Nahida Bristy’s remains were found on Sunday, April 26 in a nearby county more than a week after she was reported missing from Tampa, Fla.
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Nahida S. Bristy.Credit : University of South Florida Police Department
Authorities in Florida have confirmed a set of remains found last week belong to Nahida Bristy, the doctoral student whose suspicious disappearance has now led police to a double-murder investigation.
Bristy, 27, was reported missing alongside 27-year-old Zamil Limon on April 17 from Tampa, Fla., where they were PhD students at the University of South Florida.
Limon’s roommate Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, has been charged with two counts of murder following his arrest on April 24, the same day Limon’s remains were found on a bridge.
At a press conference on Friday, May 1, the Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Bristy’s remains were found in nearby Pinellas County by two kayakers on Sunday, April 26.
The fishing line of one of the kayakers “snags on a bag,” prompting him to go deeper into the mangroves, where he smelled something indescribable, Chronister said.
When the kayaker got closer to the bag, he saw what looked like human remains and called police.
Given the advanced stage of decomposition of her body, police were unable to use her fingertips to identify her at the time, he said.
They’ve since used DNA to determine the remains belong to Bristy.
Police allege they found Bristy’s blood on the passenger seat of Abugharbieh’s vehicle.
Limon was found with his wrists and ankles bound, the sheriff’s office previously said, adding that he had been stabbed several times.
When contacted by PEOPLE, the coroner’s office said on Friday that they don’t have a cause of death for Bristy as it’s still under investigation.
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“First and foremost, I want all of you to know who Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy were,” Chronister said at Friday’s briefing.
“They were dedicated students and loyal friends; they were accountable and responsible, which is why they didn’t show up to meetings, stopped answering calls and missed appointments, their friends immediately knew something was very wrong,” he said.
The families of Bristy and Limon, both international students from Bangladesh, spoke out in a joint statement after Abugharbieh’s arrest, calling for the victims’ remains, belongings and financial assets to be returned to the families, and for an investigation into the housing facility where Limon and Abugharbieh had been assigned roommates.
A GoFundMe has been set up to assist Bristy and Limon’s families and for their remains to be returned to Bangladesh.
Abugharbieh has been charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and failure to report a death, among other charges, per the sheriff’s office.
Online court records don’t show any plea information. A public defender representing him declined to comment to PEOPLE earlier this week and was not reachable on Friday.
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