{"id":242950,"date":"2026-04-23T07:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242950\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:52:22","slug":"two-florida-doctoral-students-mysteriously-vanish-an-hour-apart-and-havent-been-seen-since","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242950\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Florida Doctoral Students Mysteriously Vanish an Hour Apart\u2014And Haven\u2019t Been Seen Since"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Florida authorities are searching for two missing doctoral students who mysteriously vanished nearly a week ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/USFPD\/posts\/pfbid0oLm3v7x9LfSL3784vU7hELFTZJV5cX9y1VSJbDo5ncAtQfq6gog8SPbiH2r1fknul\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:The University of South Florida Police Department;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The University of South Florida Police Department<\/a>\u00a0is now asking for the public\u2019s help to find Zamil Limon and Nahida S. Bristy, both 27, who were last spotted, separately, on April 16.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Everybody internally is obviously very concerned, as we are concerned,\u201d USF Public Safety Public Information Officer Larry McKinnon told <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/2-usf-doctoral-students-reported-missing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Fox 13;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Fox 13<\/a>. \u201cIt&#8217;s not typical of their behavior, they&#8217;re graduate students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For More True Crime:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oxygen.com\/crime-news\/callan-perez-reportedly-wrote-father-of-the-year-essay-before-dad-killed-him\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Fourth Grader Reportedly Wrote &quot;Father of the Year&quot; Essay\u2014Months Later, His Dad Killed Him;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Fourth Grader Reportedly Wrote &#8220;Father of the Year&#8221; Essay\u2014Months Later, His Dad Killed Him<\/a><br \/><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oxygen.com\/crime-news\/ezekiel-jackson-charged-with-housecleaners-alleged-rape-assault\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Georgia Man Accused of Luring Cleaner, Attacking Her With Screwdriver and Raping Her For Hours;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Georgia Man Accused of Luring Cleaner, Attacking Her With Screwdriver and Raping Her For Hours<\/a><br \/><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oxygen.com\/crime-news\/abbi-schaeffer-kansas-city-woman-found-in-box-after-fentanyl-poisoning\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Missing Kansas City Woman&#039;s Remains Found in Box After Suspected Fentanyl Poisoning\u00a0;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Missing Kansas City Woman&#8217;s Remains Found in Box After Suspected Fentanyl Poisoning\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What Happened to Zamil Limon and Nahida S. Bristy?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Limon\u2014who is pursing a doctoral degree in geography, environmental science and policy\u2014was last seen at around 9 a.m. on April 16 at his Tampa home, according to the statement from police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Meanwhile, Bristy was spotted an hour later at a building on the USF Tampa campus. The doctoral student is studying chemical engineering at the college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Police say neither has been seen again. A family friend reported the pair\u2014who are both from Bangladesh\u2014missing to the campus police around 4:50 p.m. April 17 after they were unable to reach either of them.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Zamil Limon And Nahida S. Bristy\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6d9cb9f3cd89075b6df9e949d060818a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Zamil Limon And Nahida S. Bristy<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A police spokesman told Fox 13 the two are friends and authorities believe they are together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Oxygen.com reached out to police for additional information, but did not receive an immediate response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">McKinnon told the news outlet that there are no signs of foul play or anything \u201csuspicious in nature\u201d at this point in the investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWhen we get to this point where we aren\u2019t having success in locating them, then our next best source is the public,\u201d he explained. \u201cThat\u2019s where we are at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oxygen.com\/crime-news\/robert-william-mccaffrey-jr-charged-in-lisa-mcbride-murder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:RELATED:\u00a0Once Suspected in Wife\u2019s Disappearance, Man Now Charged in Separate 1990 Cold Case Murder;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">RELATED:\u00a0Once Suspected in Wife\u2019s Disappearance, Man Now Charged in Separate 1990 Cold Case Murder<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking from Bangladesh, Limon\u2019s brother Zubaer Ahmed told Fox 13 that the family is in \u201cdeep pain\u201d from what he described as a \u201cdevastating situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;He is a very responsible and punctual person, and that&#8217;s why the situation is so unpredictable and unusual to us,\u201d he said, adding he found the disappearance \u201cvery suspicious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to Ahmed, Limon and Bristy had been casually discussing plans to marry before they disappeared, but each had been more focused on their studies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThey talked about having a future together,\u201d he said, \u201cbut they are not that serious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Authorities are asking that anyone with information on the case, contact the University of South Florida Police Department at (813)-974-2628.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida authorities are searching for two missing doctoral students who mysteriously vanished nearly a week ago. The University&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[107238,28,30,29,58653,106641,3650,107239,107237],"class_list":{"0":"post-242950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-doctoral-students","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-fox-13","13":"tag-nahida-s-bristy","14":"tag-university-of-south-florida","15":"tag-usf-tampa-campus","16":"tag-zamil-limon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}