How long is the integrity of a crime scene kept?

Arukei: How long is the integrity of a crime scene kept?
If a crime is committed in someone’s home, how long is that crime scene roped off before the residents are able to move back in? Say for instance that someone breaks into your home and murders one of the people that live there, how long will other residents be kept out of the home before being allowed to move back in? What’s the window on collecting evidence? Is it indefinite depending on the crime?

Answers and Views:

Answer by thewildeman2
Not indefinite, but there is a lot of work to do before deterioration of the scene sets in. That means that the investigation crews will keep everyone out until they “say so”. If that takes a few days, then that’s what you have to wait on. It depends on all the factors that go into the crime and the evidence that needs to be collected. The messier the crime, the longer it takes to gather all the evidence and the more evidence can become tainted by time itself. There is just no way to tell you for sure how long it takes, you have to ask the investigators or department on the job, they will know best. Good luck.

Answer by tone
Yes, in can be indefinate depending on the crime, but ususally it is a minimum of 72 hours.

Answer by Wanda
It is because a crime scene was not preserved that JonBenét Ramsey’s murder is still unsolved, and because “evidence” was collected so poorly and mishandled, that OJ ran free

Answer by Schroedinger’s cat
The unhelpful but totally true answer is, “It takes as long as it takes.” It may be a few hours, or it may be several days for an especially gruesome crime, or if the body count is high(3+), or if the bad guys spent a lot of time in the house. Remember they can’t even enter the scene (in the absence of exigent circumstances) until they get a warrant, and that can take several hours by itself. The scene will remain secured until all the evidence is collected.

The one thing I can tell you for sure is that the best way to make it take even *longer* is to pester the detectives and repeatedly ask them when they’ll be done.