Homicide Cleanup community polls
See how other people handled the same decisions, then add your own answer.
After a homicide, practical choices fall on people who are grieving. Those people rarely get to compare notes with anyone who has been through the same thing. The polls on this site give them a way to do that without sharing anything about their own loss. Visitors answer questions like what was hardest to arrange after the scene was released, or which kind of support mattered most. Over time, the answers show the next reader what to expect. These are not statistics about homicide or cleanup. Those are in the sourced sections. The polls are a record of shared experience from families, estate representatives, landlords, and advocates who have lived through the aftermath and chose to answer.
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Vote on the questions that matter here
Every count is a real visitor vote; nothing is seeded or padded. One vote per poll per device, and you can change your answer.
What was hardest to arrange after the scene was released?
When did you first learn that a victim compensation program might help?
How long did the investigation hold the property before release?
Which kind of support mattered most to your family during cleanup?
Did anyone in your family feel they should clean the scene themselves?
As a landlord or manager, what worried you most after a homicide in a unit?
Why opinions matter in homicide cleanup
The choices after a killing are unlike those after other property events. A family may need to decide whether anyone should ever see the room again. They may need to decide whether to keep or sell the home, and how to talk to children about what happened there. An estate representative has to approve work before probate is settled and account for every cost. A landlord must balance the tenant's family, the other residents, and an insurer, all at once. Many people learn about victim compensation programs weeks too late. The polls ask about these moments directly. Readers can see where others struggled and where they found help. Advocates and providers can also learn what survivors actually need.
Read the results with care, and remember that each person's situation was their own. Say a poll shows that many people wished they had applied for victim compensation sooner. That is a reason to look into your state's program. It is not proof that you will qualify. Say a poll shows that most families chose not to be there during cleanup. That is background for your choice, not a rule. The people who answer choose to do so, and their answers reflect memory and circumstance as much as fact. Let the polls point you toward a question. Then take that question to a checked provider, a victim advocate, or the detective on the case, who can answer it for you.
How to read poll results
A poll on a homicide cleanup site reflects the people who happened to visit and chose to answer. Some are family members in the middle of a crisis. Some are landlords planning ahead. Some are professionals, and some are readers with no personal link at all. The result is a snapshot of opinion shaped by who showed up and how the question was worded. It can show which worries are widely shared and which are less common. But it cannot tell you what is true about investigations, insurance, or victim programs in general. It also cannot tell you what will happen in your situation.
The sourced statistics on this site are a different kind of thing. They come from named public agencies, published research, or government data. They describe defined groups of people, and each one is labeled with its source so you can check it. Sometimes a poll and a sourced figure seem to point in opposite directions. In that case, the figure describes what actually happens, while the poll describes what visitors believe or remember. Both are worth reading. Polls tell you what survivors worried about. Statistics tell you how often those worries turn out to be true. That is why they appear in separate sections.
How voting works
One vote per poll per device; you can change your answer. Votes are stored as anonymous counts with a salted, hashed identifier and never linked to a name, email or form submission.
Opinion versus observation
Findings from published studies of people and properties in situations like this one. They describe what researchers observed in a specific group; they are not predictions for your case.
Participants described impacts extending beyond their initial reactions to the death.
Affordability was part of the service-access problem they described.
Sourced numbers next to the opinions
Polls show what visitors think. These figures come from published research and agency data, so you can compare perception with evidence.
- 48.6% South
Of the estimated U.S. murders in 2024, 48.6% were reported in the South, 21.0% in the West, 20.3% in the Midwest and 10.2% in the Northeast.
Read with care: FBI estimates are based on data from 16,675 agencies covering 95.6% of the U.S. population; expanded homicide details cover only victims with supplemental data reported.
Source: FBI (2024)United States, 2024, by Census region
- 20,162
CDC recorded 20,162 homicide deaths in the United States in 2024, a rate of 5.9 per 100,000 population.
Read with care: CDC counts all homicides on death certificates, including justifiable homicides, so totals exceed FBI murder counts.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics (2024)United States, 2024, death certificates (National Vital Statistics System)
- 40.4%
In 2021, 40.4% of NVDRS-recorded homicides took place in a house or apartment and firearms were used in 79.9%.
Read with care: Earlier year than the 2022 summary; use as a trend comparison only.
Source: CDC (2021)United States, 48 states, DC and Puerto Rico, 2021, covering 86.5% of violent deaths
- 9.3%
About 9.3% of U.S. adults in a 1991 national sample had lost a family member or close friend to criminal or vehicular homicide.
Read with care: Dated figure combining criminal and alcohol-related vehicular homicide.
Source: National Institute of Justice (Amick-McMullan, Kilpatrick & Resnick) (1991)United States, random-digit-dial sample of 12,500 adults
These figures are public research and agency data, not this network's own job records. Keep each number with its population, year and limits; none of them predicts cost, timing or outcome at a specific property.
Questions about homicide cleanup polls
Are the poll responses anonymous?
Yes. Picking an answer records nothing about who you are, and we do not ask for an account or contact details. Because the subject is so sensitive, the polls are built so that no answer could be tied to a specific event, victim, or address. Please do not add any details that could identify someone anywhere on the site.
Why do the polls ask about victim compensation and support services?
Because those programs are among the least known and most useful resources after a homicide. Many survivors find out about them too late to apply. Asking how and when readers learned about them helps others see that the help exists. The polls do not decide who qualifies. For that, contact the program in your state.
Could a poll result be upsetting to read?
Possibly. The questions avoid graphic detail. But they do touch on choices such as whether to return to a home or how children were told. If a topic feels like too much right now, skip it. The sourced guides and tools cover the same ground in a more neutral way. None of the polls are required.
Do landlords and families answer the same polls?
Yes, and that mix is on purpose. Landlords, estate representatives, and family members face related but different problems after a homicide in a rental. Seeing how each group answers the same question about privacy, timing, or belongings can help them understand each other. That matters when they have to work together on choices neither side wanted to make.
Will the network use poll answers to match me with a provider?
No. Poll results are never linked to provider referrals or to any contact you make through the site. No one sees how you answered. No matter what the polls show, you must check any provider you contact yourself. Check their training, insurance, waste handling, and how respectfully they work with grieving families.
Can a victim advocate or provider suggest a poll question?
Yes. The site welcomes questions from advocates, providers, and survivors through the contact form. Questions that capture a common choice the current polls miss are especially welcome. Questions must offer balanced options and avoid graphic content. They must not ask people to share details about a specific case, victim, or property.
How often do poll results change?
Results update as visitors answer, so a poll you saw last month may look different today. Early results with only a few answers can swing easily. Come back later if you want a steadier picture. Remember that even a steady result describes this site's visitors, not all survivors.
More on homicide cleanup
Homicide Cleanup services
Learn what homicide cleanup involves for families, estates, and landlords. Topics range from sealing off several rooms to lists of belongings and final records.
Costs explained
What drives the price, published cost ranges, and how to read a written quote line by line.
Insurance and payment
Which policies may respond, how to document a claim, and what to do if coverage is denied.
Planning tools
Planners, checklists, and organizers for the weeks after a homicide. They cover police holds, estate authority, landlord duties, and victim compensation.
Knowledge quiz
A calm review of police holds, authority, sealing off work areas, disinfecting, waste, and records. The study guide is written for grieving families and the people helping them.
Articles and resources
Articles on the family and landlord side of a homicide. Topics include release timing, belongings, privacy, compensation programs, disclosure, and renting a unit again.