The body of a second missing University of South Florida grad student has been identified after a fisherman snagged his line on the corpse in a Tampa waterway, police said Friday.
The remains of chemical engineering student Nahida Bristy, 27, were confirmed through DNA after the angler found them floating in a plastic bag near the Howard Frankland Bridge, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a press conference.
Bristy’s remains were discovered Sunday not far from the body of her 27-year-old boyfriend, Zamil Limon, which was found five days earlier in a black trash bag.
“We have located Nahida Bristy,” Chronister said. “We have contacted her family. We are now actively working to release both bodies for religious reasons back to the families who live in Bangladesh.
“We were able to confirm DNA, some dental work that she had done, and the clothing that she still had on from the video that we saw.”
Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, Limon’s roommate and a former USF student, has been charged with first-degree murder in the couple’s deaths.
A kayaker was fishing with a friend on Sunday when Chronister said he stumbled upon Bristy’s body.
“He has to go further into the mangroves. He smells something as he describes as undescribable,” the sheriff said.
“When he went and got closer to remove his fishing line, he sees that a plastic bag has been opened, there’s been salt water in there, he can’t tell what it is, but it looks like a human body. He does the right thing and contacts law enforcement.”
Limon appeared to be stabbed several times and was bound by his hands and ankles, Chronister said.
Both doctoral students hail from Bangladesh and were last seen alive on April 16.
