Gainesville Police announced Friday that human remains found almost a year ago are of 23-year-old Hannah Zehner Brim, who was reported missing in 2016.
The remains were discovered in a swampy area near railroad tracks about two-and-a-half miles northwest of Orange Heights, east of Gainesville, in September 2016 and were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for DNA testing in January, a year after Brim’s disappearance, said GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias at a press briefing.
Brim was last seen with her boyfriend, Nelson Ariel Armas, Tobias said. Armas, who has been in Alachua County Jail since February 2016 for unrelated charges, faces charges for premeditated first degree murder, grand theft auto and evidence destroying with no bond.
In a sworn complaint filed in 2016, GPD officers identify Armas as the suspect in the case. Armas first told police he had fought with Brim earlier in the day before she dropped him off by the side of the road, and he walked home.
Video surveillance and witnesses confirm Armas left Brim’s car in a Walmart parking lot before it was reported missing, which was inconsistent with what he told police, according to the sworn complaint. Armas gave the car to a friend to be crushed, but a witness came forward and turned the car into GPD, according to the complaint.
GPD found blood matching Brim’s in the trunk and wipe marks consistent with the car being cleaned, according to the complaint.
Tobias said the discovery of Brim’s remains is the latest update in the case. Scientists say their certainty of the body being Brim’s is approximately 286.8 trillion to one, Tobias said.
“DNA results typically take a very long time due to the science involved,” Tobias wrote in an email.
Brim’s parents, son, estranged husband and in-laws stood beside Tobias at the briefing but declined to speak.
Tobias said it is believed that Brim was five months pregnant, and Armas’ charges may be reevaluated.
Hannah Zehner Brim was reported missing in 2016.
