After a University of South Florida doctoral scholar was found lifeless on a Tampa Bay bridge, his roommate has been charged with killing him and his good friend – additionally a USF doctoral scholar – the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Hisham Abugharbieh has been charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated homicide with a weapon within the deaths of the 27-year-old Bangladeshi students, Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy. The two had been lacking since final week.
Limon’s physique was found on the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa on Friday, whereas Bristy has nonetheless not been found, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
“Please keep my beloved brother in your prayers,” Zubaer Ahmed, Zamil’s youthful brother, advised NCS.
Investigators referred to as Bristy’s household in Bangladesh, saying they believed she could also be lifeless, based mostly on the quantity of blood found in Limon and the suspect’s shared condominium, Bristy’s brother advised NCS affiliate WTSP. NCS has reached out to her brother and the sheriff’s workplace for particulars.
“This is a deeply disturbing case that has shaken our community and impacted many who were hoping for a safe resolution,” Sheriff Chad Chronister stated in a press release on Friday.
Abugharbieh was arrested Friday morning after legislation enforcement was referred to as to his house for an unrelated home violence incident, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
In addition to the homicide prices, Abugharbieh, 26, faces prices of unlawfully transferring a lifeless physique, failure to report a demise with intent to hide, tampering with bodily proof, false imprisonment and battery, the sheriff’s workplace had said.
Abugharbieh made an preliminary court docket look Saturday morning and shall be held in jail till a pretrial detention listening to on April 28, based on Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office spokesperson Erin Maloney.
At the pretrial detention listening to, “prosecutors will argue that he remains a danger to the community and should remain behind bars until trial,” Maloney stated.
Dive groups scour waters for signal of lacking scholar
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Marine and Dive teams were seen looking out the water close to the Howard Frankland Bridge for Bristy on Friday.
Detectives “are working tirelessly and relentlessly to uncover the truth,” the sheriff said on Friday.
A health worker continues to be figuring out Limon’s trigger of demise and should share post-mortem outcomes over the weekend, Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stated.
Abugharbieh, a former USF scholar, is being held with out bond till his subsequent court docket look on Tuesday. He appeared earlier than a decide in a safety smock on Saturday, his palms and ft in shackles.
The preliminary prices the suspect faces are based mostly on possible trigger. Official prices will observe after the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s workplace opinions the proof in his case, Maloney stated.
It’s unclear whether or not Abugharbieh has an legal professional. NCS has contacted the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office to see if it can characterize him.
Limon, described by household as a joyful, promising younger researcher, and Bristy had been reported lacking by a household good friend on April 17. They had been final seen across the college campus the day before today, based on the college’s police.
As the investigation and seek for Bristy proceed, “Investigators previously noted that the incidents occurred off campus, and that Abugharbieh … acted alone and there is no ongoing threat to the safety of the university community,” USF President Moez Limayem stated in a statement on Saturday.
USF workers will stay in touch with the students’ family members to offer help, Limayem stated.
“We are also in contact with representatives from both the Bangladeshi Embassy and Consulate General to assure them that we are doing everything we can to assist in this matter,” he stated within the assertion.
An undated photograph posted on Facebook by Nahida Bristy on January 9, 2026 was shared in a condolence message posted by the Noakhali Science and Technology University in Bangladesh, Bristy earned her undergraduate diploma from the college. – Facebook/Nahida Bristy
The vice-chancellor of the Noakhali Science and Technology University in Bangladesh, the place Bristy beforehand studied, described her as a “talented and promising student” in a condolence message on social media on Saturday.
“Her untimely death is an irreparable loss to the university and the nation,” Professor Dr. Mohammad Ismail wrote.
Roommate had been on investigators’ radar
Before his arrest Friday, Abugharbieh had been interviewed at the least twice by legislation enforcement. He was initially speaking to authorities however stopped cooperating as he was being questioned once more Thursday, Maurer stated.
