Suspect in USF student killings asked ChatGPT about dumping body in trash bag

Prosecutors say Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh searched ChatGPT for a way to hide a human body in a black garbage bag and dump it in a dumpster just three days before two University of South Florida doctoral students were last seen, turning the chatbot record into a central piece of evidence in a killing case that has shaken Tampa.

In a motion filed Saturday to keep the 26-year-old jailed before trial, prosecutors said Abugharbieh asked on the night of April 13, 2026, “What happens if a human has a put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster,” then followed with, “How would they find out.” The filing places the search before Zamil Limon and Nahida S. Bristy, both 27 and from Bangladesh, were last seen on April 16. Limon’s body was found Friday morning, April 24, on the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa, while Bristy remains missing.

Authorities have identified Abugharbieh as the suspect in connection with the deaths and said the case includes charges such as two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon, domestic violence, simple battery, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death, and unlawfully holding or moving a dead body. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister called the case “deeply disturbing,” underscoring the gravity of an investigation that has centered on both digital behavior and physical evidence.

The University of South Florida said Abugharbieh was not a current student or employee and had attended the university from spring 2021 through spring 2023. USF also said Limon had been enrolled since fall 2024 and Bristy since fall 2025. University president Moez Limayem said investigators viewed the episode as isolated, off campus, and not a threat to the broader university community. The USF Police Department said the students were last seen on April 16.

The case has quickly become part of a larger national conversation about how law enforcement and courts should treat AI-chat records in violent-crime investigations. Florida officials have separately opened a review into OpenAI and ChatGPT over alleged assistance in a 2025 Florida State University shooting, a reminder that prosecutors are beginning to treat chatbot history the way they would other digital traces: as potential evidence of planning, not proof that the technology itself caused the crime. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.