Hillsborough County authorities confirmed Friday that human remains discovered in Tampa Bay belong to Nahida Bristy, a 27-year-old doctoral student in chemical engineering at the University of South Florida who had been missing since April 16. The identification was made through DNA analysis, dental records, and clothing Bristy was last seen wearing on surveillance footage at USF’s NES Building on the Tampa campus.
Bristy and fellow USF doctoral student Zamil Limon, also 27, were last seen alive on April 16 when an acquaintance drove them to Clearwater. Limon’s remains were found on April 24 inside black plastic trash bags near the Howard Frankland Bridge that crosses Tampa Bay. An autopsy determined Limon had sustained multiple stab wounds and was found bound at the wrists and ankles. Bristy’s remains were discovered Sunday, April 26, by two kayakers in a mangrove area near Interstate 275 and 4th Street North on the St. Petersburg side of the bridge, after a fishing line became tangled in a submerged bag. The remains were in an advanced state of decomposition and required several days of analysis to confirm the identity.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, Limon’s former roommate and a former USF student, was taken into custody on April 24 following a brief standoff at a Tampa residence. He faces two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon, as well as charges of unlawfully moving a human body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment, and battery. He is being held without bond at the Falkenburg Road Jail. Investigators found blood evidence inside the apartment Abugharbieh shared with Limon. Prosecutors allege Abugharbieh used an AI chatbot to research methods of concealing a crime in the days before the killings. A motive has not been established. Both Bristy and Limon were originally from Bangladesh and had come to the United States to pursue advanced degrees; authorities said they are working to release both victims’ remains to their families for religious purposes.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a Friday press briefing that what began as a missing persons inquiry became the revelation of a horrific crime. USF President Moez Limayem described the two as driven, accomplished individuals who had built a vibrant community at the university.
The case is drawing attention to legislation pending in South Carolina that addresses graduate student safety on public campuses. House Bill 5205, introduced February 18, 2026, by Representatives McGinnis, Erickson, Grant, and Spann-Wilder, would require every public college, university, and technical college in the state to deliver mandatory safety training to all new students — explicitly including graduate students — during orientation or within the first 30 days of enrollment. Required topics include personal safety and situational awareness, emergency procedures, access to campus security services, prevention of and response to relationship violence, and bystander intervention strategies. The House Education and Public Works Committee voted unanimously to advance H. 5205 on February 19, days after a deadly double shooting at South Carolina State University accelerated the bill’s momentum. Institutions in the Spartanburg area, including USC Upstate and Wofford College, would be subject to the bill’s training and annual reporting requirements if it becomes law.
