One more victim identified in Surfside collapse. Memorial for lost loved ones growing

Joey Flechas
·2 min read

Closure is coming slowly for the families of those lost in the Surfside condo collapse as a three-week search through the wreckage gives way to a painstaking process of identifying the remaining victims. On Saturday, Miami-Dade County police announced that one more person pulled from rubble had been identified.

Theresa Velasquez, 36, was recovered from the rubble of Champlain Towers South on July 8. Velasquez, a Live Nation executive who worked in Los Angeles, had arrived in Miami the night before the collapse to visit her parents who owned an condo on the third floor. The three died when the tower suddenly collapsed before dawn on June 24.

Authorities have identified 95 victims who lost their lives in the disaster, and their families have been notified. Officials believe the recovery effort is nearing the end, though they caution that there is no timeline for declaring the search over as crews continue to remove debris from the site.

Miami-Dade police received 97 missing persons reports in the wake of the collapse. The medical examiner’s office is working to identify remains that search crews have recovered, a technical process that grows more difficult with the passage of time.

Angela, Julio and Theresa Velasquez.
Angela, Julio and Theresa Velasquez.

A block away from the rubble where excavators continue to fill dump trucks with the wreckage of condo tower, a memorial for the families has grown to include a row of signs lining the sidewalk on Harding Avenue, white wooden posts topped with blue hearts for each life lost.

Luther Church Charities are providing the markers. Once a person is publicly identified, a volunteer places the sign either in alphabetical order or near family with a permanent marker attached to a string. Visitors and first responders have left condolences on the signs.

People visit the memorial wall for the victims of the Champlain Towers South as workers keep removing debris from the rubbles 23 days after the building collapsed in Surfside, on Saturday, July 17, 2021.
People visit the memorial wall for the victims of the Champlain Towers South as workers keep removing debris from the rubbles 23 days after the building collapsed in Surfside, on Saturday, July 17, 2021.

“This is so tough,” said Randy Wagoner, who has been delivering the signs when new names are released. Saturday morning, he was taking pictures of some of the signs to send to family member who wanted to include them in services for the dead. It’s the least he can do, he said, for a tragedy with such a deep impact in his community.

“This hits home,” he said. “This is my town. I’ve lived here for 35 years. It’s home.”