ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) 鈥� A body found in Tampa Bay has been identified as the second from Bangladesh, a sheriff said Friday. He described their killings as 鈥渁 monstrous crime.鈥�
Nahida Bristy鈥檚 remains were found Sunday in a garbage bag discovered by a kayaker whose fishing line got snagged, said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. The positive identification on the badly decomposed body was eventually made using DNA and dental records, he said.
The body of her friend, fellow USF doctoral student Zamil Limon, was in another garbage bag found two days before that on a bridge over the bay. Limon鈥檚 roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, 26, was taken into custody the same day has been jailed since then, facing two charges of first-degree murder.
Chronister said the suspect showed no emotion when investigators presented him with details of the killings.
鈥淗e was nonreactive,鈥� Chronister said. 鈥淗e was callous and showed no emotion when we showed him the information we had.鈥�
The two students were murdered around the same time and place, though more investigation is needed before detectives can decide that conclusively, the sheriff said.
A motive for the killings remains unknown, he said. 鈥淚 hope we find that out.鈥�
The students’ disappearances on April 16 started off as separate missing persons’ cases for the campus police and the sheriff鈥檚 office, involving two responsible individuals for whom missing appointments was very uncharacteristic. But investigators soon realized they were connected, the sheriff said.
Detectives first went to the apartment Limon shared with Abugharbieh and a third roommate. The other roommate was cooperative while Abugharbieh gave elusive and inconsistent answers, the sheriff said. He also had a bandaged finger and a cut on his arm that should have been stitched up. It was enough to make him a 鈥榩erson of interest,鈥� but not to merit an arrest.
They went to interview the roommate again, alone this time, and he told them Abugharbieh had used a large cart to move things out of his room to a trash compactor overnight on April 16 and 17.
The first break in the case came when investigators searched the trash compactor and found Limon鈥檚 glasses, his student ID card, his wallet and his blood-covered clothes. The discovery gave law enforcement enough evidence to get a search warrant for the apartment itself and the suspect’s electronic devices, Chronister said.
A search of the apartment showed large traces of blood in the kitchen, leading down the hall and to inside Abugharbieh鈥檚 room. A blood-detecting spray even revealed blood in the shape of a human body curled up in the fetal position, next to Abugharbieh鈥檚 bed, the sheriff said.
Traces of blood were also found on the floorboards of Abugharbieh鈥檚 car, Chronister said. Tests would later reveal it was Bristy鈥檚.
Investigators believe the bodies were moved to the car in a cart, under the cover of darkness, he said.
Using the GPS of the suspect’s car and surveillance video from a fire station, investigators determined that Abugharbieh drove over to Clearwater and across the Tampa Bay bridge, leading investigators to start an extensive search along his route.
Chronister said content on Abugharbieh鈥檚 phone had been erased, but a forensic examination revealed disturbing searches in the days before Bristy and Limon went missing. The searches included phrases like, 鈥淐an a knife penetrate a skull?鈥� and 鈥淐an a neighbor hear a gunshot?鈥�
The suspect had also purchased Lysol wipes and heavy duty contractor-grade trash bags and other equipment before April 16, he said.
鈥淭his was calculating. That鈥檚 what makes this so premeditated,鈥� Chronister said.
The sheriff said the victims’ relatives have been notified.
Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. Abugharbieh had dropped out of the university.
Reached by email earlier this week, Jennifer Spradley, an attorney in the public defender鈥檚 office in Tampa, said the office wouldn鈥檛 comment on Abugharbieh鈥檚 case.
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Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.
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