Officials finally identify ‘voice in the rubble’ in Surfside condo collapse

The lady whose voice was heard within the rubble of the horrific rental collapse in Surfside, Florida, has been recognized as a 36-year-old leisure trade exec from Los Angeles, authorities mentioned.

Theresa Velasquez was heard calling out after the preliminary collapse of the Champlain Towers on June 24, 2021, however rescuers have been unable to achieve her earlier than she died, based on an 11-page Miami Dade Hearth Rescue memo obtained by CBS Miami.

Her physique was recovered on July 8.

Velasquez had simply flown into Miami from LAX on the evening of the collapse to go to her mother and father, Julio, 67, and Angela, 60, who additionally died.

Her brother, David, mentioned that he accepts the findings of the investigation into the so-called “voice within the rubble.”

“There isn't any solution to know 100% however it looks like the logical conclusion,” he informed the information outlet.

The memo, written by Deputy Hearth Chief Raied Jadallah, refutes a December 2021 report by The Palm Seaside Submit and USA Immediately that recognized the sufferer as Valeria Barth, 14, who had been visiting Miami together with her mother and father from Colombia to get COVID-19 photographs.

Theresa Velasquez in an undated photo.
Theresa Velasquez was a 36-year-old leisure trade exec from Los Angeles.

Jadallah’s memo additionally rebuts allegations that Valeria burned to loss of life after firefighters by chance set fireplace to the room the place she was trapped.

The faulty identification of Valeria because the individual heard within the particles was partly primarily based on the truth that a rescuer heard the individual say she had been in unit 204, the condominium the place the lady and her people have been staying.

Nevertheless, different rescuers mentioned they heard the trapped individual say she had been in unit 304, the unit the place Velasquez’s mother and father lived.

Angela Maria Velasquez and Julio Velasquez out to dinner.
Velasquez had flown into Miami on the evening of the collapse to go to her mother and father, Angela and Julio, who additionally died.

Additionally, Valeria’s uncle Sergio Barth informed Jadallah that the lady had a “very distinct high-pitched voice that would not be mistaken,” the Miami Herald reported.

“In line with rescuers, the voice was that of a grown lady whose English gave the impression to be that of an English speaker with native sentence syntax and glorious vocabulary,” the report says.

“All of the rescuers unanimously said … [the voice] didn't have an accent,” provides the report, which notes that Sergio mentioned his niece’s major language was Spanish “however she will converse English” with an accent.

Rescuers work in the area Velasquez was found.
A rescuer says he heard the “voice within the rubble” say she had been in unit 204, which was the place the Velasquez’s have been staying.
Miami Dade Hearth Rescue

Throughout a press convention on July 1, 2021, Cominsky mentioned rescuers heard “audible sounds” from a lady throughout their preliminary search beneath the crumbled stays of the 12-story Champlain Towers South rental.

He made his feedback after a neighborhood information outlet reported that rescuers heard banging on a wall after which a lady pleading to be rescued on the day of the collapse.

“All people that was there, that’s what we’re attempting to do, get this woman out and luxury her. … She was asking for assist and she or he was pleading to be taken out of there,” a primary responder informed WPLG on the time.

In this Friday, June 25, 2021, file photo, rescue personnel work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, in Surfside, Fla.
Velasquez’s brother, David, accepts the findings of the investigation into the so-called “voice within the rubble.”
AP/Gerald Herbert

“We have been constantly speaking to her. … ‘Honey, we bought you. We’re going to get to you,’” mentioned the rescuer, who requested to stay nameless.

Velasquez, who labored for the music occasion firm LiveNation in Los Angeles for six years, started her music profession in 2004, deejaying in golf equipment round Miami underneath the identify DJ Theresa, the Miami Herald reported.

She additionally traveled world wide, together with gigs at Barcelona’s Circuit Pageant and Madrid’s SuperMartxe – and in addition had labored for Sony Music and SFX Leisure, based on the information outlet.

Rescue teams use jack hammers to chip through debris and rubble as they continue to look for survivors at the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo building in Surfside, Fla.
Rescuers reportedly heard a lady banging on a wall and pleading to be rescued on the day of the collapse.
Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald by way of AP

Velasquez graduated from Georgetown College and earned a grasp’s diploma in music enterprise from New York College, it added.

Her older brother, David, described her throughout a memorial service as the good individual he had ever met.

“Effortlessly cool. A planet together with her personal gravity the place individuals bought caught in her orbit,” he mentioned, based on the Herald.

“She may do all the things nicely, an absolute power of nature.”

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