TAMPA, FL — A college dropout suspected of killing two University of South Florida students was ordered to be held without bond during a Tuesday hearing.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, faces multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27-year-old doctoral students from Bangladesh.
Limon complained to his family about Abugharbieh’s “psychopathic” behavior ahead of his death, according to reports.
As the investigation into their deaths continues, detectives are asking anyone who was on the Howard Frankland Bridge on April 17 between 1 and 5 a.m. to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 813-247-8200 if they have dash camera video or other information.
The students, good friends who were considering getting married down the road, family said, were last seen alive on April 16.
Limon, who was pursuing a doctoral degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen at Avalon Heights, the off-campus complex where he shared an apartment with Abugharbieh and another roommate.
Bristy, who was studying chemical engineering, was last seen on USF’s Tampa campus at the NES building.
They were reported missing Aug. 17 by a family friend who was unable to contact either of them.
Detectives used cellphone location and license plate reader data to track Abugharbieh’s car and Limon’s phone to the Howard Frankland Bridge, where Limon’s body was found Friday morning. Limon had numerous stab wounds and appeared to be bound, according to a report filed by prosecutors.
As deputies continued searching for Bristy, a second body was found Sunday in a waterway near the bridge. That body hasn’t been identified, the sheriff’s office said.
The victims’ families are calling for justice in the case.
“We demand the highest possible punishment under the law for Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, along with anyone else who may be connected, and request that the legal process move forward as quickly as possible,” read their joint statement released Monday, according to KLFY 10.
Limon filed a complaint about Abugharbieh with Avalon Heights 15 days before his death, which went ignored, according to reports.
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“He barely [knew] Hisham Abugharbieh, but he always informed us that his roommate is kind of unsocial, unpleasant and sort of psychopathic behavior, and he and another roommate, Indian roommate, Rashite filed a complaint against him,” Limon’s brother, Zubaer Ahmed, told WFLA.
The suspect’s mother also told investigators that her son had anger issues and had been violent with family members in the past, reports said.
Abugharbieh was initially arrested Friday in connection with the case, after an unrelated domestic violence incident at his family’s home in the 14000 block of Pine Glen Circle, according to HCSO.
He allegedly showed up at his family’s home, unexpectedly, grabbed his younger sister, and tried to forcibly kiss her while wearing only a towel, Fox 13 reported.
His initial charges included battery, false imprisonment, tampering with physical evidence, failure to report a death, and unlawfully holding or moving a dead body, deputies said.
Two new charges of murder in the first degree with a weapon (pre-meditated) in the deaths of Limon and Bristy were added early Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.
Members of the HCSO SWAT team responded to the domestic violence incident involving Abugharbieh at the Pine Glen Circle home on Friday just after 9 a.m.
He barricaded himself inside the home, and after a brief standoff with deputies, he was taken into custody around 10:30 a.m.
At the same time, detectives were following investigative leads in the area of the bridge, where Limon’s remains were found in trash bags, reports said.
His cause of death will be determined by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
In the days before the students vanished, Abugharbieh turned to ChatGPT with questions like, what happens if a person is “put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster,” Newsweek reported.
After they were reported missing, when an apartment manager gave investigators access to their apartment, and to Limon’s locked bedroom, the third roommate told detectives Abugharbieh had used a cart overnight on April 16 to move cardboard boxes from his room to the trash compactor. That’s where detectives found Limon’s wallet and campus ID badge, credit card, eyeglasses and clothes that appeared to have blood on them.
Returning with a search warrant, detectives found blood residue leading from the kitchen to Abugharbieh’s bedroom, and more blood that soaked his bedroom carpet. In Limon’s bedroom, they found Bristy’s campus ID and credit cards.
This story includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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