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Former USF Student Charged with Murder of Two Doctoral Candidates in Tampa

Former USF Student Charged with Murder of Two Doctoral Candidates in Tampa
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A former University of South Florida student was charged Saturday with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of one USF doctoral student and the disappearance of another, capping a nine-day search that gripped the Tampa Bay academic community cbsnews +1. The victims, both 27-year-old PhD candidates from Bangladesh, had been missing since April 16.

Authorities said 26-year-old Hisham (Saleh) Abugharbieh, who shared an off‑campus apartment with geography doctoral student Zamil Limon, was charged in the killings of Limon and fellow doctoral student Nahida S. Bristy after investigators linked him to Limon’s remains, found April 24 near the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay upi +1. Bristy, a chemical engineering student last seen on campus the same morning Limon disappeared, remained missing, though deputies told relatives they believed she was dead usatoday +1.

From Missing Persons to Double Murder Case

Limon was last seen around 9 a.m. on April 16 at the apartment he shared with Abugharbieh, while Bristy was seen about an hour later in a USF science building; a family friend reported both missing the next day when they could not be reached upi +1. Over the following week, deputies conducted searches and interviewed Abugharbieh at least twice before he stopped cooperating, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office wcax.

The case shifted dramatically on April 24 when Limon’s remains were discovered on or near the Howard Frankland Bridge, prompting lane closures and a large law enforcement response involving marine and dive teams nbcnews +1. Later that day, deputies responding to a domestic violence call at Abugharbieh’s family home in north Tampa encountered a barricade situation that required SWAT officers, drones and robots before he surrendered wrapped in a blue towel and was taken into custody on initial charges including tampering with evidence, unlawfully moving a dead body and failure to report a death cbsnews +2.

Suspect’s History and Families’ Demands for Justice

Sheriff’s officials said evidence presented to the State Attorney’s Office led to upgraded charges on April 25: two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon in the deaths of Limon and Bristy upi +1. Court records reviewed by local media showed Abugharbieh, a former USF management major who was not enrolled at the time of the killings, had prior 2023 arrests for battery and burglary, completed a diversion program in 2024, and was the subject of domestic-violence-related injunctions that described erratic behavior cbsnews +2.

The families of the victims in Bangladesh described devastation and called for accountability as they awaited formal identification results and news on whether Bristy’s body would be recovered usatoday +1. “This is a deeply disturbing case that has shaken our community,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said, while USF’s president urged students and staff to support one another and insisted there was no ongoing threat to campus safety upi +1. Abugharbieh was being held without bond ahead of a scheduled court hearing next week wusf.

The Bigger Picture

The case raised pointed questions about vetting and safety in off‑campus student housing, as well as how earlier encounters with the criminal justice system failed to prevent an escalation to alleged lethal violence cbsnews +1. As investigators continued to search for Bristy and build a prosecution they said required withholding key forensic details, USF and Bangladeshi institutions mourned the loss of two emerging scholars whose academic paths—from AI‑assisted wetland research to advanced chemical engineering—had been abruptly cut short nbcnews +1.