<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
AP<\/p>\n
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) \u2014 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 \u201ca monstrous crime\u201d and said a motive was still unknown.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nahida Bristy\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office join an investigation inside the Lake Forest subdivision of Tampa, Fla., on Friday, April 24, 2026, where authorities said a man was taken into custody after barricading himself inside a home, in connection to the search for two missing University of South Florida graduate students. (Douglas R. Clifford\/Tampa Bay Times via AP)<\/p>\n
Douglas R. Clifford\/AP<\/p>\n
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\u2019s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, 26, was taken into custody the same day has been jailed since then, facing two charges of first-degree murder.<\/p>\n
Detectives are still working to determine a motive. \u201cI hope we find that out,\u201d the sheriff said.<\/p>\n
Chronister said the suspect showed no emotion when investigators presented him with details of the killings.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was nonreactive,\u201d Chronister said. \u201cHe was callous and showed no emotion when we showed him the information we had.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The students’ disappearances on April 16 started off as separate missing persons’ cases for the campus police and the sheriff\u2019s office, involving two responsible individuals for whom missing appointments was very uncharacteristic. But investigators soon realized they were connected, the sheriff said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
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 \u2018person of interest,\u2019 but not to merit an arrest.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The first break in the case came when investigators searched the trash compactor and found Limon\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
A search of the apartment showed large traces of blood in the kitchen, leading down the hall and to inside Abugharbieh\u2019s room. A blood-detecting spray even revealed blood in the shape of a human body curled up in the fetal position, next to Abugharbieh\u2019s bed, the sheriff said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Traces of blood were also found on the floorboards of Abugharbieh\u2019s car, Chronister said. Tests would later reveal it was Bristy\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Investigators believe the bodies were moved to the car in a cart, under the cover of darkness, he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Chronister said content on Abugharbieh\u2019s 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, \u201cCan a knife penetrate a skull?\u201d and \u201cCan a neighbor hear a gunshot?\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The suspect had also purchased Lysol wipes and heavy duty contractor-grade trash bags and other equipment before April 16, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was calculating. That\u2019s what makes this so premeditated,\u201d Chronister said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff said the victims’ relatives have been notified.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Reached by email earlier this week, Jennifer Spradley, an attorney in the public defender\u2019s office in Tampa, said the office wouldn\u2019t comment on Abugharbieh\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n