A body found in Tampa Bay has been identified as the second missing University of South Florida doctoral student from Bangladesh, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Friday. Chronister said investigators determined the identity using DNA and dental records and that the killings were “a monstrous crime,” while detectives continued working to determine what drove the deaths.
Chronister said Nahida Bristy’s remains were found Sunday in a garbage bag that was discovered by a kayaker after the kayaker’s fishing line got snagged. He said the body was badly decomposed and that officials ultimately made a positive identification through DNA and dental records.
Chronister said Bristy’s death followed the earlier discovery of the body of her friend and fellow USF doctoral student, Zamil Limon. He said Limon’s body was found two days before Bristy’s, in another garbage bag on a bridge over Tampa Bay.
The sheriff said Limon’s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, was taken into custody the same day as Limon was found and has been jailed since then. Chronister said Abugharbieh faces two charges of first-degree murder, and investigators were still working on whether the cases involved the same pair of killings and whether detectives could determine that conclusively.
Chronister said the disappearances began on April 16 as separate missing-persons cases for campus police and the sheriff’s office. He said investigators soon realized they were connected, and detectives began by going to the apartment Limon shared with Abugharbieh and a third roommate.
The sheriff said the third roommate was cooperative while Abugharbieh gave “elusive and inconsistent answers,” noting that Abugharbieh had a bandaged finger and a cut on his arm that should have been stitched. Chronister said investigators interviewed the roommate again, alone, and the roommate told them Abugharbieh used a large cart to move items out of his room to a trash compactor overnight on April 16 and 17.
Chronister said investigators searched the trash compactor and found Limon’s glasses, his student ID card, his wallet and his blood-covered clothes. He said that discovery gave law enforcement enough evidence to get a search warrant for the apartment itself and for Abugharbieh’s electronic devices.
The sheriff said a search of the apartment turned up large traces of blood in the kitchen that led down the hall and into Abugharbieh’s room. He said a blood-detecting spray also revealed blood in the shape of a human body curled in the fetal position next to Abugharbieh’s bed, and that tests later determined it was Bristy’s.
Chronister said traces of blood were also found on the floorboards of Abugharbieh’s car and that investigators believe the bodies were moved to the car in a cart under the cover of darkness. He said investigators used the GPS from Abugharbieh’s car and surveillance video from a fire station to determine that Abugharbieh drove to Clearwater and across the Tampa Bay bridge, leading authorities to search along his route.
The sheriff said content on Abugharbieh’s phone had been erased, but forensic examination found “disturbing searches” in the days before Bristy and Limon were reported missing. Chronister said the searches included phrases such as “Can a knife penetrate a skull?” and “Can a neighbor hear a gunshot?” He also said Abugharbieh purchased Lysol wipes and heavy-duty contractor-grade trash bags and other equipment before April 16.
Chronister said Abugharbieh showed no emotion when investigators presented him with details of the killings. “He was nonreactive,” the sheriff said. “He was callous and showed no emotion when we showed him the information we had.” Chronister also said, “I hope we find that out,” when asked about motive.
USF students, staff and faculty held a vigil Friday afternoon, with hundreds attending an outdoor service in which enlarged photos of Limon and Bristy were displayed under a tall oak tree. A standing spray of white roses was placed between the photos, and the university’s community members gathered as the investigation continued.
Chronister said victims’ relatives have been notified. Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, while Bristy was studying chemical engineering; Abugharbieh had dropped out of the university. An attorney in the Hillsborough County public defender’s office, Jennifer Spradley, declined to comment on Abugharbieh’s case when reached by email earlier this week.