Nearly every morning, Sarmistha Sen went for a run before her children, Neil, 12, and Ryan, 6, woke up. Like every part of Sarmistha’s routine, running served a purpose in her life. The solitude of running on her neighborhood hike and bike trail with playgrounds on one side and a creek on the other, helped Sarmistha recharge from the demands of her busy schedule.
As her brother Sumit Sen says, running was her release, which helped her be present, connect fully to others, and embrace her daily purpose.
When she finished her run, Sarmistha would come home, make breakfast for her boys and her husband Arindam Roy, and then start her work as a clinical research manager at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
But on Saturday, August 1, Sarmistha didn’t return home from her morning run on the Chisholm Trail. Her body was found less than two hours later near the creek along the trail. The Plano Police Department Why Molly Seidel Dialed Back Her Strava Use and an arrest affidavit said her death was the result of “blunt force injuries” consistent with evidence found at the scene of the crime, as reported by CNN.
Bakari Abiona Moncrief was arrested for a burglary nearby, according to Collin County Jail records. He was also identified as a person of interest in Sarmistha’s murder at the time of his arrest.
Plano Police Department public information officer David Tilly said that Moncrief has been charged with the capital murder of Sarmistha, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Sarmistha’s death is one example of a pervasive problem—women are too often the target of violence while running. Runners like Wendy Martinez, Carolina Cano, Karina Vetrano, and Mollie Tibbetts are only some of those who have been tragically killed while running in recent years. According to a Runner’s World survey from 2019, 84% of women say they’ve been harassed while running.
Sarmistha was born on January 2, 1977 in Sindri, India. Her brother Sumit Sen, who is older by 14 years, remembers Sarmistha as an active, spiritually-focused child who connected with everyone she met. When she was 3 years old, Sarmistha even tried to teach their grandmother how to meditate.
“That [spirituality] has been a big part of her life, and as a result, she had a very positive attitude,” Sumit said.
Sumit said she began to walk very early and “the moment she started walking, she never slowed down.” Though Sumit left for college by the time Sarmistha joined her middle school track team, he admired her passion for running from afar. He said by the time she graduated high school, Sarmistha was fast enough in the 100 and 200 meters to be considered for a spot on the Indian national team. But with the time commitment required to train full-time and the lack of support, Sarmistha ultimately decided to pursue higher education.
“After we reconnected back in the U.S., she said it was one of the hardest decisions she ever made—and she was very nostalgic about those years,” Sumit said. “But she never gave up her running.”
Because of her busy schedule, Sarmistha ran by herself most of the time, but every Thanksgiving, Sumit and Sarmistha’s family would spend the holiday together and run the local turkey trot in Plano or Walnut Creek.
She maintained her passion for track by following the progress of Sumit’s son who competes for his high school track team in the Bay Area, requesting photos and videos from competitions. “She’d say, ‘I miss those days when the ground below my feet would disappear,’” Sumit said.
After high school and undergrad, Sarmistha moved to Bangalore, India where she earned a master’s degree in pharmacy studies. In 2004, she married Roy and moved to the U.S. where she earned a master’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Texas at Dallas and later a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
About 10 years ago, while Sarmistha was working in the cancer department of Children's Medical Center Dallas, Sarmistha’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. It ultimately inspired Sarmistha to pursue a long-term career in cancer research.
For three years, Sarmistha managed a team of 30 researchers who worked on clinical trials. She was the go-between with the oncologists (the cancer specialists) and the patients, bringing cutting-edge cancer treatment to those in need of care. In their daily catch-up calls, Sumit remembered Sarmistha telling him she was overwhelmed by the long hours at times, but she was determined to connect with each patient she helped.
At Sarmistha’s funeral service, Sumit was able to meet the many people whose lives were enhanced by her. He said he noticed two consistencies: “One was this incredibly positive attitude with a smile. She was a source of strength about how to handle failure and bad things, which is part of life. And, she had an uncanny way of drawing people close into her world very quickly.”
Family was the most important thing to Sarmistha, her husband Roy says, and she made every moment together count.
She made a time-intensive effort to keep her family healthy by living sustainably with a low environmental impact and by eating natural, organic foods. She grew a fruit and vegetable garden in the backyard and made efforts to recycle and conserve as much energy in the home as possible.
Now her family values are guiding Roy. In the face of tragedy, he wants to set an example for the boys because he knows it’s what Sarmistha would have wanted.
“My goal is to be a role model for my sons, make sure they are focused on the positive, and understand this is an isolated incident,” Roy said. “There's always going to be some bad people in the world, but the world is mostly a positive place to live in, and these isolated incidents don't define us.”
Since her death, Roy and those who were close to Sarmistha are taking steps to ensure her life will be defined by her legacy of serving others.
On August 3, Roy created a GoFundMe page for donations made to cancer research at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. As of December 15, the page has $51,470 in donations; Roy matched it with $50,000. The $100,000 was donated to UT Southwestern. The university contributed $400,000 and created a $500,000 endowment fund in Sarmistha’s name. The income from this fund will be used for clinical research.
Sumit created a pamphlet with recommendations for runner safety on the trail, which was shared with family, friends, and neighbors in the Plano community.
The Plano community also rallied behind Sarmistha’s family to honor her memory. On Sunday, August 2, Andrea Landon, local runner and neighbor to Sarmistha, visited the place where Sarmistha was found near the creek and left her running shoes, which became the start of a memorial and donation effort.
After encouraging her friends and neighbors on the Next Door app to pay tribute to Sarmistha, Landon led a memorial that grew to 1,400 pairs of athletic shoes. In coordination with the Plano Police Department, the shoes were donated to Trusted World, Watch NOT TODAY, a Film From Runners World.
On August 8, Landon and a few other organizers also hosted a memorial run and walk on the trail for Sarmistha.
While Landon didn’t know Sarmistha personally, she’d often see her running on the trail, and she wanted to give back to a fellow runner and mother in the community.
“My ultimate goal was to show her two boys how much she was loved, even from people that have never met her,” Landon says. “I wanted to show them that her life will continue to impact those in need.”
The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is also honoring Sarmistha for her contributions as a cancer researcher, dedicating two clinical research pilot programs in Sarmistha’s name.
“Sarmistha was very passionate about health disparities and encouraging engagement in clinical research, particularly for underrepresented populations,” Jasmin Tiro, associate director for community outreach, engagement and equity at the Simmons Cancer Center, says. Tiro met Sarmistha when they worked together on a minority trial work group—a collaboration between the clinical research office and the department of community outreach, engagement and equity—where Sarmistha shined as a “quiet force full of great ideas.”
In addition to the memorial run, shoe donation, and cancer research efforts, Roy hopes to expand on honoring Sarmistha’s legacy through advocacy and fundraising efforts in partnership with local hospitals Sarmistha worked at and with a national running safety organization. He hopes to start an annual run in Sarmistha’s name.
“Everybody deserves to be able to run without worrying about something happening to them,” Roy says.
In every memorial effort, Roy and Sumit ultimately want others to learn from Sarmistha’s commitment to a life of purpose. Sarmistha made the effort to connect and contribute to the lives of people around her. Now her community will go that extra mile for her.
“It's very easy to look at what we do for work as just a means of a livelihood, but what we do connects with the greater humanity at large, and that's how she lived,” Sumit said.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
