A former University of South Florida student has been charged with killing his roommate and the roommate\u2019s girlfriend, both doctoral students from Bangladesh who disappeared earlier this month, authorities said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is facing two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of USF students Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office. He made an initial court appearance Saturday in Tampa, where he was ordered held without bond. A hearing is set for Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Limon\u2019s remains were found on the Howard Frankland Bridge connecting Tampa and St. Petersburg on Friday morning, but Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said Friday.<\/p>\n
Abugharbieh, a native-born U.S. citizen, was taken into custody on Friday at his family\u2019s home on preliminary charges that included unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery. Online court records do not list an attorney for him. Messages were sent via email and phone to the public defender\u2019s office in Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n
Officers said they encountered Abugharbieh as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family\u2019s home, just north of the campus, and were able to move his relatives to safety before he barricaded himself inside. A SWAT team responded \u2014 along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators \u2014 before Abugharbieh came out with his hands up, apparently wearing nothing but a blue towel.<\/p>\n
Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon was last seen at his home in an off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbieh. Bristy, who lived on campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.<\/p>\n
An autopsy is being done on the remains to determine the manner and cause of Limon\u2019s death, and those results were expected Saturday, Maurer said Friday.<\/p>\n
Abugharbieh had been a USF student but was not currently enrolled. University records showed he had attended the school from spring 2021 through spring 2023 and had pursued a bachelor\u2019s degree in management, a university spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. She was a graduate of Noakhali Science and Technology University. The school, which spelled her last name as Brishti, said in a statement Saturday that she was a PhD candidate and described her as a talented and promising student.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer sudden passing has deeply saddened all of us,\u201d Vice Chancellor Mohammad Ismail said. \u201cThe university family pays deep respect to her memory. At the same time, we demand punishment for those involved in her death and compensation for the victim\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The search for Bristy continues. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Abugharbieh had several previous arrests, the Sheriff\u2019s Office said. He was charged in September 2023 with battery and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and in May 2023 with battery, both classified in court records as misdemeanors.<\/p>\n
Court records show Abugharbieh entered into a diversion program for first-time offenders charged with misdemeanors. He completed the program in 2024 and the charges were discontinued. A phone call to his lawyer in that case was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n
Hillsborough County court records also showed two domestic violence petitions filed by a family member in 2023. A judge granted an injunction in one case and denied petition in the other. He also was accused of traffic violations.<\/p>\n
Ramer writes for the Associated Press and reported from Concord, N.H.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former University of South Florida student has been charged with killing his roommate and the roommate\u2019s girlfriend,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5686,5507,1089,28,30,29,45573,15467,48035,108055,320,92873,1933,108249,660,108344,19403,6695],"class_list":{"0":"post-246439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-battery","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-family","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-news","14":"tag-florida-student","15":"tag-friday-morning","16":"tag-hillsborough-county-sheriff","17":"tag-hisham-abugharbieh","18":"tag-home","19":"tag-limon","20":"tag-murder","21":"tag-nahida-bristy","22":"tag-office","23":"tag-online-court-record","24":"tag-roommate","25":"tag-saturday"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246439","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=246439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}