Ex-USF Student Charged in Murders of Two Doctoral Students

Hillsborough County prosecutors have charged Hisham Abugharbieh, a 26-year-old former University of South Florida student, with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of doctoral students Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy. The 27-year-old victims, both from Bangladesh, disappeared from the Tampa area on April 16, with Limon's remains recovered near the Howard Frankland Bridge on April 24 and additional human remains found in nearby waterways two days later.

According to a pretrial detention motion filed by prosecutors, Abugharbieh, Limon's roommate at an off-campus apartment, placed a DoorDash order for trash bags, cleaning wipes and air freshener from his phone around 10:30 p.m. on April 16. Phone location data and traffic camera footage placed Abugharbieh's white Hyundai Genesis G80 near Limon's device in Clearwater, about 32 miles away, that evening. A fellow roommate observed Abugharbieh using a rolling cart to move cardboard boxes to a dumpster later that night.

The students were reported missing the next day. Abugharbieh made two trips across the Howard Frankland Bridge between 1 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on April 17, according to phone and traffic data cited in...