#016 CAUSE OF DEATH - Headshot with a view

podcast_19594_todesursache_the_pdcst_with_marcell_engel_episode_341612_016_causeofdeath_headshot_with_view-1.mp3

#016 Cause of Death: Headshot with a view c'est la vie.

#016 Cause of Death: In this episode, our crime scene cleaner Marcell Engel travels to France - right to the heart of Paris. At the crime scene, he not only encounters lots of maggots, but also a very special discovery. Find out what it's all about in the new episode "Cause of Death".

Speaker1: Cause of Death. The Podcast with crime scene cleaner Marcell Engel.

Speaker2: My name is Marcell Engler and I work as a crime scene cleaner.It will happen every now and then in my podcast that we dive very deeply into what is happening. I will talk about it openly. By that I mean that liquids, such as, blood as an element will be the smallest problem. I am looking forward to taking you on a mind trip into my world as a crime scene cleaner. 

Cause of Death is one of the successful true crime scene podcasts in Germany and my experiences can be listened to here now:

Speaker1: Cause of Death. The podcast with Marcell Engel.

Speaker2: Hello, welcome to a new episode of my podcast Cause of Death. First of all, I would like to thank you all very much. Over three and a half thousand people have subscribed to this podcast and I'm really overwhelmed by how popular this topic is. Because I've been doing this for 27 years and for me it's just everyday life and the more fascinating, I find it again. And that also satisfies my personal commitment to this topic of crime scene cleanings to perhaps stimulate a bit of reflection. And yes, so many, many thanks already at this point for being here and I can tell you right away, I still have a lot to tell. There are thousands of crime scenes that I have cleaned and I think many, many, many are worth telling. Today I have brought a crime scene cleaning as an experience. It was a very long time ago. And yes, I don't know. I think all of us know this. There are little or big lies in life, such dishonesty. And why are they used by us? Perhaps out of fear, because you don't want to tell the truth or hurt someone else. Or simply to look a little better in front of others at that moment. But it doesn't matter at all, these dishonesties, I think they all have one thing in common: they come to light at some point. More than 20 years ago, a customer, a regular customer, whom I had already served quite often in Germany in the field of special cleaning, called me and said: Mr. Engel, I appreciate your work very much and would like to ask you at this point, whether you could imagine for us, me and my wife to carry out a crime scene cleaning in Paris.

Speaker2: And his wife is French and they have a property at a park very close to the Eiffel Tower, Avenue Elisée Reclus. So, I'm not French, I don't know French. Please excuse the pronunciation, but that was the address at the time. And yes, for me that was great. Foreign assignment. Wow, I thought to myself. Sensational. I didn't have such a good experience in France beforehand; it was a bit connected to an international soccer match and well, we were young and went to Paris for breakfast, maybe we behaved as if the world belonged to us. And I always say: as one calls into the forest, so it resounds out. And well, somehow, I always thought that the French didn't like the Germans, maybe because of the war and so on and my previous experiences. And I was there twice before. Personally. They weren't so nice, but by the way, by now it's completely changed. I love Paris! I'm there regularly. At least once a year I try to celebrate with my family. And then we always take someone else from the family, friends, or acquaintances. Then each have our own individual weekend experience.

Speaker2: And I find the city totally fascinating and very, very cool and well, I just like it. Back then it wasn't quite like that, but this foreign assignment really fascinated me. So, I thought okay, all right. I came to an agreement with the client. Then I said: Paris is no problem. It's just costs. But he still went for it, said I'd love to have you there and I don't know how a service provider does it in Paris and so on. Well, so, no sooner said than done. So off to France. It was a long trip from Frankfurt, it is about 700 kilometers. I started quite early in the morning, and when I arrived in the afternoon, I first checked into the hotel and then I was really curious. So, I just wanted to know what awaits me there and I had not gotten so much information through the owner. I only found out that the apartment was locked by the police for several weeks and I also knew that the person who committed suicide was a businessman. Well, not so much that I could have imagined what to expect. Exactly for the reason I drove then in the afternoon to the address and was standing before such an insane, sensational, beautiful old building.

