5 people missing, 2 believed to be inside collapsed Iowa apartment building: Officials

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Two people are believed to be inside a partially collapsed apartment building in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport, city officials said Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the rear face of the structure came down.

The two people are part of a group of five that are unaccounted for in the wake of the collapse. The news comes as city officials have offered conflicting information about the possibility of residents still trapped inside the six-story structure and raised questions about the city's timeline for demolishing the building.

"We have five that are unaccounted for and two that we have a firm belief that are potentially still in that building," Davenport police Chief Jeffery Bladel said in a press conference Tuesday morning.

Davenport Mayor Mike Matson added: "This is an active incident that is very fluid and ever-evolving. We are consistently evaluating and getting real-time information."

Resident found hours after officials announced plans to demolish building

One resident, Lisa Brooks, was rescued from the fourth floor of the building Monday evening, hours after city officials announced plans to demolish the building.

"The immediate question I know people are asking is: How did she get there? And why wasn’t she found earlier?" Matson said. "I am totally transparent with you, I do not know."

Protesters have gathered near the site, calling for the city to delay demolition and continue searching for residents.

Davenport officials evaluating risk of another search

Davenport Fire Marshall James Morris said the city is working with technical rescue teams to determine whether it is possible to conduct an additional search for victims and pets.

"It is the opinion of the structural engineer that any additional search operations in the area of that pile of debris should be avoided due to potential collapse," Morris said. "We are currently evaluating the risk assessment of where we can go back into that building to do this other search."

Morris said his department is partnering with other entities "to respectfully remove any possible human remains with dignity."

"We are very sympathetic to the possibility that there's two people ... still left inside," Morris said, pausing multiple times to wipe tears from his eyes.

A resident could be heard challenging Morris from across the room during the tense press conference.

"This building does need to come down, and it needs to come down in a controlled manner," he said.

Family member of missing resident calls for demolition

City officials said they met with two families Monday evening, including the family of Ryan Hitchcock.

Amy Anderson, a relative of Hitchcock, spoke at the press conference Tuesday. She said she was "extremely close" with Hitchcock and believes he "probably has not survived."

"I don't discount he could be trapped under there miraculously. We've seen some miraculous things," Anderson said. "But we don't want to see any more families lose their lives or anybody else be injured in trying to remove that rubble."

She urged city officials to move forward with demolishing the building with sensitivity "to the remains that are underneath there."

"Right now, it is an absolute no-win situation, but this is the best plan of attack," she said. "We don't want anyone else hurt. And we just want to recover our family."

Anderson said she was "mortified" by protests and did not want demonstrations to "escalate." She called on protesters to "proceed with love."

"Pushing any delays is one more day that he's under there," Anderson said.

What happened in Davenport, Iowa?

The downtown apartment building partially collapsed around 5 p.m. Sunday. Within the first hour, first responders rescued seven people and helped more than a dozen people out of the building, Fire Chief Michael Carlsten said. He said there were rescues out of multiple floors and locations in the building, which has 84 residential and commercial units.

More than 150 people across numerous agencies responded to the scene, Carlsten said. During the initial search, the building continued to shift as crews were on the site, Morris said.

On a secondary search, rescue teams found an eighth person, Carlsten said. "Due to the nature of her injuries and entrapment, extraction took an extended period of time," he said.

Rescue teams worked through Sunday night into Monday morning using thermal imagining, drones and search dogs to attempt to locate victims, said city spokeswoman Sarah Ott. The operations included multiple searches through the building and debris pile, checking for residents and human remains, Carlsten said.

"No confirmed viable signs of life were noted at that time," he said.

Cause of collapse undetermined, but residents had complained

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Rich Oswald, city of Davenport director of development and neighborhood services, said at the Sunday news conference that work was being done at the time of the collapse on the red brick exterior of the building.

Reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week were part of that work, and the building’s owner had a permit for the project, Oswald said. Oswald said an investigation will begin once the building is cleared.

According to the county assessor’s office, the last permit for the building was filed on March 2 and had “misc” listed in the description. In 2022, nearly 20 permits were filed, mainly for plumbing or electrical issues.

The building, known as "The Davenport," was built in 1906, according to county records. Previously the "Davenport Hotel," it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The building is made of brick and steel, structural engineer Larry Sandhaas said at the press conference Tuesday. Sandhaas said one factor in how the collapse unfolded, and the subsequent shakiness of the rest of the building, appeared to be the building technique used in its original construction.

"You had five stories collapse into one almost immediately," Sandhaas said. "… That reduces the chance you'll have what are called void spaces, large spaces where people can survive."

The property has changed hands several times in the past decade, according to county records, most recently in 2019 when an entity called Davenport Hotel LLC bought it for just under $4.2 million. That entity is registered to Andrew Wold, according to state records.

City officials confirmed Tuesday they've been in contact with Wold but said it's too early to determine a cause for the collapse or whether any wrongdoing was involved. The USA TODAY Network could not immediately reach Wold.

'An outpouring of support from the community'

There has been "an outpouring of support from the community," Matson said.

People wishing to make donations may do so through the Salvation Army or the Quad Cities Community Foundation, which has opened the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund to assist displaced residents of the building, Ott said. Donations to the fund may be made online.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Monday issued a disaster proclamation for Scott County her office said will allow residents affected by the building collapse to receive aid from the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Disaster Case Management Program.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Morris reported from Davenport, Iowa. Hauck reported from Chicago.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Iowa building collapse: 5 people missing, 2 believed to be inside