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Biohazard and crime scene cleanup referrals ยท Greenville, North Carolina and nearby Pitt County towns

Greenville and Pitt County

After a death at home: what happens next

A plain order of events, so you know what is coming and what you need to decide.

  1. Call 911

    Even if the death was expected, call if no hospice nurse or doctor is with you. Police and emergency medical staff come first.

  2. Leave the person where they are

    When a death is sudden, violent, unexplained or unattended by a doctor, the county medical examiner is notified, and no one may move the person until the medical examiner allows it (G.S. 130A-383).

  3. The examination

    For Pitt County, the state lists the autopsy center at the ECU Brody School of Medicine in Greenville, (252) 744-4655. Many people do not need an autopsy; the medical examiner decides how to find the cause of death.

  4. Choose a funeral home

    Pick a funeral home or crematory and give its name to the autopsy center. The center helps arrange the transfer. The state's guide says families have up to 10 days from the death to make arrangements, unless the medical examiner agrees otherwise.

  5. Belongings

    Items the person had with them are listed and passed to the funeral home, unless police keep them as evidence.

  6. Reports

    Reports can be requested from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, (919) 743-9000. The autopsy center can tell you how a case is going.

  7. The home

    When police and the medical examiner have finished, keep the room closed and call a cleanup company if fluids or odor are involved.

If the home will be sold

Under North Carolina law, the fact that someone died in a house is not a material fact a seller has to disclose. A seller still may not knowingly lie if asked (G.S. 39-50). A thorough cleanup, with odor fully treated, matters more to buyers than anything on a form.

A brick ranch house with a crepe myrtle in front and tall pines behind
Do I need to stay in the house?

No. Once police and the medical examiner have finished, you can leave and let others handle the next steps. Give the company a way to get in.

Who contacts the funeral home?

You do, or someone you ask. Then tell the autopsy center which one you chose.

When you are ready, one call is enough

Say what happened and where. If the police or the medical examiner are still there, say so; the company will plan around their release. Nothing starts until you agree to it.

Talk to a cleanup company

Call (252) 555-0107

Phone answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Calls may be recorded. Read the referral disclosure and the privacy policy.

Call (252) 555-0107