No charges will be filed in deadly Davenport building collapse

DAVENPORT -- No one will be charged with a crime in the 2023 partial collapse of a six-story apartment building in downtown Davenport that killed three men and resulted in dozens of people losing their homes.

Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham said last week she had reviewed an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation report and concluded nothing rose to the level of criminal charges.

“Very simply, this was a horrible tragedy involving the collapse of a structural building that had been built in (1907),” Cunningham told the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus. “There is nothing within the findings set forth in the DCI report that would merit the filing of criminal charges.”

The partial collapse of the 80-unit building on May 28, 2023, killed three people, led to the amputation of a woman’s leg and resulted in dozens of people losing their homes and belongings.

The collapse and its response became national news, with residents in Davenport and beyond questioning how and why it happened and who was responsible.

After the collapse, DCI agents opened a criminal inquiry. The DCI report was given to the county attorney’s office in April 2024. The report did not make a recommendation of charges but laid out the facts of the case from interviews and documents.

Based on those facts, Cunningham said she determined actions or inactions before the collapse did not constitute a crime, and the case should be left to civil court instead, where damages could be assessed.

“In this particular case, I will tell you that there is nothing about this fact pattern that constitutes a crime,” Cunningham said.

County attorney explains why no charges

Cunningham said she first ruled out homicide in the first- or second-degree, and voluntary manslaughter, which involve someone having the intent to take the life of someone else, Cunningham said.

She then turned her attention to involuntary manslaughter, which requires someone already be engaged in a crime or reckless conduct that unintentionally causes the death of another person, Cunningham said.

Cunningham gave the example of a deadly boat crash on the MIssissippi River near LeClaire in 2020, where a boat owner was convicted of two counts of aggravated misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. He was accused of aiding and abetting the 15-year-old at the wheel who drove recklessly near the LeClaire levee where the boat crashed into and killed two other boaters.

“For involuntary manslaughter, there has to be the commission of a crime, the commission of what we’re going to characterize generally as a public offense … that unintentionally results in the death of another,” Cunningham said of felony involuntary manslaughter.

For the aggravated misdemeanor level of involuntary manslaughter, a person must have engaged in reckless conduct.

Cunningham gave another example: a person eluding police, speeding, driving recklessly and unintentionally hitting and killing another motorist.

In her review of the DCI report, she said, the Davenport building's owner had not been engaged in a crime or reckless conduct.

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‘What kind of justice is that?’

Dayna Feuerbach had lived in an fifth-floor apartment of the building for 20 years. She fled down a stairwell after the west wall of the building, at 324 Main St., collapsed.

She has been a vocal advocate for "justice for those who lived in that building."

She said she felt “devastated” by Cunningham's decision.

"It's all so depressing and demoralizing," she said. "It's like the tenants are the victims again. How would you feel if you lost everything and no one is found responsible, and everyone involved can just delay and deny and they end up getting away with it?

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"What kind of of justice is that?"

Feuerbach has filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages, but she questions whether the civil litigation will offer some form of justice.

“It could be years before we are ever heard in court,” she said. "And there is no way money is going to replace three lives lost, or a woman's leg. Compensation is fine. But there has to be justice, and that means someone is held accountable. You can't kill someone and then buy your way out of it.“

County attorney: Owner was ‘doing everything within his willpower’

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Cunningham said that in her review, building owner Andrew Wold was not committing any crime or engaged in reckless conduct before the collapse of the building.

Cunningham said what she saw in the DCI report was evidence Wold had tried — for months — to bring professionals to the site to repair the west wall that collapsed.

In September 2023, forensic engineers hired by the city of Davenport reported the root causes of the collapse were the removal of layers of brick -- without adequate shoring put in place -- in the days before the collapse

The report further stated: “Had a proper shoring and construction phasing plan been implemented during these repairs, the building would not have partially collapsed on May 28, 2023.”

Cunningham said she reviewed communications that showed Wold attempted to hire more masons and was acquiring supplies for the west wall and arranging for someone to be present in the building.

“Mr. Wold was very, very proactive, and you can even sense the energy level of him doing anything and everything that he could to try and hire more masons and get them there on the project and making inquiries, honestly to the point of begging, you know, ‘Please give me a call back. I really need some help with this project.’ ”

“I see somebody who was doing everything within his willpower to address this particular issue,” Cunningham said.

Asked about reports that Wold rejected a masonry bid because it was too much money, Cunningham said that was taken out of context, that the project happened over months, and Wold received multiple bids for different types of work and went with another contractor.

Cunningham won’t release DCI report until judge orders

Cunningham said the DCI report should be part of discovery in civil litigation and will not be released now.

She said she plans to consult with the Iowa Public Information Board, a state board that advises on questions of public records and public meetings, on that decision.

“Normally, we think about these reports having application to a criminal prosecution,” Cunningham said. “This happens to be an instance where that report would have applications to civil litigation, and so the public may believe and feel that they’re entitled to have that report, but working within the judicial system, understanding the process, trying cases all the time, it is not appropriate for me to release that report.

“Once they conclude that litigation and come to a conclusion, then at that point in time, it’s absolutely appropriate to do that. But I do not want any information out there in the public venue that would in any way impact the ability of either side to get a fair trial.”

Cunningham said she has had at least one attorney reach out to her to ask if she would release the report to them, but she declined and directed them to go through civil discovery.

“Then the court can order the release of that,” Cunningham said. "That ensures compliance with Iowa Code 22.7, that indicates that those reports are confidential.”

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Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonprofit that advocates for public access to government business, believes that at least a summary of the DCI's report should be made public.

“The report answers many questions about the building's collapse and the events leading to that, and we believe there is tremendous public interest in what the investigation learned,” Evans wrote in a Jan. 28 email.

Evans said the council believes the report can be shared without disclosing confidential sources. And if there are sources that need to be kept confidential, that could occur through redactions and the rest of the report could be made public.

"The collapse of the building has been a subject of huge controversy, and that controversy will not go away until there is an independent, outside report on the events and circumstances leading up to the tragedy," Evans wrote. "Public trust and confidence will not be restored as long as state investigators, and the county attorney, continue to keep the report's findings secret."

Cunningham cites harassment of owner, workers, city officials

Cunningham said another part of the reason she won’t release the DCI report now is because of the harassment, including death threats, of the parties involved.

“I was very troubled by the information that came to me relative to the harassment that was taking place on social media, targeted toward the owner of the building, the project manager, individuals who had actually performed work on the building, even our city officials, to the point of there even being death threats,” Cunningham said.

“And then I just recently learned from a conversation that I had with legal counsel that individuals had shown up at Mr. Wold’s house and they were rioting out there,” Cunningham said.

“And I was aware back then that Mr. Wold actually had left the community for a period of time out of concerns for his personal safety and his family’s safety.

“That’s not right. Those individuals are the ones who are committing crimes, and, quite honestly, they could be prosecuted for those crimes if that had been reported.”

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