NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The family of the man crushed in a building collapse Friday said somebody broke into his truck and robbed him.

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Richard Whiteshield was killed Friday when the building he was working inside collapsed, killing him and critically injuring another man.

At the site of Whitehield’s death rests a bouquet and two pictures from a coloring book that say, “I love you Grandpa.”

Whiteshield was a decorated Vietnam War veteran and an Airborne ranger with a bronze star and purple heart.

His son said he didn't believe his father had been killed until he saw Whiteshield’s Army ranger hat in the rubble. He said Whiteshield never left the house without it.

“It was the worst thing I could ever see. It still had the blood stains,” his son Eric Whiteshield said.

He said once they realized he was dead, they knew they would have to bring his things back to Florida.

He said when they went to his truck, his secret stash of $600 cash and a credit card were gone. He said his checkbook was in disarray and even the change out of his ashtray gone.

"Why would someone rob a dead man?" said Whiteshield's wife Charlotte. "He'd give you the shirt off his back if you were broken down. He would pull over and see if you needed help. ... It was a shocker. ... And then to possibly be robbed on top of it?"

It was Whiteshield’s last day on the job. He was coming home because he said he just missed his family too much.

His son said he knew he was telling the truth when he stepped into that truck.

He said as he cleaned it out, “(I saw) a picture of my daughter and niece, and I was thinking, ‘Man, he’ll never see them again,” Eric said.

Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration is just beginning its investigation.

Tennessee Technical Consultants said they haven't had an accident in 22 years. They said they did jobs like this three to four times a day.

They said that since this one did happen, they would stay on top of the investigation.

Whiteshield will be interred at the veteran's cemetery on the Mandan reservation in North Dakota where he was born and later left to serve his country.