The body of a missing University of South Florida doctoral student was found and the man’s roommate was arrested Friday at their home after a domestic violence incident at the residence, law enforcement said.
Zamil Limon and Nahida S. Bristy, two doctoral students at the school, were reported missing, the school’s police department said in a statement Tuesday. The students, both 27 and from Bangladesh, were last seen about a week ago.
The body of Limon was found Friday morning on the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa, Florida, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference Friday. An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death.
Bristy remains missing. The investigation into her disappearance remains ongoing, Maurer said.
Limon’s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, is facing charges of domestic violence, simple battery, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death and unlawfully holding or moving a dead body, Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said.
The sheriff’s office received a domestic violence call Friday morning around 9 a.m. local time at the home of the suspect, Maurer said.
Maurer said that family at the home were able to leave and get to safety and deputies commanded the suspect to come out. The suspect refused and, after about 20 minutes, a SWAT team was called to the scene, he said.
The SWAT team commanded the suspect to come out of the residence, and the suspect then came out of the home peacefully and was taken into custody, he said.
Limon, a doctoral student who was pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen at 9 a.m. April 16, in his Tampa residence, police said. There had been no contact with him since, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office processed a missing person report for him.
Bristy was also last seen April 16, but at 10 a.m. in the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on the USF Tampa campus, according to police. She is studying chemical engineering. The USFPD processed her missing person report.
Last Friday, just before 5 p.m., a family friend reported that they were unable to contact both Limon and Bristy. That call triggered the missing person reports and prompted police to enter both Limon and Bristy into missing person databases.
Zahaid Hasan Pranto, 29, Bristy’s older brother, told NBC News the pair had a romantic relationship in the past but weren’t actively dating.
Family members also told NBC News it’s out of character for Limon and Bristy, who both have family in Bangladesh, to go off the grid and not keep regular contact with their loved ones. The students’ families said they would never go offline or willingly disappear.
