Davenport, Iowa building collapse: Branden Colvin Sr.’s body recovered, officials say, two still missing

Davenport, Iowa – The body of one of the three men who went missing after the partial collapse of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, has been found, a city official confirmed Sunday.

City spokeswoman Sarah Ott said Brandon Colvin Sr.’s body was recovered Saturday. Two other men – 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock and 60-year-old Daniel Brin – are still missing. Colvin, 42, is the first person confirmed to have died in the avalanche.

No other details were immediately revealed.

The video in this story is from an earlier report

Colvin’s son, Branden Colvin Jr., graduated from high school on Saturday, the Quad City Times reported. He and other family members were at the crash site almost constantly, hoping for a miracle.

The discovery of Colvin’s body came a day after authorities announced the end of the search for survivors, with attention shifting to bracing the structure so recovery efforts could begin.

The remains of the six-story building were constantly moving in the first 24 to 36 hours after it collapsed on May 28, which officials said posed a danger to rescuers trying to search for survivors.

City officials had previously said that Colvin, Hitchcock and Brin had a “high probability of going home at the time of the breakdown.”

It was too dangerous to search the building, the authorities said – and that it was constantly shifting and at risk of further collapse, putting rescuers at great risk. An Iowa task force completed a search for survivors Thursday and began focusing on supporting the structure of recovery efforts.

“We are doing everything we can to balance construction conditions with safety for responders,” Fire Department Chief Mike Carlstein told reporters during a post-collapse briefing. He said circumstances dictated a response that could take “days and weeks” rather than minutes or hours.

Mayor Mike Mattson said the pile of wreckage “could be a resting place for some of those unaccounted for.”

Work to demolish the building was moving ahead amid questions about why the landlord or city officials had not warned residents of a possible danger even after a structural engineer’s report issued just days before the collapse indicated that one of the walls of the century-old building was in imminent danger. falls apart.

Documents released by the city show that city officials and the owner of the building were warned for months that parts of the building were unstable.

Tenants have also complained to the city in recent years about a host of problems they say property managers have ignored, including no heat or hot water for weeks or even months at a time, as well as mold and water leaks from ceilings and toilets. Records show that while city officials attempted to address some complaints and issued eviction orders for individual apartments, a broader eviction was not ordered.

Current and former residents told the Associated Press of internal cracks in the wall that eventually collapsed and were reported to building management.

Andrew Wold, the building’s owner, issued a statement on May 30 saying, “Our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants.” He has not made a statement since, and efforts to reach him, his company, and a man believed to be his attorney have been unsuccessful.

County records show that Davenport Hotel LLC acquired the building in a 2021 deal worth $4.2 million.