The body of 65-year-old Judy Spiegel was located in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium building collapse in Surfside, her family told News4Jax.
Spiegel was well known in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as a philanthropist who raised money for the children’s hospital there, as well as causes that promoted the health of children. News4Jax was told she leaves a lasting legacy at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger.
Spiegel was asleep in her sixth-floor home on June 24 when her side of the building collapsed. For days, her family remained hopeful that she would still be found alive. During the initial couple of days following the collapse, people in Chattanooga also prayed Spiegel would be found alive. As time went by, the glimmer of hope faded when the search and rescue effort turned into a mission of search and recovery.
Spiegel’s daughter, Rachel, provided authorities a DNA sample after the building collapsed, and on late Sunday morning, Rachel Spiegel was to the first to be notified that her mother’s remains were located and positively identified through a DNA match.
Rachel Spiegel called News4Jax on Monday morning. She said she and her family finally have some type of closure now that her mother is no longer missing.
“It’s been an excruciating journey. I went to bed almost three weeks ago not having any idea that it would be the last time I was going to say goodnight to my mom. I just can’t believe this situation is real and that it took a really long time for us to find her,” Rachel Spiegel said. “No one could have prepared us for what this would be like. I wrote this on my Instagram a bit, but I really do feel robbed.”
Judy Spiegel leaves behind a husband, two sons, a daughter and three granddaughters.
Rachel Spiegel said explaining to her 4-year-old daughter that the girl’s grandmother was never coming back was one of the most difficult conversations she ever had with her child.
Families have filed lawsuits following the collapse. When asked whether she could foresee her family doing that, Rachel Spiegel said: “I really don’t know to answer the question, but we are working as a family and seeking counsel so we can navigate through this.”
Rachel Spiegel said she once noticed water in the garage, where a 2018 engineering report uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling of concrete columns, beams and walls.” Back then, she said, she never thought of it as a red flag.
“If I thought anything like this, my mom would have never been there,” she said. “I don’t think anybody knew the gravity of this -- or at least our family did not.”
On Monday, the family was in the process of planning Judy Spiegel’s funeral.