The Florida police have confirmed that the body recovered from a local water body belongs to missing Bangladeshi student Nahida Sultana Brishti, following a double homicide that has sent shockwaves through the community.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office informed Brishti’s brother on Friday that the second body recovered during their investigation was officially identified as hers.
Meanwhile, the remains of the other victim, Jamil Ahmed Limon, are scheduled to be sent from Orlando International Airport on 2 May, arriving in Dhaka via Dubai on 4 May.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC and the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami have initiated the process of repatriating Brishti’s body to Bangladesh following a formal request from her family.
Both victims were students at the University of South Florida (USF). Brishti was pursuing a Master’s degree in the Department of Chemical Engineering.
She had previously completed her undergraduate studies with distinction at Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU) as a student of the 13th batch in the Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering department.
Limon had been missing since 16 April, when he was last seen at his home in Tampa. The investigation led to the arrest of Limon’s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugarbieh, a 26-year-old US citizen. Abugarbieh now faces two counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
According to court documents and reports from local media outlet Tampa Bay 28, the killings allegedly took place inside the suspect’s residence. Investigators claim the suspect used a sharp weapon to repeatedly strike Limon and Brishti.
Following the murders, Abugarbieh reportedly cleaned the crime scene using various supplies and placed Limon’s body in a large black plastic trash bag. The bag was subsequently dumped on the north side of the Howard Frankland Bridge, where investigators eventually located it after noticing a foul odour.
Court records further reveal that the suspect disposed of the victims’ personal belongings in a trash compactor. Forensic analysis confirmed the presence of blood samples from both Brishti and Limon at the scene.
Mobile phone location data placed the suspect at the site where Limon’s body was dumped and in close proximity to the victims’ phones.
Investigators also discovered that Abugarbieh had used his phone to purchase tools related to the crime online and had even consulted the AI tool ChatGPT regarding methods for disposing of the bodies.