Speaker2: And I'm a bit of a building freak. So, I just like certain architecture. Whether modern or old buildings, something like that interests me. And that was really, as I said, a really imposing old building with stucco on the facade and figurines on it and so on. And, wow, I thought to myself. Beautiful. Very, very, very beautiful. And yes, my assignment, I knew beforehand, was on the fourth floor. So, I had already gotten the key through the owner in Germany and I practically had the general key and I could unlock downstairs and I went into this hallway. There were old mosaics on the floor and a swinging door like in the salon. And then you entered the actual staircase. Eternally wide, elongated staircase with a cast-iron handrail. So sensational. I always admire something like that. But I also thought to myself: oh, well, that will be delightful, because there's no elevator. But well, doesn't matter. I went up the stairs and met a very young French woman on the stairs. She just came out of her apartment door and I greeted her very friendly. Salut! And then she immediately started chatting with me. She was a really pretty one and yes, I was then extremely embarrassed, because I could not speak her language.

Speaker2: I just said "Je m'apelle Marcell" and stammered around. That was already somehow a bit of a funny situation. So, the situation was relaxed. It was really a nice day and I was somehow in a good mood. Then I went up to the apartment and the apartment door was a huge, double-winged door made of wood, painted gray and there were huge frosted glass elements in there. And the peculiarity was, the door was sealed at the door handle and that was just so unusual, because normally you have at the apartment door a knob, which you cannot press down. So, I found that a bit tricky. And there was also a sealing strip right at that point. In Germany, they do it completely differently, they just seal it in the door frame to the door leaf and then there's a tear-off edge. Well, nevertheless, I unlocked the door and went into the apartment. In the hallway itself, I could not detect any smell at all when I opened the apartment door. Bam! There came a wall of this sweetish corpse smell right towards me. And yes, then I knew for the first time again: Aha, you are not here to take a vacation, but you are here to clean the crime scene.

Speaker1: Cause of Death. The podcast. The crime scene.

Speaker2: I could then look into a long hallway, a very long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a room without a door and you could see that clearly, that was the kitchen. But even there, from a distance, as I walked in, it was already clear that there was no crime scene. There was no corpse found, everything was spotlessly clean. And then I stood in the hallway in front of three large doors. And the doors seemed to me a bit like from those quiz shows from the nineties. I think it was with Harry Weinfurt. And he would always say: Door one, two or three. And then I made up pictures in my mind. Well, okay. So, I opened the door slowly and there was the jackpot. Because when I opened the door, I looked down and I already noticed how the edge of the door, which was very close to the floor, crushed all the maggots that were lying on the floor in the room when I opened it. Then I lifted my head and was first of all overwhelmed. I was looking at a large window with a half-arch and it looked a bit like a church. And it was flooded with light and incredibly beautiful. And I'm not a freak. But there was a picture that emerged. I could suddenly see the Eiffel Tower in the entire window frame, as if it had been painted. So, in really full cut out size. And I got goose bumps. I thought: Wow, what a view. I mean, the tenant probably didn't appreciate it anymore, because at some point you get fed up with that kind of thing.

Speaker2: But for me, it was completely fascinating at that moment. Yes, but then came a bit of the work analysis, because I could also recognize blood on the window or on the window glass. And beyond that, I thought, this was an old building with a ceiling height of about four meters fifty, I would say. The upper ceiling-wall area was decorated with stucco and silk wallpaper. So beautiful. In a delicate pink. But there was pink, red, and black colored tissue mass stuck on the ceiling. Brain mass. So that had also partially dried off. And yes, on the wall it also looked a bit as if a balloon with red paint had been burst with a needle near the wall. So, a huge mess and for me it was clear: Someone has shot himself in the head in here. So, this is the image I always see when someone holds a firearm underneath their neck pointing upwards towards their forehead, pulls the trigger and there's actually not much left of their head. So, a lot of work for tomorrow. So, I thought to myself: Okay, I've seen enough. First off into the city eat and yes, maybe sit down in the street cafe and enjoy a little the colorful hustle and bustle of the city. That's what I did, but then I went back to the hotel quite early, went to bed and allowed myself a good night's sleep, because I thought to myself that tomorrow will certainly be a really hard day. The next morning, I got up, looked out the window, bright sunshine, over 20 degrees.

