95.1 The Bee

The bodies of three residents who lived in the apartment building that collapsed in Davenport, Iowa, were found over the weekend. On Saturday, 42-year-old Branden Colvin’s body was found in the rubble; and the bodies of 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock and 60-year-old Daniel Prien were recovered on Sunday.

Officials initially planned to demolish the building at 324 Main St. swiftly after it partially collapsed on May 28, and rescuers said there were no credible reports of any missing persons at that time.  However last Tuesday, the city halted plans to demolish the partially collapsed building because at least five residents were missing. Rescuers would go on to save more than a dozen people, as well as several pets, from the six-story structure. Of the five missing residents, two had been accounted for before discovering the bodies of the remaining three.

A structural engineer from Select Structural Engineering in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, investigated the building on Feb. 2 and discovered a “localized area of brick [that] is cracked and crumbling” on the exterior wall on the west side of the building. Reports dating Feb. 8 said of the west wall crumbling “this engineer determined that this is not an imminent threat to the building or its residents, but structural repairs will be necessary.” During a second inspection later that month, the same engineer, said “the mason pointed out that the area immediately to the north of the work area has a large and potentially dangerous void beneath the facade wythe of clay brick.”

The 16,200-square foot, 79-unit mixed-use complex was purchased in June 2021 by Davenport Hotel LLC., owned by Andrew Wold. Wold has been fined $300 and a $95 court fee for failing to maintain a “safe, sanitary, and structurally sound” property.

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Officials confirmed that an unresponsive pilot flew through restricted airspace in Washington, D.C. before crashing in Virginia on Sunday, leaving 4 dead. The Cessna Citation private jet was followed by fighter jets authorized to fly at supersonic speed.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) dispatched 6 F-16 fighter jets immediately to intercept the plane, which set off a sonic boom heard and felt throughout the Washington, D.C. area as they attempted to intercept the Cessna. An unusual flight path caught the Federal Aviation Administration’s attention, and the pilot had stopped responding to air traffic control operators.

On Monday, federal authorities said that the crash occurred after the Cessna ran out of fuel; it was not taken down by fighter jets. The crash left behind “highly fragmented” wreckage in a mountainous area, and will take investigators days time to reach the remote crash scene about 2 to 3 miles north of Montebello in the mountainous terrain. They expect to be on the scene at least three to four days to gather, sort and inspect the wreckage, before moving it.

The FAA confirmed that the pilot and three passengers were killed and that the plane was “destroyed” in the crash. The Cessna Citation belonged to John Rumpel from Melbourne, Florida. Rumpel said his daughter, granddaughter, nanny and their pilot were all on board. Investigators are looking into when the pilot became unresponsive and why the aircraft flew the path that it did. A preliminary report will be released in 10 days, and a final report will be released in 12 to 24 months, authorities said.

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