Donovan Tavera Says He Taught Himself to Clean Up Mexico's Crime Scenes Donovan Tavera - FT Magazine
go to original August 2, 2016

Donovan Tavera: 'Corruption and impunity keep the violence in Mexico going' (Bénédicte Desrus)

One day, when I was 12, I looked down from the window of our apartment to see a body lying dead beside a street-corner taco stand, his blood pouring into the gutter. He was the victim of a car accident. When I asked my mother where the blood would go, she couldn’t answer. The next day, I saw the taco-stand owners throwing soap and water over the blood. By midday, it was business as usual. That seemed so sad. I decided that if no one else was going to care about these things, I would.

The career of forensic cleaner barely exists in Mexico. I taught myself everything. My teenage years were spent in the library and the garage, replicating dried blood and other substances, and inventing the formulas to clean them. I’ve invented more than 300 of them.

The police here in Mexico leave a mess at murder scenes: fingerprint dust, footprints, scraps of evidence. Families find me over the internet or through word of mouth. I’m liked because I’m discreet. I come in, I do my job and I’m gone. Relatives look so tired and sad when they show me where to clean but so much lighter after I’ve finished. I help with their grieving process.

In the 15 years since I went professional, I’ve done hundreds of cleanings nationwide, from multiple homicides in Mexico City to suicides in Tijuana. My formulas are the difference between me and other cleaners who simply use bleach and water. Most people think that “clean” just means that the smell and stains are gone. But blood is dangerous. TB, HIV and hepatitis all remain live at a scene, if they are present in the victim. Stabbings leave blood mixed with pericardial fluid, which spreads separate contaminants. To clean a shooting, you need many formulas for many different bacteria, because a bullet cuts through several tissues.

It’s frustrating to have to convince people that my job is necessary. At police stations, when I explain my work, even the detectives look at me as if I’m strange. If they call me to clean, I have to pay them a cut of my fee. This hurts. My most expensive jobs — a multiple murder, or a long-term decomposition — cost $400. In America, I could charge $2,000.

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