DENVER — A Colorado woman is one of more than 150 people considered missing after a condo building partially collapsed just north of Miami Beach Thursday.
Cassondra Stratton is one of the more than 150 people rescuers are continuing to search for.
She’s married to Michael Stratton, a Durango native who spent decades working with Democrats in Colorado, including the campaigns of Sen. Michael Bennet and former Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Michael Stratton flew into Florida Thursday morning from Washington D.C. as soon as he got word his wife was among the missing.
"I'm a mess," Michael Stratton said in a phone interview with Denver7 Thursday night. "There are 99 people who are missing and believed to be still in the building in the rubble or the debris, and my wife, Cassondra, is one of those."
Michael Stratton said the families of loved ones don't have much information right now, but he knows search crews have been working around the clock.
"It's really extraordinary," he said. "They've been 24/7 rescuing people, and now they're 24/7 trying to get to people who may still be alive under all that debris and rubble that exists from the building collapse."
Michael Stratton describes his wife as "vivacious, full of life, always optimistic."
"There was a phrase that everybody had, which was 'everybody loves Cassie,'" he said.
The couple spent much of their quarantine during the height of COVID-19 in the condo, which they've owned for four years. He said they always felt safe there.
"[It] was a great place for us to escape COVID from and we were together 24/7 for a long time," Michael Stratton said.
Eleven people were injured and at least three are dead.
At this time, It's not clear how many people were inside when the building fell around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known.
Mike Stratton issued a statement Friday afternoon asking people to keep Cassondra in their prayers.
“Thank you to everyone who has reached out and is keeping Cassie in their thoughts and prayers, but most of all to the brave men and women working around the clock in unimaginable conditions to bring her and others home. Our family is forever grateful. Cassie is a wife, mother and true friend to so many. She brings a vivacious love of life to everything she does—whether as an actress, model or Pilates instructor. Thank you again for your continued prayers.”
Editor's note: The story has been corrected to note that the spelling of Stratton's name is Cassondra, not Cassandra.