3 residents of partially collapsed Iowa building remain unaccounted for, police say

Three residents of an Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed on Sunday are still unaccounted for, Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel said Thursday.

Earlier this week, authorities said five people were missing, but Bladel said during a Thursday morning media briefing that two of them have since been contacted and are safe. One moved out a month ago and was found in Texas, and the other was found locally.

The three unaccounted-for residents were identified as Branden Colvin, 42, Ryan Hitchcock, 51, and Daniel Prien, 60. Police were seeking any information about the three men, who were described as having a "high probability" of being home when the building partially collapsed.

The six-story building partially collapsed shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. The city has since released documents, including structural engineering reports, that show the building's owner was warned that the parts of the building was unstable.

An engineer's report dated May 24, just days before the collapse, suggested patches in the west side of the building's brick façade "appear ready to fall imminently" and could be a safety hazard to cars or passersby.

The engineer's report also detailed that window openings, some filled and some unfilled, were insecure. In one case, the openings were "bulging outward" and looked "poised to fall." Inside the first floor, unsupported window openings help "explain why the façade is currently about to topple outward."

"The brick façade is unlikely to be preserved in place, but it can be brought down in a safe, controlled manner," the report stated.

The city of Davenport received a host of complaints over the years about conditions in the century-old building. Two women who own a business on the building's first floor said there were numerous issues, including a ceiling hole, and they filed at least three complaints.

"No heat. No air now," Dionte McMath, co-owner of the shop 4th Street Nutrition, told CBS News earlier this week. "The ceilings, water leaking in two different spots. Cracks in the walls that they were supposed to come and fix."

Andrew Wold, the building's owner, released a statement dated Tuesday — his first comments since the partial collapse — saying "our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants" and that his company, Davenport Hotel LLC, is working with agencies to help them.

County records show Davenport Hotel LLC acquired the building in 2021 in a deal worth $4.2 million. The city later declared the building a nuisance due to numerous solid waste violations, and a judge ordered Wold to pay a $4,500 penalty after he did not appear in court.

On Tuesday, the city filed a new enforcement action against Wold, saying he failed to maintain the property "in a safe, sanitary, and structurally sound condition" before the collapse. The city is seeking a $300 fine.

Emails sent to an attorney believed to be representing Wold have not been returned.