City crews are searching for the resident of a Bronzeville home where a porch collapsed and crumbled portions of the house kept falling.
"They've been trying to get her out of there for over a year, two years, but she wouldn't go no where" said neighbor Jimmy Greenlee of 67-year-old Jean Betts, who lived in the dilapidated building next door.
Crews forced Betts out of the house on the 3800 block of South Calumet after bricks continued to drop from the roof following a porch collapse the day before.
Betts was taken to Pacific Garden Mission on South Canal and was last seen checking out Friday morning. Police describe her between 5 foot 3 inches to 5 foot 4 inches tall and 110-120 pounds. She was wearing a knee-length tan overcoat, tan baseball cap, orange shirt, and grey skirt.
City inspection reports confirm that as recently as May of 2011, inspectors found Betts living with no hot water, no gas service, and no electricity.
Neighbors said a window on the home had been open to the elements for years.
"When it rained, there would be so much water in the house, she would get a pail, dip the water out of her apartment, and throw it out the window!" said neighbor Joelee Greenlee.
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The home, which is in foreclosure, has been boarded up and is inaccessible.
