Car, two bodies found in Chaska pond in search for two missing women

Updated: 10:45 p.m. | Posted: 5:15 p.m.

The search for two young women who went missing early Saturday appeared to come to a tragic end Sunday night, as dive teams found a car and two bodies in a Chaska pond.

Police said Bushra Abdi and Zeynab (Hafsa) Abdalla, both 19, had not been in contact with their families after leaving their workplaces — one in Shakopee, one in Chaska — early Saturday. They placed a 911 call asking for help, but the call disconnected and the signals from their cellphones were lost.

A search effort was launched Saturday and continued Sunday.

A broken street sign and tire tracks led searchers to the pond near the corner of Highway 41 and Engler Boulevard. Divers located the car in the pond early in the evening; hours later, the Star Tribune and KSTP-TV reported that authorities reported finding two bodies in the pond.

KARE-TV reported that a medical examiner was at the scene late Sunday night. Official identification of the bodies was pending.

A crowd gathered Sunday evening along police tape set up around the search scene, as crews worked in the fading daylight with temperatures in the 30s.

Abdi's sister told the Star Tribune that the two women were cousins and best friends, and that she believed they were going to get food during their work break when they went missing.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was at the search scene on Sunday evening. He told MPR News that he spoke with the families of the missing women, and was told they were "very outgoing. ... Bright, young — beautiful young girls."

At the time, searchers had found the car but no sign of the two women.

"The community is fearing the worst," he said.