( CNN ) -- As a giant red backhoe gouged into the Florida home where a massive sinkhole swallowed a man , pieces of the family 's lives were pushed into public view . Walls with picture frames on them came crashing down . Baby toys and clothes on hangers were raked across the ground . A woman wept as an official handed her a framed portrait . Others lovingly salvaged military awards , a pink teddy bear and an American flag that hung near the house 's front door . The family Bible bore claw marks from the backhoe 's bucket . Workers demolished the blue , one-story home as carefully as they could Sunday and Monday to try to protect family belongings . By Monday afternoon , all the walls of the house were gone and `` a lot of the debris '' had been removed , Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz said . `` What we 're going to be doing now is to try to stabilize the hole with gravel , '' Puz added . Officials have said Jeff Bush 's body wo n't be recovered . It remains buried somewhere in the sinkhole that stretches 20 feet wide and more than 50 feet deep . Authorities made the heartbreaking decision to stop the search for Bush , 36 , after his odds of survival became abundantly clear . `` We just have not been able to locate Mr. Bush , and so for that reason , the rescue effort is being discontinued , '' Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill told reporters Saturday . `` At this point , it 's really not possible to recover the body . '' Sinkholes : Common , costly and sometimes deadly . A deafening noise . The family 's nightmare began Thursday night , just as everyone was about to go to sleep . A deafening noise shattered the peace in the house in the Tampa suburb of Seffner . Jeremy Bush heard his brother scream and ran toward Jeff 's bedroom . `` Everything was gone . My brother 's bed , my brother 's dresser , my brother 's TV . My brother was gone , '' he told CNN 's `` AC360 . '' Jeremy Bush jumped into the hole and frantically shoveled away rubble . But as the house 's floor further collapsed , a sheriff 's deputy pulled him to safety and his brother remained trapped below . `` I could n't get him out , '' Jeremy Bush said , weeping . `` I tried so hard . I tried everything I could . '' Jeremy Bush and four others , including a 2-year-old child , were uninjured . 'One step at a time ' After the search for Jeff Bush ended , attention turned to razing the house because officials warned it could collapse at any time . The demolition crew worked for only a few hours Sunday to give the family time to sift through their belongings , Merrill said . Once officials get a better view of the sinkhole , `` they can get a sense of what the next step is , '' Merrill , the county administrator , said Sunday . `` This is one step at a time , because we really do n't know what we 're dealing with here , '' he said . A common problem in Florida . Sinkholes are a common problem in the state , according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection . Florida lies on bedrock made of limestone or other carbonate rock that can be eaten away by acidic groundwater , forming voids that collapse when the rock can no longer support the weight of what 's above it . Hillsborough County , on Florida 's west coast , is part of an area known as `` sinkhole alley '' that accounts for two-thirds of the sinkhole-related insurance claims in the state , according to a Florida state Senate Insurance and Banking Committee report . A sinkhole opened up Monday afternoon about three miles from the Bush home . The hole was between two houses , one of them vacant , and caused no structural damage , Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said . The hole measures 12 feet across and four to five feet deep , said Puz , the county spokesman . He said there is no reason to believe the holes are related . 'So many memories ' The crater that suddenly caved under the Bush house devastated a family that had lived there for generations . After officials called off the search for his brother 's body , Jeremy Bush told Bay News 9 the family was despondent . `` It 's not just I lost my brother . There are so many memories in this house , '' he told the CNN affiliate . `` My wife and her brother and the whole family . `` Every holiday , we gathered at this house . Her grandmother passed away . All the stuff to remember her by is in this house , and we 're losing it all . You ca n't replace that . You ca n't replace a life being gone . '' Check out the latest news on CNN.com . CNN 's Greg Botelho , Jake Carpenter and Brian Carberry contributed to this report .
NEW : A new road opens several miles away from the site . Crews demolish all the walls of the most affected home , a local official says . Toys , pictures and a Bible are recovered from the wreckage . A giant sinkhole engulfed a bedroom with people trapped inside that night .