Roommate Charged With Killing Two USF Students

Hisham Abugharbieh, the roommate of University of South Florida doctoral student Zamil Limon, has been charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Limon and his partner Nahida Bristy. According to multiple reports, Limon's remains were discovered on Friday morning, April 24, 2026, wrapped in numerous black utility trash bags on the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay. Investigators believe Bristy may be dead due to evidence found in Limon and Abugharbieh's apartment.

Human remains believed to be Bristy's were found on Sunday night near Interstate 275 and 4th Street North in Pinellas County, according to UPI. The remains have not yet been identified but were discovered during the search for her body in a Tampa Bay waterway. Divers had been searching waters near where Limon’s body was discovered on the bridge connecting Tampa and St. Petersburg across Old Tampa Bay.

Abugharbieh was arrested at his family’s home nearby after officers responded to a domestic violence call. He barricaded himself inside before coming out wearing nothing but a blue towel, as reported by Daily Mail Online and HuffPost. Limon, 27, was last seen at his home on April 16, while Bristy, also 27, was last seen about an hour later at the NES Building on USF’s Tampa campus.

New court documents reveal that Abugharbieh allegedly asked ChatGPT questions about how to dispose of a body in the days leading up to Bristy and Limon's disappearance. On April 13, he reportedly asked what would happen if someone was 'put in a black garbage bag and thrown in dumpster,' according to CBS News and HuffPost. The AI chatbot responded that it sounded dangerous, prompting Abugharbieh to ask, 'How would they find out.' An autopsy by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office found that Limon's body had sustained numerous lacerations and stab wounds, ruling the manner of death as a homicide due to 'multiple sharp force injuries.'

According to UPI, Bristy's remains were identified through DNA. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister stated at a press conference that they have contacted her family and are working to release both bodies for religious reasons back to their families in Bangladesh. The sheriff described the details of the investigation as gruesome and the actions of the suspect as 'nothing short of pure evil.'

Limon's remains were found in black trash bags on the side of the highway on the Howard Frankland Bridge a few days earlier. Chronister said he had been stabbed multiple times, and his hands and feet were bound in front. Bristy was also stabbed multiple times. Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the killings.