSena: We do all types of jobs. We clean after homicides, suicides, unattended deaths. We also clean hoarding [situations].
How long have you both been doing this work?
DeSena: I’ve been doing this for about three years, Junior has been doing it for nine years now. He’s a little older than me.
How did the two of you end up being based in Florida?
DeSena: Junior and I don’t work for ourselves, we work for a company [Bio Recovery] based out of Long Island, New York. While our company was branching out [in 2022], they asked us, ‘Do you guys want to go down to Florida?’
We were the two youngest guys. We didn’t have children or families. So we were like, ‘Let’s do it.’
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Who reaches out to your company when crime scene cleaning services are needed?
DeSena: Once the crime [scene] is cleared, once the police have [assessed] the situation, [collected] the evidence and everyone has done their parts, then someone contacts our company for the cleanup. A lot of times police will refer [people to] us and companies like us. There’s no police cleanup crew.
How are jobs assigned to you?
DeSena: Wherever [our company] sends us, we go, basically. Junior and I have bags of clothes [packed] for a month and we’re ready to go. We solely work together.
How soon after a death do you usually arrive on the scene?
DeSena: There have been times where someone has committed suicide the night before, and we have gone almost in the middle of the night, while police were there. [We also had a] job in Texas, where sheriffs found the decaying body seven to eight months [after the death].
Do you ever meet surviving friends or family members?
DeSena: Every single day. We once met a customer whose older brother was murdered by their younger brother. They were all veterans, and supposedly the oldest was always going over to help his youngest brother. And one day the youngest brother snapped. [When] Junior and I showed up to the house, the middle brother explained what the cops told him.
Junior and I [try to] make people feel very comfortable. We are in their homes at a very horrible time in their lives. There are countless times where I’ve talked with mothers who’ve just lost their children or met [grieving] siblings.
Can you talk about the most unusual locations where you’ve worked?
DeSena: We’ve done jobs everywhere. At a collision center, [we worked on] a car with over 30 bullet holes. The story I was told is that the driver was hit 10 times, [but] is still alive.
We had to remove the door paneling, the seats, the roof. There was biohazard everywhere. The car looked stripped down when we were done with it—just the steering wheel and the stick shift.
[For another job,] someone got shot outside a restaurant, and, while bleeding, ran into the restaurant and [ended up] on the floor.
I did a boat one time. I think the boat hit someone, and there was blood on the side of the boat.
Lallbachan: [Years ago,] my boss called me [and] said, ‘We have a job for you. Just sanitize and clean a few tables and equipment.’
It was a morgue. I had to clean five tables where they put the bodies to open them up.
Have you ever felt in danger while doing crime scene cleaning?
DeSena: The job itself, we know what we’re dealing with. We’re biohazard cleaners, so we take precautions. We have certain chemicals for drugs, diseases, machines for bugs. We trust in our stuff, and it works.
There [have been] times, whether in an inner-city place like the Bronx or in the middle of West Virginia, [we’ve been] kind of scared by the people who were around [the scene]. But we just make sure we get the job done. We make sure the customer’s satisfied with the work, and we wish them the best.
What made you start posting to TikTok?
DeSena: We were pretty bored and lonely, just working on the road all the time. I was sitting in the van scrolling on TikTok for hours after a job when we were away in Texas, and I’m like, ‘Why don’t we just make a TikTok?’
I try to make the videos as friendly and informative as possible. I think it’s good for people to understand how [our job] really works, [in case] they’re thrown in the position [to need these services].
What do you each like best about this work?
DeSena: There’s many things about the job I do like. The labor keeps me physically in shape. But I do think as I’ve gotten better at doing the job, and I’ve been able to interact and connect with customers more, it has opened up a new path. I do like to help people and connect with people.
Lallbachan: The good part of the job is helping someone out so they can move on and have [more] peace of mind at the end of the day.
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