Porch Collapse Nearly Kills Mom, Child

Marisa Costello still has trouble coping, physically and emotionally, with the deck collapse which fractured her ankle.

"The worst part about it is that awful awful sound. When it was tearing from the house, and I knew what was coming next, and I keep getting that sound in my head,” said Costello.

She believes it could have easily killed her and her daughter Arianna.

I just keep telling myself that this could have been a funeral. This could have been a double funeral,” said Costello.

On May fourth, four-year-old Arianna was sitting on the deck, waiting to do some finger-painting, when her mother stepped outside from the kitchen. The deck collapsed, and Mrs. Costello fell ten to twelve feet to the ground. She caught her falling daughter with one hand.

She held off a falling table with the other. Then she saw her left ankle, protruding through her skin.

“Mom then grabs her foot and reattaches the bone inside, which the doctor said may have saved her life because it stemmed the bleeding,” said attorney Patrick Murphy.

He is the family’s attorney, and he says that village code requires builders to use lag bolts to attach decks to homes. Costello’s deck was attached with no more than twenty nails.

“Somebody would have to make the intentional decision not to use bolts and to use only nails and to violate the building code,” said Murphy.

The home's builder, Town and Country Homes Chicago, says it's investigating. The company president says it's had a solid half century of building homes here but will now inspect decks at almost a thousand of its other homes, to make sure they're safe.

“We're appalled that this could happen in one of our homes. Again, I would reiterate we are taking measures to make sure it doesn't happen again,” said President of Town and County Chicago Andy Konovodoff.

Mrs. Costello will file the lawsuit, blaming Town and Country, and a subcontractor, Residential Carpentry, for the accident. The subcontractor did not return our calls.

“I’m shaking; I’m trying to be calm. Just talking about it makes me shake. It's terrifying,” said Costello.