Suicide or Homicide...it leaves the same mess

[Alison P.]

I had a tragedy happen in one of my rentals this past week and I thought I would share what I have learned with everyone, in case you ever find yourself in the same situation what I have learned might be helpful. (These were inherited tenants and I'm still very new to this business).  What a learning curve!

I never in my lifetime thought I would have to deal with, or learn so much about the issues I have this past week.  

Day 1 - On Sunday evening, my phone lit up.  My tenants were calling and texting to tell me that there were several police and an ambulance outside one of my units.  I called the non-emergent line but dispatch couldn't give me any information.  As the evening wore on, one of the tenants called back and told me that the police had told her my tenant had been found dead of a gunshot wound.  She said she knew the police officer and said he would talk to me, she handed him the phone.

He described in great detail what they had found and what happens when someone is shot in the head (something I hope I never hear again for the rest of my life).  They were pretty sure it was suicide but were taking the girlfriend in for questioning just in case.

Day 2 - The Sheriff's dept took over the case and the sheriff called to tell me my unit was now a crime scene and they would call me when they were finished with it. The girlfriend was arrested and charged with felony possession of a firearm and it came out of the woodwork that she had killed her previous boyfriend in 2010 and been convicted of 2nd degree domestic assault in 2014... 

I called several cleaning companies and eventually found one that dealt with this kind of situation.  I still had no idea what to expect the state of my property to be in.  I found out it could be upwards of $4500 to clean depending on the extent of damage! I called my insurance company to alert them to the situation, they started the claim.

The sheriff gave me a heads up that if, when released, I allowed the parents to go in and take their son's belongings, that the girlfriend could sue me if any of her stuff was damaged or taken.  I needed to see a lawyer.

Day 3 - I was able to get an appointment with my attorney, who agreed with what the sheriff had told me and that no one had authority to take anything at the moment.  The parents would have to get a court order to be able to retrieve their son's possessions and that, when released, I should take a witness and photograph the inside of the unit to prove I didn't take anything.

Day 4 - The unit was finally released to me.  I took a witness, called the cleaning company and we all met at the same time.  I pulled the evidence tape off the door took a deep breath and walked in.  It was surreal, everything just left as it was when it happened.  All the lights were on, there was a wax warmer still on, the oven was still on very low! I took pictures of everything (except the blood). The cleaning guy did all that.

He ripped up the carpet that was most affected, sprayed biocide, and told me he would have to come back the next day to take out more carpet, do more disinfecting and put in an 'airscrubber'.

There were heavy prescription drugs all over the place in the girlfriend's name.  The cleaning guy told me I should get them out of there because someone might break in and steal them.  We gathered them up, I took a photo of them and then took them to the Sheriff's Dept.

Day 5 - Although I was not supposed to touch anything, I decided that I would, at least, throw out all the perishables in the fridge.  I don't want to talk ill of the dead, but the unit was in a disgusting mess and the fridge even worse and it would be at least a month before I could do anything with this unit. I did not want to have to deal with flies and moldy food etc when I was eventually able to clean the place.  The cleaning guy even sprayed the inside of the fridge with the biocide! The insurance adjuster arrived and did his thing, getting lots of info from the cleaning guy and the photos he needed of the damage. I locked up the unit and that's how it will stay now for at least a month until the court order is given to the parents.

Day 6 - The mother invited me to the funeral.  I am going to pay my respects.

What I have learned:

Get legal advice immediately. It turns out, I am responsible for everything until a court order is given for the estate.

If the girlfriend stays in jail and can't get anyone to remove her stuff after the parents have removed what they're entitled to, I still have to go to court to get an order to state I can remove her stuff and I have to have a sheriff present to do so. This could take a further month...

Take pictures of everything and have a witness present, so that you can't be accused of stealing anything.

It will take a long time to process and there is nothing you can do about it.

After the initial shock wears off that this has actually happened, it's a case of putting one foot in front of the other and following what your attorney tells you, to the letter.

I deliberated long and hard about posting this.  But in the beginning, I had no clue how to proceed.  I was numb and in shock.  If my experience can help anyone else, I thought it was worth posting...