A former University of South Florida student was charged Saturday with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon in the deaths of two Bangladeshi doctoral students who vanished from the Tampa campus earlier this month, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, appeared in a Tampa courtroom via video and was ordered held without bond. A follow-up hearing is scheduled for April 28.
Abugharbieh was the roommate of Zamil Limon, 27, a geography and environmental science doctoral student who disappeared along with his girlfriend, chemical engineering Ph.D. candidate Nahida Bristy, 27, on April 16. Limon’s remains were recovered Friday morning from the Howard Frankland bridge, but Bristy has not been found and the search remains active.
The charges come after Abugharbieh was taken into custody Friday when officers responding to a domestic violence call at his family’s home, just north of campus, found him barricaded inside. A SWAT team, drone, robot, and crisis negotiators responded before he surrendered. He had previously been a USF student, enrolled from 2021 through 2023, but was not currently attending.
Anyone with information on Bristy’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. This is a developing story.
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