TAMPA, Fla. — A college dropout was ordered held without bond Tuesday for murder charges in the killings of two University of South Florida students, just days after a SWAT team descended on his parents' house to arrest him.
Hillsborough County Judge Logan Murphy also ordered 26-year-old Hisham Abugharbieh to have no contact with any witnesses or the victims' relatives during a brief hearing in a Tampa courtroom.
Abugharbieh faces two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon as well as other charges, according to state court records. Abugharbieh could get the death penalty if convicted, although prosecutors haven't yet indicated whether they would seek capital punishment.
Abugharbieh was not in the courtroom during Tuesday morning's hearing. Public defender Jennifer Spradley said Monday that her office would not comment.
Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27-year-old doctoral students from Bangladesh, were considering getting married, a relative said, before they disappeared April 16. Limon was last seen at the off-campus complex where he shared an apartment with Abugharbieh and another roommate.
Detectives used cellphone location and license plate reader data to track Abugharbieh's car and Limon's phone to the bridge where Limon's body was found Friday morning. Limon had numerous stab wounds and appeared to be bound, according to a report filed by prosecutors.
Deputies continued searching for Bristy. On Sunday, the sheriff’s office announced a body had been found in a waterway near the bridge. The body had not been identified, the sheriff’s office said.
When detectives questioned Abugharbieh and the other roommate several days after the couple went missing, investigators noticed Abugharbieh's pinky finger was bandaged, but he denied any involvement with Limon’s disappearance, according to the prosecution's pretrial detention report.
When an apartment manager gave them access to the apartment, and to Limon's locked bedroom, the third roommate told detectives Abugharbieh had used a cart overnight on April 16 to move cardboard boxes from his room to the trash compactor. That's where detectives found Limon’s wallet and campus ID badge, credit card, eyeglasses and clothes that appeared to have blood on them.
Returning with a search warrant, detectives found blood residue leading from the kitchen to Abugharbieh’s bedroom, and more blood that soaked his bedroom carpet. In Limon’s bedroom, they found Bristy’s campus ID and credit cards.
Days before they went missing, Abugharbieh had asked ChatGPT what would happen if a human body was put in a garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster, according to a report filed by prosecutors over the weekend. ChatGPT responded that Abugharbieh’s question sounded dangerous, according to the report.