By Friday, the chief deputy stated investigators had been capable of “link the suspect to this case and to (Limon’s) body.”
During his arrest, Abugharbieh barricaded himself inside a house, requiring a SWAT group and disaster negotiators to reply, the sheriff’s workplace stated. Video of his arrest exhibits an armored car parked within the entrance yard as Abugharbieh walks out the entrance door with his palms up and a shower towel tied round his waist.
This nonetheless from a video launched by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office exhibits the second Hisham Abugharbieh was arrested at his household’s house. – Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
Abugharbieh was arrested at his household’s house, the place a decide had beforehand prohibited him from getting into attributable to home violence allegations made by his brother.
The suspect was arrested twice in 2023 on prices of battery, which had been later dropped, based on court docket data. But after one of these incidents, his brother filed for an injunction that prohibited Abugharbieh from coming close to him or his house. In court docket filings, the brother alleged Abugharbieh attacked him and his mom throughout an argument by which the brother was telling him to get out of the home.
When the injunction expired final May, the brother requested the court docket to increase it, saying he didn’t need to “run the risk of him returning.” His request was denied.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, was arrested Friday and is dealing with prices for killing his roommate, Zamil Limon, and Limon’s good friend Nahida Bristy. – Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
The suspect had attended USF between 2021 and 2023 whereas he pursued a bachelor’s diploma in administration, a spokesperson for the college advised NCS.
‘We are becoming numb,’ scholar’s brother says
The students’ sudden disappearance prompted buddies in Florida and family members in Bangladesh to search for solutions.
Before Limon’s physique was found, his brother advised NCS the household was in “deep pain” awaiting information.
“It’s devastating for us,” Ahmed stated. The brother stated his household has been anxiously following updates. “We are becoming numb. Anything could be possible. We just want to know the truth or what happened to them.”
Zamil Limon had plans to journey again to Bangladesh this summer season to see his household, his brother stated. – Family of Zamil Limon
Limon was final seen on April 16 round 9 a.m. at his off-campus house, about three blocks from the college’s campus, police stated. He had been pursuing a level in geography, environmental science and coverage for the reason that fall of 2024.
Bristy was final seen about an hour later on the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on campus, police stated. She enrolled on the college final fall and was finding out chemical engineering.
The following day, a household good friend was unable to succeed in the pair and notified campus police.
Detectives had been following leads and conducting searches in a number of areas when the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office elevated the pair’s standing to “endangered” on Thursday, citing new “information that has come to light.”
Limon had mentioned marrying Bristy
Limon had spoken extremely of Bristy to his household in Bangladesh, telling them he was courting her and the pair had mentioned the chance of marriage, his brother stated.
“He shared that she is a good girl, and she has a lot of talent, like she can sing and cook well,” Ahmed, the brother, stated.
Limon had been onerous at work on his thesis for the previous two years, finding out tips on how to use generative AI to watch shrinking wetland in South Florida, his brother stated.
“My brother is very decent and a very simple person,” Ahmed stated. “He always put a smile on his face.”
After finishing his PhD, Limon needed to return to Bangladesh and get a job as a college professor, Ahmed stated.
Omer Hossain, Limon’s good friend and fellow scholar at USF, remembers him as a “chill guy” who was “always jolly.”
The two turned greatest buddies after a professor related the two by electronic mail within the fall of 2024, Hossain stated.
Later, Hossain met Bristy, who he described as an outgoing and type one that would at all times embody others.
Hossain says he has been in touch with Limon’s household to debate subsequent steps on returning his physique to Bangladesh.
“The feeling is not describable for us. It’s very unexpected and shocking,” Hossain stated. “Our hearts are broken.”
This story has been up to date with further info.
NCS’s Rafael Romo, Jason Morris, Karina Tsui, Martin Goillandeau, Graham Hurley, Nic F. Anderson, David Williams, Sydney Bishop and Jeremy Grisham contributed to this report.
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