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Nearly 4 Weeks Later, Surfside Memorial Grows; 97th Victim Identified

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Thursday will mark four weeks since the Surfside condo collapsed.

"You're speechless. All these families are gone. It's people that we know," Nedav paid a visit to the Surfside memorial on Wednesday. Pictures and flowers continue to pop up, as the wall of remembrance grows.

He grew up in Surfside, and had not been back since the tragedy occurred. While he says he did not know any of the victims personally, his friends and his family members did.

"I live in Dallas, so I'm just visiting. This is my first time being able to come and pay my respects. I mean, it's just, seeing is believing. My grandfather lives right over there.

As this site shows the faces of people who once occupied the Champlain Towers South Condo, just ahead in the distance, the building is now missing from the skyline.

Miami-Dade Police says 97 victims have been recovered.

Wednesday, police identified the 96th: Anastasiya Gromova, 24.

Later in the day, the 97th victim was identified: Linda March, 58.

June 24, the 12-story stately building was reduced to rubble. The rubble has been cleared to a nearly empty lot.

A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue chief told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald that all searches at the site have been completed.

WATCH: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Surfside Recovery Efforts

 

Miami Fire Rescue is wrapping up its duties at the site.

"We remain committed to that mission to provide answers to these families, so even though the process has transitioned into more of an investigative role, the task force team still remains here in that supportive role," explains Capt. Ignatius Carroll.

He says for them, this work was especially difficult.

"You have search teams that normally deploy to other cities and states for disasters or incidents that occur from hurricanes— in their own backyard," he says. "So there was somewhat of a personal or emotional tie to this response. Whether it was somebody who had a family member that was involved, or someone who we knew that was affected by this."

According to Miami-Dade County, more than 22 million pounds of rubble have been cleared and moved to a location for evidence processing.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue says they are going through the debris at the evidence site again with their K-9's, making sure they did not miss any trace of DNA.

The Miami-Dade Police Homicide unit continues its investigation.

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