Haunting Bunk Bed Seen in Surfside Photos Likely Unoccupied During Building Collapse

SURFSIDE (VINnews) – As anguished family members continue awaiting word of their loved ones, a small amount of comfort emerged from Surfside with the news that a white bunkbed that can be seen in photographs of a ravaged penthouse apartment was likely unoccupied at the time of the collapse.

The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/3dtFu7I) reported that the apartment, Penthouse 4, belonged to 58 year old Linda March, a lawyer who had just recently moved to Surfside from Manhattan’s Upper West Side because of worsening crime rates in the area. According to close friend Rochelle Laufer, March lived alone in the furnished apartment, using the second bedroom as a home office, making it extremely unlikely that there were any children sleeping in the bunk bed when the catastrophic collapse occurred.

Pictures of the wreckage show the battered but still intact white wooden bunk bed with a bare top mattress and a fully made bottom bed with multiple pillows in front of a wall with a gaping hole. Just inches away, a black leather office chair can be seen resting next to the spot where the side of the building was completely sheared away.

A listing on Realtor.com describes the 1,429 square foot penthouse as beautifully remodeled with a top of the line granite kitchen, located just blocks from houses of worship. Realtor.com estimated its current value at $657,954 with monthly rental costs of $3,454. Eerily, the listing notes that the penthouse “is likely to appreciate by 4% in the next year.”

March had previously lived in Miami and was excited to return to the area, deciding to rent for a year before actually buying a condominium. According to Laufer, when a friend told her that Champlain Towers’ Penthouse 4 became available, March seized the opportunity and she reveled in its oceanfront views.

“She loved the outdoors,” Laufer told the Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2TlOpkC). “When she was in New York, she was in a small apartment. In Miami she had a pink bicycle, and she’d ride all around. She loved walking on the beach. She was very into exercise and working out in the sunshine. She felt life would be better in Florida. It was a fresh start.”

March was a graduate of Yeshiva University High School, Brooklyn College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Her LinkedIn page describes her as an attorney and real estate professional specializing in removing violations issued by the City of New York.