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The Lestina family's basement is positively gruesome just before Halloween — but it wasn't on purpose.
The Iowa family was shocked to find nearly five inches of animal blood, fat and bones coating the floor of their basement, WHO-DT reports.
"Nobody wants to see that, smell that," Nick Lestina told WHO-DT. "I wouldn't want that for anybody in their house."
The family of seven was getting ready to put their house on the market when it happened.
The culprit? A meat locker next door.
The family has lived next door to Dahl's Custom Meat Locker in Bagley, Iowa, for a decade and said they've never had any problems — until now.
"I was shocked at first but I had a pretty good idea where it came from," Lestina said.
Lestina contacted the Iowa Department of Natural Resources which confirmed it was animal blood, bones and fat that had filled the basement of his family's home. The Iowa Department of Health also got involved because it was a health hazard, and they recommended the Lestina family live elsewhere until the basement is clean to avoid any potential biohazards.
Kaitlin Dahl, who is co-owner of the meat locker, told WHO-DT she didn't know the runoff from the locker's slaughter room would end up in the Lestinas basement.
"We're taking responsibility for it. It wasn't our fault, we didn't intentionally put the blood down there," Dahl told WHO-DT. "We didn't want this to happen. We feel for them. I'd be just as mad as they are, in their shoes."
According to Dahl, they've been following the same procedures they always have. The problem seems to have stemmed from a shared drainage system.
Dahl told the DNR that they killed hogs and cattle Oct. 3 and flushed the blood down the floor drain. She said she thinks the floor drain discharges into a tile, which is likely connected to the Lestina's floor drain via the same pipe.
The meat locker co-owner also said that she and her husband are planning to help the Lestina family pay for the clean-up as soon as their basement is dry.
