Eric Ridenhour and his fiancée, 29-year-old Kiersten Smith, had been spending a lazy Sunday in their apartment when a severe thunderstorm with 70 mile per hour winds blew through.
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Ridenhour was making lunch in the kitchen, with Smith sitting just 10 feet away when a giant tower crane crashed through the window, slicing through the five-story apartment building.
"Everything kinda just went dark like this. I don't remember hearing a sound. I could see white and darkness at the same time. I could feel texture in the air," Ridenhour said.
He recalled desperately reaching out for his fiancée.
"It happened that quick. And the first words out my mouth were my fiancée's name, Kiersten. I don't know how many times I said her name. I was screaming her name. But I could not find her," Ridenhour said.
As firefighters were rushing to rescue Ridenhour, he managed to grab the one thing that he will cherish forever.
"I would do anything to have a moment with Kiersten and tell her I love her," Ridenhour said.
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"The one thing I was able to get was our engagement picture. I found it laying somewhere and I was able to toss it to one of the firemen before my neighbor and I got on the ladder to get out," he said.
Authorities are still investigating what went wrong, and the family is hiring a team of attorneys who are planning on doing their own investigation once OSHA allows them to access the site.
"We're going to use that as an opportunity to find some answers and then we'll determine what we need to do," Ridenhour's attorney, Jonathan Cox, said.
The company that owns the crane is California-based Bigge Crane and Rigging.
They released a statement offering condolences to Smith's loved ones saying they are fully cooperating with investigators.
"There's no bringing back my baby, but I feel if somebody is at fault, they need to be held accountable," Ridenhour said.