{"id":246194,"date":"2026-04-25T12:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246194\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T12:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:41:10","slug":"roommate-charged-with-killing-2-missing-usf-students-one-found-dead-search-continues-for-second","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246194\/","title":{"rendered":"Roommate charged with killing 2 missing USF students; one found dead, search continues for second"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAMPA, Fla – The Hillsborough County<\/a> Sheriff’s Office has upgraded charges against Hisham Abugharbieh in connection to the disappearance of two USF students.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Investigators now say a case involving two missing University of South Florida students is a double murder investigation.<\/p>\n

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office, 26-year-old Hisham Abugharbieh faces two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon (premeditated) in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

(Left to right) Zamil Limon, Nahida Bristy <\/p>\n

Officials say evidence presented to the State Attorney\u2019s Office led to the upgraded charges.<\/p>\n

Deputies confirmed they found Limon dead Friday morning on the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

READ: Missing USF student\u2019s body found in water off Howard Frankland Bridge as search continues for Nahida Bristy<\/a><\/p>\n

Bristy is still missing. As of Saturday morning, search crews continue looking for her, focusing on areas around the bridge.<\/p>\n

Abugharbieh also faces additional charges, including tampering with evidence, false imprisonment, moving a dead body, failing to report a death and battery.<\/p>\n

Deputies say they first encountered him while responding to a domestic violence call at a home near the USF campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigators say he barricaded himself inside before eventually surrendering.<\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

Investigators have not released details about how the victims were killed or what led up to their deaths.<\/p>\n

Authorities say they are withholding specific findings to protect the integrity of the investigation.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

USFPD says Limon, a USF doctoral student pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen around 9 a.m. at his home on Avalon Heights Blvd. on April 16.<\/p>\n

Limon’s remains were found on Friday morning along the Howard Frankland Bridge.<\/p>\n

Bristy, a USF<\/a> doctoral student studying chemical engineering, was last seen around 10 a.m. on April 16 at the NES Building, 121 USF Sweetgum Lane, on the USF Tampa <\/a>campus.<\/p>\n

Police said a family friend contacted USFPD shortly before 5 p.m. on April 17 after they were unable to contact Limon or Bristy.<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The search for Bristy remains active.<\/p>\n

Abugharbieh is expected to face a judge as the case moves forward.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about Bristy\u2019s disappearance is urged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information in this article was gathered from a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office press release.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>University of South Florida<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla – The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has upgraded charges against Hisham Abugharbieh in connection to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[630,47,629,115,1536,135,137,136,628,1537],"class_list":{"0":"post-246194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-hillsborough","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-organization","13":"tag-tampa","14":"tag-tampa-headlines","15":"tag-tampa-news","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246194","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=246194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}