Remains of Nahida Bristy, Florida doctoral student, identified

May 1 (UPI) -- The remains of Nahida Bristy, one of two missing University of South Florida doctoral students, have been identified, police said Friday.

Bristy's remains were found in a Tampa Bay waterway Sunday night in Pinellas County, across the bay from Hillsborough County, where her friend Zamil Limon, 27, was found on April 24. Bristy was 27.

Limon and Bristy were both from Bangladesh and were working on their doctorates. Bristy was studying chemical engineering, and Limon studied geography and environmental science and policy.

Limon's roommate, Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, was charged last week with two counts of first-degree, premeditated murder with a weapon in the deaths of the two students. He is also charged with unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death with intent to conceal, tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment and battery in connection with Limon and Bristy's deaths.

"We have located Nahida Bristy. We have contacted her family. We are now actively working to release both bodies for religious reasons back to the families who live in Bangladesh," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a press conference.

"The details of this investigation are gruesome, and the actions of the suspect are nothing short of pure evil," Chronister said.

Bristy's remains were identified through DNA.

"We were able to confirm DNA, some dental work that she had done, and the clothing that she still had on from the video that we saw," Chronister said.

Two fishing kayakers found Bristy's body and called police. Chronister said a fisherman's line snagged a bag in the water.

"He has to go further into the mangroves," Chronister reported. "He smells something, as he describes, as undescribable, and when he went and got closer to remove his fishing line, he sees that a plastic bag has been opened, there's been salt water in there, he can't tell what it is, but it looks like a human body," the sheriff said. "He does the right thing and contacts law enforcement."

Limon's remains were found in a black trash bag on the side of the highway on the Howard Frankland Bridge a few days earlier. Chronister said he had been stabbed multiple times and his hands and feet were bound in the front. Bristy was also stabbed multiple times.

Authorities don't know a motive for the killings.

"We don't know yet," the sheriff said. "I hope we find that out."

According to a court filing, Abugharbieh gave Limon and Bristy a ride from Tampa to Clearwater, Fla., on April 16, which is the day they were last seen alive. At first, he denied having the two in his car, but he changed his story when shown data proving that Limon's phone had been in Clearwater, where his car had also been. Abugharbieh then told police he dropped off Limon and Bristy at Clearwater.

That night, Abugharbieh allegedly bought trash bags, Lysol wipes and Febreze, police said. He also threw out Bristy's pink cell phone cover, prosecutors alleged.

His location data showed that the next day he drove to the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa and stopped along the bridge, the court document said.

He is at the Falkenburg Road Jail, being held without bond, NBC News reported online jail records show.

Abugharbieh has a criminal record dating back to 2018, including charges of battery, burglary, trespassing and speeding. He was born in the United States and is a citizen.

Bristy's dream "was to come back to Bangladesh, work here, do something big and contribute to society," her brother Zahid Pranto told CNN Monday. "She was the perfect sister. She was the perfect daughter of her family."

Chronister talked of the tragedy of the case.

"People come here because everything is better here than in anywhere else in the world," CNN reported Chronister said. "And to have to make contact with the families and tell them that their their loved ones are missing, to call them back later again and tell them that we found them but they're deceased, and then describe some details that they wanted to know, how they were killed, because they were stabbed, as many times as they were -- it goes against every grain that Americans stand for."

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 11:49 AM.