Remains of missing University of South Florida student confirmed through DNA

Hisham Abugharbieh has been charged in connection with Nahida Bristy’s murder and the murder of another student, Zamil Limon. Human remains found Sunday during the search for a missing University of South Florida doctoral student were confirmed as belonging to Nahida Bristy, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

The remains of Zamil Limon, who was also a doctoral student at the school and previously dated Bristy, were found last week alongside Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa.

“We have located Nahida Bristy. 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,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference. Limon and Bristy were Muslim, according to the university’s Muslim Student Association.

The remains were identified through DNA.

“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,” he said.

The school said confirmation of Bristy’s remains being found “brings overwhelming grief.”

“No words can fully capture the heartbreak surrounding this loss, which is felt deeply across our university. Nahida and Zamil Limon were exemplary students, building lives, creating community and contributing to our university in meaningful ways,” USF President Moez Limayem said in a statement.

A vigil will be held on campus Friday evening to commemorate Bristy and Limon, according to the university’s Student Government. A GoFundMe was created to help support both of their families with expenses related to their deaths, according to the university’s Bangladesh Student Association.

Hisham Abugharbieh, Limon’s roommate and a former USF student, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of the pair.

Bristy and Limon were both 27 and natives of Bangladesh.

Two kayakers who were fishing found Bristy’s body and contacted law enforcement. Chronister said one of the fishermen’s lines snagged on a bag in the water.

“He has to go further into the mangroves. He smells something as he describes as undescribable, and when he went and got closer to remove his fishing line, he sees that a plastic bag has been opened, there’s been saltwater in there, he can’t tell what it is, but it looks like a human body,” the sheriff said. “He does the right thing and contacts law enforcement.”

Limon’s remains had been located in a black trash bag on the side of a highway along the Howard Frankland Bridge. The sheriff said he had been stabbed several times and was bound in the front by his hands and ankles.

A motive in the killings is unclear.

“We don’t know yet,” the sheriff said. “I hope we find that out.”

Abugharbieh, 26, gave Limon and Bristy a ride from Tampa to Clearwater, Florida, on April 16, the day they were last seen alive, according to a court filing. He initially denied having the pair in his car, but changed his story when confronted with data showing that Limon’s phone had been in Clearwater, where his car had also been. Abugharbieh then admitted he had dropped off the two at Clearwater after Limon requested him a ride.

That same night Abugharbieh purchased trash bags, Lysol wipes and Febreze, investigators said. He also disposed of items including Bristy’s pink cellphone cover, prosecutors said.

The next day, Abugharbieh drove to the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa and stopped along the bridge, according to location data obtained through a search warrant, the filing states.

A roommate of Abugharbieh’s told investigators that on April 17 he saw him moving cardboard boxes from his room to a compactor dumpster at their apartment complex, according to prosecutors. DNA testing done on a kitchen mat matched Bristy’s, according to the court filing. Items belonging to Limon, including a student ID and credit cards with his name on it, were found in the dumpster.

Prosecutors also said Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT about putting someone in a dumpster on the night of April 13. The Florida Attorney General’s Office said Monday that it would expand an ongoing investigation of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, following a shooting at Florida State University last year.

An attorney for Abugharbieh declined a request for comment.

Abugharbieh was arrested April 24 after a brief standoff at a residence in Tampa, according to the sheriff’s office. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of storing remains in unapproved conditions, two counts of failure to report a death, battery, false imprisonment, and tampering with evidence, according to court records.

He is being held without bond at the Falkenburg Road Jail, according to online records.

Abugharbieh has a criminal record dating to 2018, including charges of battery, burglary, trespassing and driving over the speed limit. In January, he was arrested for driving with an expired registration.

Last August, Bristy had posted on her Facebook about starting her PhD journey at USF, where she was studying chemical engineering.

“The laziest & not so bright girl made her way up to University of South Florida & started her PhD journey with a full funding!!” Bristy wrote, including a big-smile emoji. She also thanked her friends and family who loved her “from their heart.”

Her Facebook also includes multiple videos of her singing and playing guitar, and a post celebrating her first paper as first author, in a science journal.