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Donovan using one of the 370 customized formulas which he has devised to carry out a forensic cleaning in Mexico City, Mexico on January 14, 2016. The decomposed body of a man in his 50s was found on the floor of his mother’s bedroom, days after he had died of an intestinal obstruction. Because of her physical disability, the mother of the deceased – who had been her caregiver – was unable to move enough to make an emergency call. As a consequence, she was trapped in the room for three days with the body of her son – and without food or water - before help arrived. Donovan Tavera, 43, is the director of “Limpieza Forense México”, the country’s first and so far the only government-accredited forensic cleaning company. Since 2000, Tavera, a self-taught forensic technician, and his family have offered services to clean up homicides, unattended death, suicides, the homes of compulsive hoarders and houses destroyed by fire or flooding. Despite rising violence that has left 70,000 people dead and 23,000 disappeared since 2006, Mexico has only one certified forensic cleaner. As a consequence, the biological hazards associated with crime scenes are going unchecked all around the country. Photo by Bénédicte Desrus