Dad's body is pulled from collapsed building - after broken son slept outside
The body of one of three men missing after a building partially collapsed in Iowa has been found on the same day his son graduated high school.
Branden Colvin Sr's body was recovered on Saturday. His family has been at the site of the tragedy in Davenport, hoping he would somehow be found alive after the incident on May 28.
Colvin Sr, 42, is the first person confirmed to have died in the collapse.
Brave Branden Jr walked on stage to rounds of applause. After the building his father was in partially collapsed, the young graduate refused to leave the scene and even slept on the pavement.
“He’s proud of me. He is the reason I was even able to have enough strength to walk across the stage,” the 18-year-old told CNN. “I walked across that stage today knowing my dad is proud of me and will forever be proud of me.”
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The building partially collapsed on May 28 (Kevin E Schmidt/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)
The partially collapsed Davenport Hotel at 324 Main Street in downtown Davenport, (Kevin E Schmidt/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)He said previously: "We had finals this week, Tuesday, and I tried to go to school. As soon as I walked in, I just broke down, and I was just crying.
"So, I don’t know if I am going to be able to go to my graduation."
The search for the bodies faced serious safety challenges from the start as the building's remains were constantly in motion in the first 24 to 36 hours after it collapsed.
Officials said this posed a risk to rescuers who were trying to search for survivors.
The discovery of Colvin's body came a day after authorities announced that the search for survivors had been completed, with attention turning to shoring up the structure so recovery efforts could begin.
Two other men are still unaccounted for (Kevin E Schmidt/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Two other men - 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock and 60-year-old Daniel Prien - are still unaccounted for.
City officials had said earlier that Colvin, Hitchcock and Prien had "high probability of being home at the time of the collapse."
Work to bring down the building was moving forward amid questions about why neither the owner nor city officials warned residents about potential danger even after a structural engineer's report issued just days before the collapse indicated a wall of the century-old building was at imminent risk of crumbling.
Documents released by the city show that city officials and the building's owner were warned for months that parts of the building were unstable.
Tenants also complained to the city in recent years about a host of problems they say were ignored by property managers, including no heat or hot water for weeks or even months at a time, as well as mould and water leakage from ceilings and toilets.
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While city officials tried to address some complaints and gave vacate orders to individual apartments, a broader evacuation was never ordered, records show.
A structural engineer's report issued just days before the collapse indicated a wall at imminent risk of crumbling (Kevin E Schmidt/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Current and former residents told The Associated Press about interior cracks on the wall that ultimately collapsed that were reported to building management.
Andrew Wold, the building's owner, released a statement dated May 30 saying "our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants." He has made no statement since then, and efforts to reach him, his company and a man believed to be his attorney have been unsuccessful.
County records show Davenport Hotel L.L.C. acquired the building in a 2021 deal worth $4.2 million.
Current and former residents told The Associated Press about interior cracks on the wall that ultimately collapsed that were reported to building management.
Andrew Wold, the building's owner, released a statement dated May 30 saying "our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants." He has made no statement since then, and efforts to reach him, his company and a man believed to be his attorney have been unsuccessful.
County records show Davenport Hotel L.L.C. acquired the building in a 2021 deal worth $4.2 million.
An Iowa task force completed a search for survivors on Thursday and began focusing on shoring up the structure for recovery efforts.
"We are doing the best we can to balance the building conditions and the safety of our responders," Fire Chief Mike Carlsten told reporters during a briefing after the collapse.
He said conditions have forced a response that may take "days and weeks" instead of what ideally would have been minutes or hours.
Mayor Mike Matson has said the debris pile "could be a place of rest for some of the unaccounted."
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