Home to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda is a community of about 65,000 residents. The community is home to a broad spectrum of residents, including families and retired people. Yorba Linda also attracts a good share of Orange County tourists annually, largely because of the presidential library.

Overall, Yorba Linda enjoys a relatively low crime rate. The city boasts award-winning schools as well.

While violent crime in Yorba Linda also occurs at a rate lower than much of Orange County, there was one headline nabbing case that rocked the foundations of the community and still haunts residents of the community from time to time.

A Horrific Murder-Suicide in Yorba Linda

What remains one of the more horrific murder-suicide cases occurred in Yorba Linda. The horrendous event occurred in a house across the street from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. This particular case illustrates what must be dealt with following a homicide or suicide.

A 14-year old boy telephoned 911 at about 11:00 p.m. on a Saturday night. The boy reported that he had been shot by his father at their residence. The Yorba Linda sheriff’s substation officers immediately dispatched law enforcement officers to the scene.

Upon arriving at the residence, the police found that five people were dead. These included four people that had been shot by a man who took his own life. The murdered individuals included an adult woman, a 5-year old boy, and two girls who were 8 and 9. One boy had been shot but survived and was taken to the hospital. This was the boy who reported the attack to 911.

The motive of the shootings was not immediately revealed. The shooter was the husband of the woman killed at the scene and father of the three children who were killed. The shooter was the stepfather of the boy who survived the massacre. 

Sheriff’s officers and the Orange County Coroner conducted a thorough investigation of the scene. The bodies of the five deceased individuals were taken to the Coroner’s office for autopsies.

Once the scene was cleared by law enforcement and the Coroner, the property was returned to the family. In this case, the only surviving family member was a minor child who survived the shooting. Thus, other adult family members became involved in the process.

Biohazard Cleanup in Yorba Linda

Because of the violent nature of the murders and suicide at the residence, the scene presented what many would conclude was an overwhelming task to clean up the premises and get the residence back into a habitable condition. Responsibility for biohazard cleanup in Yorba Linda lies with surviving family members or the owner of the property where a homicide or suicide occurs.

Although responsibility technically rests with surviving family members in many instances, the recommendation is not for individuals in this type of position to undertake this type of task on their own. People who lose loved ones under violent circumstances face a level of grief that is virtually impossible to comprehend. Aggravating the bereavement process by adding to the level of emotions faced in such a situation by undertaking the cleanup process directly is not advised.

There is skilled biohazard cleanup professional in Yorba Linda who assist people in the most challenging of situations, like that experienced by the loved ones of the family who was massacred by the father. A biohazard cleanup in Yorba Linda has the skill, experienced, and compassion to work on behalf of a family dealing with the aftermath of a homicide or suicide.

Generally speaking, a biohazard remediation professional undertakes a four-part process when it comes to post-suicide or post-homicide cleanup. These steps are:

  • Initial cleanup
  • Sanitization
  • Deodorization
  • Restoration

The ultimate objective of the process is to safely restore a home or other property to a completely livable condition at the conclusion of the process. A biohazard cleanup professional in Yorba Linda undertakes these steps in a safe manner, using a full spectrum of personal protective equipment. This personal protective equipment is necessary protects against the transmission of potentially dangerous biohazardous pathogens which can cause diseases like:

  • HIV
  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis C
  • MRSA

Grief Therapists Serving Yorba Linda

The traumatic loss of a family member, or any loved one, can have a lasting impact. Individuals who lose a loved one through homicide, suicide or some other type of traumatic death oftentimes find it beneficial to seek out the professional assistance of grief therapists. There are Yorba Linda grief therapists that assist men, women, adolescents, and children in the bereavement process. These include:

Kim Gunderson, LMFT
18200 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, California 92886
(714) 882-5694

Lilit Lewis
26441 Crown Valley Parkway, Suite 101
Mission Viejo, California 92691
(714) 881-5687

New Paths Family Counseling
17451 Bastanchury Road, 
Suite 204-33
Yorba Linda, California 92886
(714) 643-8384

Photo Courtesy of zemistor.

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