Roommate charged with killing two University of South Florida doctoral students after one of their bodies was found

By Isabel Rosales, Elizabeth Wolfe, Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — After a University of South Florida doctoral student was found dead on a Tampa Bay bridge, his roommate has been charged with killing him and his friend – also a USF doctoral student – the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

Hisham Abugharbieh has been charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon in the deaths of the 27-year-old Bangladeshi students, Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy. The two had been missing since last week.

Limon’s body was found on the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa on Friday, while Bristy has still not been found, the sheriff’s office said.

“Please keep my beloved brother in your prayers,” Zubaer Ahmed, Zamil’s younger brother, told CNN.

Investigators called Bristy’s family in Bangladesh, saying they believed she may be dead, based on the amount of blood found in Limon and the suspect’s shared apartment, Bristy’s brother told CNN affiliate WTSP. CNN has reached out to her brother and the sheriff’s office for details.

“This is a deeply disturbing case that has shaken our community and impacted many who were hoping for a safe resolution,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement on Friday.

Abugharbieh was arrested Friday morning after law enforcement was called to his home for an unrelated domestic violence incident, the sheriff’s office said.

In addition to the murder charges, Abugharbieh, 26, faces charges of unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death with intent to conceal, tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment and battery, the sheriff’s office had said.

Abugharbieh made an initial court appearance Saturday morning and will be held in jail until a pretrial detention hearing on April 28, according to Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office spokesperson Erin Maloney.

At the pretrial detention hearing, “prosecutors will argue that he remains a danger to the community and should remain behind bars until trial,” Maloney said.

Dive teams scour waters for sign of missing student

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Marine and Dive teams were seen searching the water near the Howard Frankland Bridge for Bristy on Friday.

Detectives “are working tirelessly and relentlessly to uncover the truth,” the sheriff said on Friday.

A medical examiner is still determining Limon’s cause of death and may share autopsy results over the weekend, Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

Abugharbieh, a former USF student, is being held without bond until his next court appearance on Tuesday. He appeared before a judge in a safety smock on Saturday, his hands and feet in shackles.

The initial charges the suspect faces are based on probable cause. Official charges will follow after the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office reviews the evidence in his case, Maloney said.

It’s unclear whether Abugharbieh has an attorney. CNN has contacted the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office to see if it will represent him.

Limon, described by family as a joyful, promising young researcher, and Bristy were reported missing by a family friend on April 17. They were last seen around the university campus the previous day, according to the university’s police.

As the investigation and search for Bristy continue, “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 said in a statement on Saturday.

USF staff will remain in contact with the students’ loved ones to provide support, Limayem said.

“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 said in the statement.

The vice-chancellor of the Noakhali Science and Technology University in Bangladesh, where Bristy previously 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 least twice by law enforcement. He was initially talking to authorities but stopped cooperating as he was being questioned again Thursday, Maurer said.

By Friday, the chief deputy said investigators were able to “link the suspect to this case and to (Limon’s) body.”

During his arrest, Abugharbieh barricaded himself inside a home, requiring a SWAT team and crisis negotiators to respond, the sheriff’s office said. Video of his arrest shows an armored vehicle parked in the front yard as Abugharbieh walks out the front door with his hands up and a bath towel tied around his waist.

Abugharbieh was arrested at his family’s home, where a judge had previously prohibited him from entering due to domestic violence allegations made by his brother.

The suspect was arrested twice in 2023 on charges of battery, which were later dropped, according to court records. But after one of those incidents, his brother filed for an injunction that prohibited Abugharbieh from coming near him or his home. In court filings, the brother alleged Abugharbieh attacked him and his mother during an argument in which the brother was telling him to get out of the house.

When the injunction expired last May, the brother asked the court to extend it, saying he didn’t want to “run the risk of him returning.” His request was denied.

The suspect had attended USF between 2021 and 2023 while he pursued a bachelor’s degree in management, a spokesperson for the university told CNN.

‘We are becoming numb,’ student’s brother says

The students’ sudden disappearance prompted friends in Florida and relatives in Bangladesh to look for answers.

Before Limon’s body was found, his brother told CNN the family was in “deep pain” awaiting news.

“It’s devastating for us,” Ahmed said. The brother said his family 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.”

Limon was last seen on April 16 around 9 a.m. at his off-campus home, about three blocks from the university’s campus, police said. He had been pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy since the fall of 2024.

Bristy was last seen about an hour later at the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on campus, police said. She enrolled at the university last fall and was studying chemical engineering.

The following day, a family friend was unable to reach the pair and notified campus police.

Detectives had been following leads and conducting searches in multiple locations when the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office elevated the pair’s status to “endangered” on Thursday, citing new “information that has come to light.”

Limon had discussed marrying Bristy

Limon had spoken highly of Bristy to his family in Bangladesh, telling them he was courting her and the pair had discussed the possibility of marriage, his brother said.

“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, said.

Limon had been hard at work on his thesis for the past two years, studying how to use generative AI to monitor shrinking wetland in South Florida, his brother said.

“My brother is very decent and a very simple person,” Ahmed said. “He always put a smile on his face.”

After completing his PhD, Limon wanted to return to Bangladesh and get a job as a university professor, Ahmed said.

Omer Hossain, Limon’s friend and fellow student at USF, remembers him as a “chill guy” who was “always jolly.”

The two became best friends after a professor connected the two through email in the fall of 2024, Hossain said.

Later, Hossain met Bristy, who he described as an outgoing and kind person who would always include others.

Hossain says he has been in contact with Limon’s family to discuss next steps on returning his body to Bangladesh.

“The feeling is not describable for us. It’s very unexpected and shocking,” Hossain said. “Our hearts are broken.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’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.