Hillsborough County authorities have officially identified human remains recovered from the waterways of Tampa Bay as those of Nahida Bristy, a 27-year-old doctoral student at the University of South Florida who had been missing since Apr. 16.
The announcement was made on Friday, May 1, by Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister during a press conference. The identification was confirmed through a combination of DNA analysis, dental records, and the clothing Bristy was last seen wearing on surveillance footage from the USF Tampa campus.
Bristy's remains were discovered on Sunday, Apr. 26, by a kayaker whose fishing line became snagged on a garbage bag in the waterways near Interstate 275 and Fourth Street North in St. Petersburg, according to People.
Upon approaching the bag, the kayaker reported smelling a foul odor and noticing that it appeared to contain a human body. Because the remains were in an advanced state of decomposition, investigators relied on DNA and dental work, along with her clothing, to make a positive identification.
"We have located Nahida Bristy," Sheriff Chronister said at the press conference. "We have reached out to her family. Our focus now is to return both bodies to their families in Bangladesh for religious purposes."
Bristy, a chemical engineering doctoral student from Bangladesh, was last seen at approximately 10 a.m. on Apr. 16 at the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on the USF Tampa campus.
Her classmate and friend, Zamil Limon, also 27 and from Bangladesh, disappeared the same day. His remains were found on Apr. 24 in black plastic bags near the Howard Frankland Bridge.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, a former USF student and Limon's roommate, was arrested on Apr. 24 and charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon in connection with both deaths.
He faces additional charges, including tampering with evidence, unlawfully moving a dead body, false imprisonment, and failure to report a death. Abugharbieh is being held at the Hillsborough County Jail without bond, Global News reported.
Court documents allege that Abugharbieh purchased duct tape, trash bags, and other supplies in the days before the students disappeared, and that he queried ChatGPT on Apr. 13, three days before the victims were last seen, asking what would happen if a person were placed in a garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster.
Investigators also found significant traces of blood inside the apartment shared by Limon and Abugharbieh, including a luminol test that revealed the outline of a human body in a fetal position near Abugharbieh's bed.
The motive for the killings remains unknown. Sheriff Chronister said investigators are actively working to determine why the two students were killed. Both bodies are being returned to their families in Bangladesh, as per WUSF.