Speaker2: Wow, it's going to be great today. Actually, the signs were there for a beautiful day. But now we ignore the fact that we have to clean a crime scene. Sensory perception and so on always play a role. And then you can calmly tell yourself that if you have to clean a crime scene, you can still have a nice day. So, there you also have to motivate yourself. That's also part of it, in my opinion, in order to then simply clean up this incident on site in the best possible way. I then drove to the house and what I remember well: There was no parking, the previous day was great, I could park right in front of the door and then somehow on that day everything sucked. Probably because of all the tourists or I don't know. In any case, it was a problem. I did not find a parking space and had to walk a few hundred meters. I always have my equipment with me. Well, that was a bit sucky. But anyway. I thought to myself: come on, up to the apartment and let's go. Yes. Then I went upstairs and started cleaning. First the rough cleaning of the tissue remnants. I have a plastic spatula for that. It actually comes from the food sector and is used for dough and other things. And with that I always first scratch on sensitive surfaces and the fabric. And on the walls, there was this silk wallpaper and one side was pink, the other was so white and the white was just a bit speckled red in the corner.

Speaker2: And the blood came off much better than I had thought. So, the cleaning success was there and yes, afterwards I set about cleaning the furniture. There were two beautiful large cabinets, antiquarian ornate, so walnut colored and I thought to myself: Well, get out the toothbrush and clean really thoroughly all the little corners, cracks and all the squiggles on the cabinet. You actually do that with a toothbrush, because you can get into all these grooves and so on. Eight hours later, the intermediate state was reached. I had a hard day behind me, because it had become so hot. It was an attic apartment. Also, it was summer and I wore the protective suit and in connection with ladder up, ladder down, ladder up, ladder down it just became even hotter. The ceiling was four meters 50 high. That was really, really hard work. But nevertheless, you don't want to complain. So, it's a cool job and accordingly, that's just part of it. So far, I actually had everything clean and I know from experience that finding a body is always associated with a certain, especially when it comes to a head shot, with a certain spray. It is so fine that it settles everywhere and in these cases I always use a special preparation. I spray this into the room and then, in the case of blood and tissue residues that contain protein, a so-called protein defect result. This then foams up like shower gel in the places where it has not been properly cleaned. And that's exactly what I did for self-control. And I then saw two corners at the top of the ceiling and thought to myself: up the ladder again, but it doesn't help. And then, as I'm scrambling up there, I suddenly see a suitcase lying on top of one of the cupboards. Why hadn't I seen it before? I don't know. But at that moment I definitely noticed this suitcase. This cabinet was also the farthest away from the actual place of the event in this room. The room was, I would say, about 45 square meters. It was actually very, very large and maybe that's why I didn't focus on it so much. But it doesn't really matter. In any case, I took a look and thought: Well, you have to see what's in there, because the customer in Germany also gave me the task: please look in the room. So not only clean everything, but if you find anything, any keys or papers or, or, please make sure you have those. Well good. So, I went over, got the suitcase down. It had a combination of numbers. I'm an opening expert, I've been doing that for many years, I offer it to the police and authorities and I open all kinds of things. Doors, safes, it doesn't matter. I always do it well, I can do it very, very, very well. So, I decoded this lock and I opened the case. Yes, and when I opened the case, I thought to myself I can't see right.

Speaker1: Cause of Death. The podcast. The evidence.

First of all, there was a folder open in the suitcase and there was a lot of money in it, different currencies, at that time still D-Mark, franc, Italian money and so on and so forth. So, the lira, and not to an insignificant extent. So, the D-Mark, that was several thousand marks. I continue to search and then I found IDs in the suitcase, that is, identity papers and passports. I opened them and each time I could see a different nationality, but each time it was the same face in the photo. So, I thought, this can't be true. What is this? There was an expensive ballpoint pen inside and a little box. And I thought to myself: well, it looked a bit like a can from a cokehead. So, it looked like coke. Then I tapped it briefly on my tongue and somehow it tasted funny and I somehow diagnosed it as a drug. So now I was standing there with the case. The customer's task is clear, but I thought to myself: well, somehow, that's quite a number, you can't just give that back to the tenant with drugs and so on and false passports. So, my head immediately started spinning and I thought to myself: Okay, you take the suitcase and go to the police.

