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'His dreams came down with this building': Family speaks after final victim removed from Hard Rock collapse site

Ponce Arreola was the last victim to be removed from the rubble.

NEW ORLEANS — The final body trapped in the Hard Rock Hotel rubble in downtown New Orleans has been recovered, city officials confirmed. 

Jose Ponce Areola's body was removed from the debris overlooking Canal Street sometime Monday. It has been 10 months since the under-construction building collapsed, killing three people and injuring dozens more. Earlier this month, the body of Quinnyon Wimberly was recovered from the Rampart Street side of the collapse. 

Anthony Magrette, the third worker killed in the Oct. 12 collapse, was removed months ago.

The recovery of Wimberly and Ponce Areola from the wreckage has been pushed back several times in the months since the collapse, leading to frustration from family members and the city at large. 

Representatives for 1031 Canal Development, the Hard Rock’s owner, blamed delays on issued with finding insurance, then finding a contractor for demolition work, then rain and finally connectivity issues with some of the robotic equipment. 

The City of New Orleans has been impatient, with government officials taking 1031 Canal to court over a timeline for recovery and demolition. 

"This has been a nightmare for (his family)," said attorney Arturo Jauregui.  "They are happy that this nightmare has ended in some ways."

Now that his body has been removed, Ponce Arreola has been transported to the coroner's office for an autopsy before being cremated at a funeral home and returned to his family in Mexico. 

Attorney Miguel Elias, who is representing Ponce Arreola's family in a wrongful death suit against 1031 Canal, said that it will be months before Ponce Areola's family will get his body and have it cremated before returning to Mexico.

"His dreams came down with that building," Jauregui said. "He was scheduled to go back to Mexico two weeks later to celebrate the life of his mother who had passed away. Not almost a year a later he'll be going back to Mexico in an urn full of ashes."

Now that all the bodies are out, the plan is to demolish the building rather quickly. The work is taking place close to the peak of hurricane season, which typically comes in mid-August and lasts until early October.

In a statement, 1031 Canal outlined the plan to move forward with demolition.

"At this point in the process, the contractor will shift to the demolition of the upper floors, which will be followed by demolition of the lower level parking garage, and finally removal of all debris from the corner of Canal and Rampart," the statement read. 

The reason several tons of concrete fell, blanketing one of New Orleans' most trafficked intersections in dust and debris, is still under investigation. 

Eyewitness News investigators have uncovered evidence of improper structural work, negligent city inspectors and other factors that could have led to the deadly incident. 

Preliminary findings from an OSHA report about the collapse were released earlier this year, but the full report is sealed as it makes its way through litigation. 

OSHA inspectors said in their preliminary findings that the design and engineering of upper floors weren't done properly.

They said floor beams on the 16th floor weren't strong enough, and columns on the 17th and 18th floors were too far apart and carried too much weight.

As for what's next for the property, Ponce Areola's family said they'd like to see a park put there commemorating the three workers killed in the Hard Rock Collapse.

"No hotels," his brother said.

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