What is that smell??????

For about three weeks now Matt and I have had this horrible smell in our basement walls over by the washer and dryer. Matt swore the smell was in the dryer tube. After much time of searching we gave up. We were told by a friend that if the smell was a dead animal and if it was in the walls, the smell would eventually go away. 

Matt has this habit of taking his work clothes off in the basement before tracking the dirt into the house- I am glad of this habit, BUT sometimes his clothes don't get washed right away. Well, after I made a pile of the dirty clothes he finally picked up the shorts to throw them in the washer machine. As he picked them out a furry animal dropped out of them!!! It was a dead chipmunk in HIS shorts! 

He immediately threw it out in the back yard and washed the shorts. The shorts have been washed several times and the smell is still there. I told him to throw them out. I got a call at work to hear all about the dead animal in the shorts- GROSS! I am glad the smell finally is gone! Who would have thought the smell was wrapped up in his shorts???