The months-long search for a missing Gainesville woman may be over.
About eight months since Hannah Brim, then 23, was reported missing on Jan. 19 and later presumed dead, Gainesville Police announced Tuesday that law enforcement discovered what are believed to be Brim’s remains in a creek just east of Gainesville.
At about 11 a.m. Tuesday, members of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team found the bones about three miles from the Orange Heights neighborhood in Alachua County, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said at a press conference held Tuesday.
Confirmation of the bones’ identity is pending further testing by the District 8 Medical Examiner’s Office and UF’s C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, Tobias said.
Brim was believed to be five months pregnant when she went missing, according to Alligator archives. Her former boyfriend, Nelson Armas, is considered to be the last person who saw her.
Armas, who was indicted on a first-degree murder charge Sept. 14, is currently at the Alachua
County Jail without bond, according to archives.
Tobias said it was Armas’ indictment that led police to the swampy area where the bones were found. He would not disclose what information led police to the area, citing Armas’ ongoing prosecution by the state attorney’s office.
Based on the information, search teams composed of members of the GPD SWAT team, the sheriff’s office, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the medical examiner’s office and the C.A. Pound laboratory searched different areas near Orange Heights, Tobias said.
During the press conference, he described the moment he and his colleagues learned of the discovery — and that the most “exhaustive” missing-persons search local law enforcement has conducted in about four years may have ended.
“Once word reached the search area and the command post that Brim had been discovered, there was officers that knelt in prayer and in thanks that we finally have located (her),” he said. “This has been a very personal case for a lot of us.”
Brim’s family was notified of the discovery at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and offered thanks to those involved in the search, Tobias said.
“They’re thankful for everyone that they’ve met under these circumstances,” he said. “They wish it was different circumstances obviously, but they’re very thankful for the job that anyone associated with this investigation has done.”
Since February, when a multi-agency search was conducted in the Orange Heights area, Tobias said GPD and the sheriff’s office headed multiple searches in Gainesville and eastern Alachua County to find Brim’s remains.
Lt. Brandon Kutner, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said members of the office’s Marine Operations and Underwater Recovery Team were still on the scene looking for more remains and other pieces of evidence.
“Although it’s a sad day, we’re happy to know that we can at least bring some sort of closure to the family,” Kutner said.
