Second Florida doctoral student’s remains identified after roommate charged with murders

Human remains discovered near a bridge in the Tampa Bay area have been identified as Nahida Bristy, the second University of South Florida doctoral student who went missing last month, authorities announced Friday.

The remains, found Sunday, were confirmed to be Bristy through DNA, dental records and clothing, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference.

“We have located Nahida Bristy,” Chronister said. “We have contacted her family. We are now actively working to release both bodies for religious reasons back to the families who live in Bangladesh.”

Bristy and her friend and fellow USF doctoral student Zamil Limon, both 27, vanished within hours of each other on April 16. Limon’s remains were discovered April 24 along the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa. Bristy’s body was found about a week later in an advanced stage of decomposition, authorities say.

“We were able to confirm DNA, some dental work that she had done, and the clothing that she still had on from the video that we saw,” Chronister said.

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Limon’s roommate, Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, was arrested on April 24, and charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon in the deaths of both Limon and Bristy.

According to investigators, Limon had been stabbed multiple times, bound, placed in a trash bag and left along the highway. His body was identified through fingerprints.

Two days after Limon’s remains were found, a black trash bag was spotted along the shoreline south of the initial discovery site. Inside were additional human remains, also in an “advanced stage of decomposition,” according to an arrest affidavit.

The bag was tied in a similar manner to the one containing Limon’s body, and the victim was wearing clothing consistent with what Bristy had last been seen wearing in surveillance footage. Like Limon, the victim had multiple stab wounds.

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According to court filings, Abugharbieh drove Limon and Bristy from Tampa to Clearwater on April 16, the day they were last seen alive. He initially denied the trip but later admitted to dropping them off after investigators confronted him with phone and location data.

Limon, who was pursuing a Ph.D. in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen around 9 a.m. at his apartment a few blocks from campus. Meanwhile, Bristy, a doctoral student in chemical engineering who lived on campus, was last seen about an hour later at the university’s Natural and Environmental Sciences Building.

Investigators said Abugharbieh, who studied business management at the university from 2021 to 2023, was identified as a person of interest during their investigation.

A roommate of Abugharbieh told investigators that he was seen moving cardboard boxes from his room to a compactor dumpster at their apartment complex on April 17, a day after Limon and Bristy went missing, according to a court document obtained by NBC News. After searching the dumpster, investigators found items belonging to Limon, including a student ID and credit cards in his name.

Investigators discovered that the same night Abugharbieh gave the students a ride, he had purchased trash bags, Lysol wipes and Febreze and later disposed of items including Bristy’s pink cellphone cover. The following day, location data shows he stopped along the Howard Frankland Bridge, where Limon’s body was eventually found.

Detectives later uncovered blood traces in the suspect’s kitchen and bedroom. Forensic analysis of a phone linked to Abugharbieh revealed internet searches related to concealing violent crimes. The killings were described by authorities as “calculated,” citing evidence of attempts to destroy or wipe phone and vehicle GPS data.

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Abugharbieh is being held without bond at the Falkenburg Road Jail. A judge ordered him to remain in custody pending trial, citing the “brutal and violent nature” of the alleged crimes.

Additional charges against Abugharbieh include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death with intent to conceal, tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment and battery.

Authorities say a motive remains unclear.