Florida sheriff identifies body found in Tampa Bay as 2nd missing
student from Bangladesh
[May 02, 2026]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A body found in Tampa Bay has been identified as
the second missing University of South Florida doctoral student from
Bangladesh, a sheriff said Friday. He described their killings as “a
monstrous crime” and said a motive was still unknown.
Nahida Bristy’s remains were found Sunday in a garbage bag discovered by
a kayaker whose fishing line got snagged, said Hillsborough County
Sheriff Chad Chronister. The positive identification on the badly
decomposed body was eventually made using DNA and dental records, he
said.
The body of her friend, fellow USF doctoral student Zamil Limon, was in
another garbage bag found two days before that on a bridge over the bay.
Limon’s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, 26, was taken into custody
the same day has been jailed since then, facing two charges of
first-degree murder.
Detectives are still working to determine a motive. “I hope we find that
out,” the sheriff said.
Chronister said the suspect showed no emotion when investigators
presented him with details of the killings.
“He was nonreactive,” Chronister said. “He was callous and showed no
emotion when we showed him the information we had.”
The two students were murdered around the same time and place, though
more investigation is needed before detectives can decide that
conclusively, the sheriff said.
The students' disappearances on April 16 started off as separate missing
persons' cases for the campus police and the sheriff’s office, involving
two responsible individuals for whom missing appointments was very
uncharacteristic. But investigators soon realized they were connected,
the sheriff said.
Detectives first went to the apartment Limon shared with Abugharbieh and
a third roommate. The other roommate was cooperative while Abugharbieh
gave elusive and inconsistent answers, the sheriff said. He also had a
bandaged finger and a cut on his arm that should have been stitched up.
It was enough to make him a ‘person of interest,’ but not to merit an
arrest.
They went to interview the roommate again, alone this time, and he told
them Abugharbieh had used a large cart to move things out of his room to
a trash compactor overnight on April 16 and 17.
The first break in the case came when investigators searched the trash
compactor and found Limon’s glasses, his student ID card, his wallet and
his blood-covered clothes. The discovery gave law enforcement enough
evidence to get a search warrant for the apartment itself and the
suspect's electronic devices, Chronister said.
A search of the apartment showed large traces of blood in the kitchen,
leading down the hall and to inside Abugharbieh’s room. A
blood-detecting spray even revealed blood in the shape of a human body
curled up in the fetal position, next to Abugharbieh’s bed, the sheriff
said.
[to top of second column]
|
Hisham Abugharbieh, facing two counts of first-degree murder appears
in court via video on Saturday, April 25, 2026 in Tampa, Fla. (WFTS-TV
via AP)
Traces of blood were also found on the floorboards of Abugharbieh’s
car, Chronister said. Tests would later reveal it was Bristy’s.
Investigators believe the bodies were moved to the car in a cart,
under the cover of darkness, he said.
Using the GPS of the suspect's car and surveillance video from a
fire station, investigators determined that Abugharbieh drove over
to Clearwater and across the Tampa Bay bridge, leading investigators
to start an extensive search along his route.
Chronister said content on Abugharbieh’s phone had been erased, but
a forensic examination revealed disturbing searches in the days
before Bristy and Limon went missing. The searches included phrases
like, “Can a knife penetrate a skull?” and “Can a neighbor hear a
gunshot?”
The suspect had also purchased Lysol wipes and heavy duty
contractor-grade trash bags and other equipment before April 16, he
said.
“This was calculating. That’s what makes this so premeditated,”
Chronister said.
The sheriff said the victims' relatives have been notified.
Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and
Bristy was studying chemical engineering. Abugharbieh had dropped
out of the university. Students, staff and faculty held a vigil on
campus for the students Friday afternoon. Hundreds of people
attended the outdoor service, where enlarged photos of Limon and
Bristy were displayed under a tall oak tree with a standing spray of
white roses between them.
Reached by email earlier this week, Jennifer Spradley, an attorney
in the public defender’s office in Tampa, said the office wouldn’t
comment on Abugharbieh’s case.
___
Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
