12th victim found in bridge wreckage

MINNEAPOLIS – The body of a man missing since an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River was recovered early Sunday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 12, authorities said.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office identified the remains as Scott Sathers, 30, of Maple Grove.

Sathers worked in enrollment services at Capella University and was on his way home from work Aug. 1, taking his usual route, when the Interstate 35W bridge crumpled during evening rush hour.

Divers continued to search for the last person on the list of missing, Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora. He was part of the construction team doing surface repairs on the bridge when it went down.

A vehicle also was pulled from the rubble Sunday. Bad weather on Saturday had hampered recovery efforts.

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

Documents obtained by the Star Tribune of Minneapolis for a story published Sunday reveal details of how officials decided to conduct periodic inspections of the bridge rather than repair it in the months before it crumbled.

According to the internal state Department of Transportation documents, officials were ready Dec. 6 to go ahead with a plan to install steel plates at several areas on the bridge as a patchwork fix amid reports that it was structurally deficient, as recommended by an outside consulting firm. The project was shelved after the state determined the process could actually weaken the bridge.

Instead, officials decided in January to go with periodic safety inspections.