Human remains have been found in the hunt for missing University of South Florida doctoral student Nahida Bristy.
The 27-year-old is presumed dead after going missing on April 16. Since then, the remains of her friend Zamil Limon, 27, were found in multiple black trash bags on a Florida bridge, and his housemate, 26-year-old Hisham Abugharbieh, has been arrested after a standoff with SWAT.
Abugharbieh is now charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder with a weapon.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said that the latest set of remains was found near Interstate 275 and 4th Street North, on the west end of the Howard Frankland Bridge in St. Petersburg.
They add that they were now with the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office but had not yet been identified.
Court documents seen by CBS News say Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT several questions that could be relevant to the case, including about how to dispose of a body, whether you can change the license plate on a car, and keeping a gun without a license.
The documents say he allegedly asked the artificial intelligence program what would happen if a person was “put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster.”
The documents add that Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland Bridge “within numerous black utility trash bags in advanced stages of decomposition.”
They add that it is believed that chemical engineering student Bristy was “disposed of in a similar way.”
On April 17, Abugharbieh’s phone was traced to the part of the bridge where Limon’s remains were found.
Meanwhile, an autopsy found that he had died from “multiple sharp force injuries,” while Abugharbieh was found with numerous lacerations on his legs.
“Significant” traces of blood have also been found at the home, the documents add, including “two distinct patterns on the floor which appeared to have a relatively human-sized shape.”
The sheriff’s office had previously changed the status of both Limon and Bristy to “endangered.”
Abugharbieh was arrested on Friday while wearing only a towel.
He now faces a slew of charges, including failure to report a death, unlawfully moving a dead body, evidence tampering, domestic violence battery, and false imprisonment.
He returns to court on Tuesday.
