Prosecutors: USF suspect asked ChatGPT about disposing of a body

Body

Prosecutors say Hisham Abugharbieh, accused in the killings of two University of South Florida doctoral students from Bangladesh, discussed body disposal and other matters with ChatGPT days before the students disappeared. In a pretrial detention report filed with the court over the weekend, prosecutors wrote that Abugharbieh asked what would happen if a human body was placed in a garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster, according to the report.

The same report says Abugharbieh also asked ChatGPT about changing the vehicle identification number on his car and about whether he could keep a gun at home without a license. Prosecutors said the chatbot responded that Abugharbieh’s questions sounded dangerous.

Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said Monday on social media that his office’s investigation into whether ChatGPT offered advice to a gunman who killed two people at Florida State University will be expanded to include the USF students’ killings. Uthmeier’s comments add to the broader focus on how conversational AI tools may be used in criminal cases.

The case began with the USF students’ April 16 disappearance. Prosecutors said Zamil Limon was last seen at the off-campus apartment where he lived with Abugharbieh, and Nahida Bristy was last seen at a campus science building, AP reported. A relative told police April 17 they could not reach both students despite repeated attempts by phone.

AP reported that remains of Abugharbieh’s roommate, Zamil Limon, were found Friday morning on the Howard Frankland bridge, while investigators continued searching that day for Limon’s girlfriend, Nahida Bristy. On Sunday, the sheriff’s office said a body had been found in a waterway near the bridge but had not been identified at the time.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday that Abugharbieh was charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon. The office said Abugharbieh was ordered held without bond, and it set a hearing for Tuesday. Abugharbieh had been a USF student previously, though the university records cited by AP showed he was not currently enrolled.

In the days after the disappearance, investigators searched Bristy’s campus office and found her purse, lunchbox, MacBook and iPad, according to the prosecutors’ report summarized by AP. At Limon’s off-campus apartment, detectives questioned Limon’s roommates and noticed Abugharbieh’s left pinky finger was bandaged. When confronted by detectives, Abugharbieh denied any involvement with Limon’s disappearance, AP reported.

The report also described evidence investigators said connected both deaths to Abugharbieh. AP said a third roommate told detectives that Abugharbieh used a cart overnight on April 16 and April 17 to move cardboard boxes from his room to the trash compactor, where investigators found Limon’s wallet, campus ID badge, credit card, eyeglasses and clothes that appeared to have blood on them. Investigators also reported finding blood leading from the kitchen to Abugharbieh’s bedroom and more blood in that bedroom, along with Bristy’s campus ID and credit cards, which prosecutors said suggested she had been at the apartment before she disappeared.

Prosecutors’ report further said investigators used cellphone location and license plate reader data to conclude that Abugharbieh’s car and Limon’s phone had both been on the bridge and on Clearwater Beach. Based on location data from Abugharbieh’s phone, the report said detectives searched around the bridge and found a trash bag containing Limon’s body, and the medical examiner concluded that Limon had numerous stab wounds.

After Abugharbieh’s arrest Friday, his case also drew statements from his defense. Reached by email on Monday, Jennifer Spradley, an attorney in the public defender’s office in Tampa, told AP that her office would not comment on Abugharbieh’s case. AP also reported that officers encountered Abugharbieh at his family’s home after responding to a domestic violence report, and that a SWAT team responded after he barricaded himself, before he came out with his hands up.