Speaker2: In the worst case, you have an accident. The suitcase is on the passenger seat. You are stopped, maybe because you only have to brake fully, the suitcase opens and suddenly there is coke, money and IDs. Of course, from a stranger, but explain that without knowing French. My English skills are also rather modest. So, I thought to myself: Holy shit, what are you going to do now? All right, so no option at all and accordingly I first called the customer. I called the one in Germany. I reached him directly, thank God, and his wife was French, so she called the gendarmerie in Paris and a civilian patrol really did arrive after a very, very short time after this phone call. And yes, they were friendly and nice. But I didn't understand anything and, in the conversation, they talked a lot among themselves, I felt a bit like a fifth wheel. Nevertheless, thank God, there was a happy ending for me, because everything was photographed and I was also photographed. But I didn't have to go to the police station. I was a bit worried about that, and thank God I was allowed to continue working. So somehow it was all a bit like a movie at that moment, like a Hollywood blockbuster. Afterwards, I found out from the owner of the apartment through my customer,

Speaker2: that the tenant was a wanted criminal. Drug dealer, arms dealer. Internationally active and that through this suitcase finding his double life and thus his life lie was uncovered. Yes, and he was not a successful, internationally active businessman. In reality, everything was different. And at that moment, I was a little bit able to evoke my life's effect again. It really jumped out at me, and I asked myself the question: well, haven't we all told a little lie in our lives? As I said, perhaps out of fear of telling the truth or for whatever reason. The whole thing is a question of morality. Right or wrong? I mean with the deceased it was all a little bit different, but nevertheless I related it to that and I think the answer, it's very complex and probably there's never a right or wrong with these little dishonesties or these little life lies in our lives. It is and always will be a question of morality. And in principle it is. The fact is: every one of these little life lies will be uncovered at some point and the truth will come to light. And then it may result in a much bigger problem. Why the tenant shot himself is the big question. Perhaps, before he chose this path, a life lie burst in him like a soap bubble.

Speaker2: Life impact.

Thus, I asked myself: so why not be honest right away, no matter what others think or say.

Speaker2: Just be yourself, stand by how you think, how you live, how you feel, what you like. And say it like that. Because these little dishonesties only cost unnecessary energy. In this sense: clean up your life. And that's it for today from the discovery of the body, the shot in the head with a view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Many, many thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it and I would be very happy if you subscribe to my podcast. And if you liked the story, feel free to give it a rating as well. And I would like to announce two more things. First, in the future I will publish this podcast once a week, on Fridays. I vow to do better. I just had a lot to do in the last weeks and months. I've already said it in detail. I am overwhelmed by this interest and am extremely grateful for it. It's also a lot of fun for me to simply tell you my experiences and I would like in the future for this podcast, that you can practically choose your episode by the title, like a colorful bouquet of flowers. So always please look at the titles. There will be the Corona Edition. Everything really revolves around the topic of Corona and everything I do professionally and the people I am helping

Speaker2: or the stories and also sometimes tragic events that result from them. And by popular demand, I will be focusing a little bit more on Mindset episodes than on crime scene cleaning. Furthermore, there will be another visual thing, and that is on YouTube. I will publish “Crime Scene Life” in the future. We start in December with the episode "Addiction". And you can imagine that I'll really take you visually on a crime scene cleaning and just explain to you all these events and experiences on the functional side. On the other hand, a bit about how it feels for me. And yes, as I said, we start with that and also like to subscribe to the channel on YouTube. You can find me under Marcell Engel, the crime scene cleaner. Otherwise, you're also welcome to follow me on Instagram and Facebook. There will soon be regular content. A big part about True Crime, a small part about my company as such. We do many, many other specialty cleanings and also a little bit about my private life. So, that's it. Many, many thanks. Be part of it. Subscribe to my channel. I look forward to you. See you next time. Until then. Ciao. Yours Marcell.

Speaker1: That's it for the new episode of Cause of Death. The podcast with Marcell Engel, head of his own special unit and crime scene cleaner at more than 12000 locations around the world. What can Marcell clean-up for you? Anytime. Worldwide. Get in touch or just click through to www.MarcellEngel.com. Empathic. Profound. Honest. Cause of Death is guaranteed to get you.

Speaker2: Join me!

Speaker1: Looking forward. Subscribe to the season and you'll never be late for an episode.