One of two missing University of South Florida doctoral students found dead and a roommate has been named a suspect

By Isabel Rosales, Jason Morris, CNN

(CNN) — One of two missing University of South Florida doctoral students was found dead Friday on a bridge connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

The student whose remains were found is Zamil Limon, Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27 from Bangladesh, were last seen last week near and at the University of South Florida campus, respectively, according to the university’s police.

One person, Hisham Abugharbieh, who was Limon’s roommate, is in custody, after law enforcement was called to his home for a reported domestic violence incident this morning, Maurer said.

Abugharbieh, a 26-year-old US citizen, faces charges of domestic violence through simple battery and false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death, and unlawfully moving a dead body, the sheriff’s chief deputy said.

The students had been missing since last week prompting friends in Florida and relatives in Bangladesh to look for answers.

Limon, who was pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen on April 16 around 9 a.m. at his off-campus home, about three blocks from the university’s campus, police said.

Bristy was last seen about an hour later at the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on campus, police said. She was studying chemical engineering.

The following day, a family friend notified the campus police as they were unable to contact the pair.

Detectives had been following leads and conducting searches in multiple locations when the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office elevated the pair’s status to “endangered” on Thursday, citing new “information that has come to light.”

In an email to CNN earlier on Friday, the agency refused to specify details in order “to protect the integrity of this investigation.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.