Man Missing in Iowa Building Collapse Is Found Dead

The body of one of three men missing after the partial collapse of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, has been recovered a week after a section of the six-story structure collapsed, a spokeswoman for the city said on Sunday.

The spokeswoman, Sarah Ott, said in an email that the body of Branden Colvin Sr., 42, was found on Saturday. He is the first person confirmed to have died in the collapse.

Two other men — Ryan Hitchcock, 51, and Daniel Prien, 60 — are still missing since part of the building came crashing down on May 28.

The city government said in a statement on Thursday that it believed there was “high probability” that the three men could have been “home at the time of the collapse” and that “their apartments were located in the collapse zone.”

Dozens protested outside the building last week, expressing concern that there were plans to demolish the structure before all of the missing people were found. While some occupants were escorted out before the collapse, and others were rescued shortly after, several were reported missing in the days after the collapse.

Officials said on May 29 that they were not aware that anyone was still trapped in the building, but a woman was pulled alive from the rubble that night. The demolition is still on hold.

The next day, officials said five people were missing, and two of them were thought to still be in the building. At a news conference on Thursday morning, the estimates for the missing were revised again. Chief Jeff Bladel of the Davenport Police Department said that the police had since made contact with relatives of two of the people who had been considered to be missing and that it had been determined that they were safe, leaving three people unaccounted for.

In the days since the collapse, Davenport officials have released documents, including structural engineering reports, that show the building’s owner, Andrew Wold, had been warned that part of the building was unstable.

In a May 24 letter, David Valliere, a structural engineer, warned that on the west face of the building several patches of clay brick facade were “separating from the substrate” and “appear ready to fall imminently.” Another wall, Mr. Valliere wrote, “appears to be losing some stability and is causing deformation.”

A number of residents had also registered complaints about the building’s conditions. The day before the building collapsed, a downtown development official called 911 and warned about the integrity of the wall, according to documents obtained by the The Quad-City Times, which is based in Davenport.

Mr. Wold said that his company, Davenport Hotel L.L.C., was working closely with the American Red Cross and other agencies to assist displaced tenants. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants and families during this difficult time,” he said in a statement, released on Tuesday, which was published by The Associated Press.

Crews were continuing to remove debris from the site on Sunday, the city said in a statement. “This work will continue throughout the day today with crews working 12-hour shifts around the clock.”