A 26-year-old roommate of two missing University of South Florida doctoral students appeared in court on murder charges after one student's remains were found. Police continue searching for the second student. Authorities arrested the suspect following a domestic violence call near the Tampa campus.
Zamil Limon, 27, a doctoral student studying AI in environmental science, was found dead on the Howard Franklin Bridge in Tampa on Friday morning, according to Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Limon and Nahida Bristy, also 27 and studying chemical engineering, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16. The sheriff's office had elevated their status to endangered on Thursday after new information came to light, though details were not disclosed. Dive teams searched near the bridge late Friday for Bristy, but she remains missing. Limon's cause of death awaits autopsy results. Hisham Abugarbieh, 26, Limon's roommate and a U.S.-born citizen, was taken into custody Friday after deputies responded to a domestic violence call at a home in the Lake Forest Community near USF's Tampa campus. Abugarbieh had barricaded himself inside but surrendered peacefully, officials said. The entrances to the community were briefly closed during the operation. Abugarbieh faces two counts of first-degree murder, along with charges of battery, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death, and unlawfully moving a body. He made his first court appearance Saturday. Limon was scheduled to present his doctoral thesis this week, his family said. Bristy's older brother, Zahid Pranto, told CBS News that his sister usually contacted the family daily. 'There has been no single day without contact with her,' Pranto said. 'My family is just devastated.'
