Body found near the Florida bridge where body of 1 of 2 missing students was found days earlier

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A body has been found in a waterway near a bridge over Tampa Bay where the body of one of two missing Bangladeshi doctoral students was found days earlier, authorities in Florida announced.

The body was recovered from waterways in the area of Interstate 275, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Sunday night. The body had not been identified, the sheriff’s office said.

Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said later that day that they were still searching for Limon’s girlfriend, Nahida Bristy. Law enforcement dive teams were searching the bay near the bridge as part of those efforts, the sheriff’s office said.

Limon’s roommate, Hisham Abugharbieh, was charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Limon and Bristy, the sheriff’s office announced Saturday. The 26-year-old former University of South Florida student was ordered held without bond on Saturday. A hearing is set for Tuesday.

USF students Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon was last seen at his home in an off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbieh. Bristy, who lived off campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.

Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. She was a graduate of Noakhali Science and Technology University. The school, which spelled her last name as Brishti, said in a statement Saturday that she was a Ph.D. candidate and described her as a talented and promising student.

Abugharbieh, a native-born U.S. citizen, was initially taken into custody on Friday at his family’s home on preliminary charges that include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery. Online court records do not list an attorney for him. Messages were sent via email and phone to the public defender’s office in Hillsborough County.

Officers encountered Abugharbieh as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family’s home, just north of the campus, and were able to move his relatives to safety. But then he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. A SWAT team responded — along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators — before Abugharbieh came out with his hands up, apparently wearing nothing but a blue towel.

Abugharbieh had been a USF student but was not currently enrolled. University records showed he had attended the school from Spring 2021 through Spring 2023, and had pursued a BS in Management, a university spokesperson said.