Iowa building collapse: 2 more victims recovered, death toll rises to 3

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Authorities confirmed Monday that they have recovered the bodies of three people about a week after an apartment building in Davenport partially collapsed, prompting authorities to rescue eight people and displacing dozens of residents.

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At a news conference on Monday morning, police Chief Jeff Bladel said three victims had been recovered from the still-crumbling remains of the building in downtown Davenport. Authorities found 42-year-old Branden Colvin Sr. around noon on Saturday, 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock at 12:25 p.m. on Sunday and 60-year-old Daniel Prien at 2:30 a.m. Monday.

“We don’t have any other information at this time that there is any additional people missing and/or related to this incident,” Bladel said, adding that authorities continue to investigate. He asked people to continue to support the families of the victims.

Authorities found Colvin’s body on the same day that his son, Brenden Colvin Jr., graduated from high school, the Quad-City Times reported. The teen had been camped outside the partially collapsed apartment building for the better part of the last week in hopes of hearing news about his father, according to the newspaper.

Hitchcock’s relative, Amy Anderson, said at a news conference last week that he “loved Jesus, and we know he’s with the lord.”

Authorities said Prien was a shelter placement living in an apartment that was in the collapsed area.

On Monday, workers were “going meticulously through all the material” at the collapse site, Mayor Mike Matson said.

“Once that is complete … we’ll work with our contractor and plan for the safe dismantle of parts of the building,” he said. “We’re working with multiple structural experts from all around the country to understand how best to proceed and do this in a dignified manner.”

It remained unclear Monday what caused the collapse of the six-story, 80-unit apartment building. Officials said it was built of brick and steel in the early 1900s and that it had been undergoing repair work after bricks began to fall from the building prior to the collapse last month.

Engineers deemed the building safe for residents as the work went on. Officials said repair work was also done in January for a similar issue.

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