MIAMI _ Brandon Brownfield was a husband, a father and a tower crane technician at Maxim Crane Works, according to his Facebook profile.
On Sunday, his wife Chelsea Brownfield confirmed that he was the sixth and final victim of the collapse of a pedestrian bridge by Florida International University Thursday. She called her husband of three years and 11 months her soul mate.
"Like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle, our crazy curvy edges matched and we fit together like no one else could," she wrote. "Please keep us in your prayers, as I now have to find the words and the answers to tell my girls that their Daddy is not coming home."
The Brownfields have three girls, between the ages of about 10 months and 5 years, said Pastor Ben Stilwell-Hernandez with First United Methodist Church in Homestead. The family attended his church and had just recently moved into a home in Homestead, he said.
In the hours following the collapse of the bridge, Brownfield's family and friends said they could see his truck and license plate under the bridge, but did not know anything about his whereabouts. They received an outpouring of support from loved ones and strangers around the nation who posted on Chelsea Brownfield's Facebook page saying they were praying for the family and hoping Brandon Brownfield was rescued from the wreckage.
Ryan Lee, a friend of the Brownfields, created a GoFundMe page to help the family on Thursday. As of Sunday, the page had collected nearly $50,000 in donations. In a post, Lee described Brownfield as a "genuine stand-up family man."
According to his social media profiles, Brownfield worked as a crane technician on several recent developments in Brickell, including the EAST, Miami hotel and the Panorama Towers, the tallest building in Florida. Brownfield was not working on the FIU project. He was from Waynesboro, Virginia and studied at Brevard Community College in Florida.
On Facebook Sunday, Chelsea Brownfield thanked those who had supported the family as they waited for news of her husband.
"I want to thank you all for your continuous love and support and prayers over the last three days," she wrote. "The coming days are going to be excruciating, as we dig deep to find the strength we need to heal."
