Newlywed mom, Venezuelan couple die in tower’s fall
Entire families gone missing when a condominium near Miami Beach collapsed last week have begun to be reunited in death as rescue crews search through the rubble for survivors.
On the day the body of her 26-year-old son, Luis Bermudez, was recovered from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, his mother, Ana Ortiz, 46, has been added to the list of those killed in the unexpected collapse of the Champlain Tower South condo tower on Thursday.
Miami-Dade Police announced Sunday night that they had recovered and identified the remains of both mother and son, who had families in both Puerto Rico and Miami.
“They are in heaven, and they left together. They died together, ” said Ortiz’s sister, Nicole, in an interview with daily El Nuevo Día.
Also on Sunday, Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74, and her husband, Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, Venezuelan nationals with deep connections to their Jewish community in Chicago, were identified by Miami-Dade Police. Both were buried Monday.
The remains of 11 people have been found as of Monday evening, with rescue teams still searching for 150 others in the building’s rubble, Miami-Dade Police said Monday. On Monday night, police announced the remains and identities of three new victims: Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, whose body was recovered Saturday; Michael David Altman, 50, whose body was recovered Monday; and Frank Kleiman, 55, whose body was recovered Monday and is the husband of Ana Ortiz.
NEWLYWED SINGLE MOM DEVOTED TO SON
Ana Ortiz — Annie to her friends — was a hard-working mother devoted to her adult son, Luis, who had muscular dystrophy. They lived together on the seventh floor with her newlywed husband, Frankie Kleiman., whose remains were found Monday night, police said.
Frankie’s mother, Nancy Kress Levin, lived on the same floor. And Frankie’s brother Jay was visiting from Puerto Rico at the time of the collapse. The families occupied the units 702 and 712, according to Miami-Dade property records. Nancy and Jay are still listed as missing.
Ana Isabel Ortiz, who was Puerto Rican, graduated from the Nuestra Señora de la Providencia school in Cupey, a neighborhood on the outskirts of San Juan.
“She’s a rock star. she worked, [was] an independent woman. And on top of that a super mom,” said Alex Garcia, a friend of Frankie and Annie.
It was Garcia who set up the couple on a blind date. They married three weeks before the condo collapsed. Garcia last saw Annie, Frankie and Luis at a Father’s Day party in Boca Raton, where a group of Puerto Rican friends congregated for an open-air pig roast.
VENEZUELAN-JEWISH COUPLE
Although Christina Beatriz Elvira and Leon Oliwkowicz
hailed from Venezuela and recently moved to Surfside, they had strong ties to the Lubavitch community in Chicago, where their daughter, Leah Fouhal, lives, according to Chabadinfo.com.
They were active and generous members of the Jewish community in Chicago. In 2019, the couple donated a Sefer Torah to Yeshivas Ohr Eliyahu — Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago, where their daughter works, according to The Chicago Jewish Home.
Oliwkowicz said at the ceremony that it was a privilege to donate the Torah in memory of parents, according to the Chicago Jewish Home
Brian Fincheltub, director of consular affairs of
the Venezuelan Embassy, tweeted about the couple’s death. The funeral was held on Monday, according to Chabadinfo.com.
“Nobody prepares us for such tragedies and harsh news,” he wrote in Spanish.