USF doctoral students found dead in Tampa, roommate charged with murder

The deaths of Nahida Bristy and Zamil Limon have left the University of South Florida grieving two 27-year-old doctoral students who came to Tampa from Bangladesh to pursue advanced study. Their disappearance and the later murder charges against their roommate have also raised hard questions about safety, trust and how quickly campuses and law enforcement respond when international students vanish far from family.

Bristy and Limon were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office elevated the case to missing and endangered on April 23, then identified 26-year-old Hisham Abugharbieh as the suspect and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder. Limon’s body was found on April 24 in multiple black plastic bags on the Howard Frankland Bridge across Tampa Bay. Bristy’s remains were found two days later, on April 26, in a garbage bag discovered by a kayaker after a fishing line snagged near the Tampa Bay area.

Sheriff Chad Chronister said Bristy’s remains were badly decomposed and had to be identified with DNA and dental records. The condition of the remains meant forensic investigators needed several days to complete the identification. For the university community, the sequence has been especially devastating because both students were building their futures at USF, far from the support networks of home.

USF said Bristy began studying chemical engineering in fall 2025. Limon joined the university in fall 2024, studying geography and environmental science and policy. Their academic paths made the loss feel even more stark for classmates and faculty who knew them as graduate students working toward professional careers.

USF President Moez Limayem said the crime had shaken the university community and said the school would honor both students. The university also said it was providing resources and information to students, faculty and staff as the case moved forward. In a campus community made up of students living in shared housing, the murder charges have sharpened concerns about the vulnerability of young adults who depend on roommates, landlords and local systems to keep them safe.

USF had scheduled a community vigil for Bristy and Limon on May 1 at 4 p.m. on Crescent Hill at the Tampa campus. For a university community still absorbing the loss, the gathering marked a public moment of mourning for two students whose lives were cut short in a city far from home.