The USF Double Student Homicide: The Case Of Zamil Limon & Nahida Bristy

[MUSIC] Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so very much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, make sure to click subscribe or follow if you are listening. And that way you'll never miss an episode from me. Now, today, you guys, we have a very, very disturbing, very recent, just absolutely absurd case that desperately needs more coverage. It has been breaking over the last couple of months. And I am really surprised not many people seem to be talking about it. But it certainly needs the exposure. And I first heard about this case when I was just scrolling social media one night. And this video popped up on my feet. And as you can see, it is quite shocking. Truly, what the fuck is going on here? Type of moment. And for my audio only listeners, we're currently looking at a video of a college-age student wearing only a blue towel around his waist and his hands are in the air as he's approaching a swat team. So obviously, this grabbed my attention. And in that moment, so many questions started running through my mind. Who is this person? Why is he only in a towel? What has he done? And I just had to know more. So I'm sure you are wondering how we got here. And once I started digging into this case and getting some of those answers, I knew this was a case I wanted to talk about that needed to be talked about. And like I said, I'm just so shocked that more people don't know about it. I'm going to be telling you guys about the horrific murders of two PhD students. Now, I hope I am getting the pronunciation of their names, right? I believe it's Shamil Limone and Nehita Bristy. But I've heard some sources refer to her last name as "Bristy," which is quite possible. Because the majority of the sources that I have seen cover the case are saying "Bristy," I'm going to go ahead and go with that for this episode. But like I said, it's very possible that I'm getting that wrong. So apologies if I am. Now, I first heard about their murders while I was on maternity leave. And I was just so disturbed by the details of this case. And the fact that they were two seemingly wonderful people, very, very smart. And what happened to them is just hard to even wrap your mind around. Obviously, I was taking time off during maternity leave to recover and take care of my baby. But I made a note that I wanted to cover this pretty soon after I came back. And now that we have even more access to information, it felt like the appropriate time. Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show. And also any of the mile hire media shows. Your support makes it possible for us to continue funding grants through my foundation "Hire Hope," which supports victims of violent crimes, their families, and like-minded nonprofits. And with that, let's get into today's case. Starting with the evening of Thursday, April 16th, 2026. That's when friends of Bangladeshi students, Jamil Limone, and Nahida Bristy first noticed that something wasn't right. Neither of them were answering their phones. And both of them had missed out on plans that were previously made. Now, for Nahida, she didn't show up for plans with a friend. Which she did confirm she would have shown up for when they spoke on the phone at 2.14 pm that day. Now, as for Jamil, he was also unreachable by friends and fellow students. And then later a professor, who he had planned to meet up with before finalizing his thesis. Both of them were international students at the University of South Florida in Tampa. And had only been in the United States for a short period of time. Jamil first came to the States in 2024 and Nahida in 2025. And it was on campus where the two of them met. Now, he was getting his PhD in geography and environmental science and policy. And she was getting her PhD in chemical engineering. So obviously two very smart people, two people who had a major passion for education. And that's why they came to the United States in the first place. Their families had mentioned they wanted, you know, a better future for themselves. And for one reason or another, they both ended up in Tampa. Where their paths, you know, eventually crossed. Now, as far as the status of their relationship goes, that is a bit of a foggy zone. I'm not totally sure, but each of their brothers seemed to have a different perspective or understanding of where their relationship was at currently. One of them has said that they were currently dating. And then the other has said that they dated more previously in the past. But the bottom line is, at one point in time, potentially at the time of their murders, the two of them were romantically involved. At the very least, they seemed to have strong feelings for each other. And they had discussed a future together. But on April 16th, that future was taken away from them in such a brutal way. And for absolutely no reason. And as I said, their disappearances were noticed right away. I mean, that's how many people in their life. They were seeing on a daily basis how many people they impacted and how many people cared about them. The flags were raised immediately. So around 4.40 pm on April 17th, the University of South Florida police were notified by a mutual friend at Nahida was missing. And based on what this friend knew of her, the circumstances just were not in her nature. She has been described as a very reliable friend and student. And so for her to have suddenly gone dark, especially in the middle of a school week, was absolutely not normal. She wasn't someone who would just randomly bail out or miss out on plans. She definitely was someone who wouldn't have turned her phone off. So this behavior was just bizarre because any time that anyone tried to call her, it would just go right to voicemail, very, very unusual. And actually, Jamil had been described very similarly. So much so that this friend, whose name is Omar, mentioned Jamil's name as well. And he told the USF PD that he couldn't reach Jamil either. And that his phone also appeared to be off. And Omar even went as far as going to Jamil's apartment to try and find him, but that only made him more worried after he noticed that Jamil's scooter was there, but his door was locked. Now, interestingly, in the early reporting sources, said that both students were reported missing at the same time, which would make sense since we know Omar mentioned both of their names. However, we now know that Jamil's disappearance wasn't officially reported until the next day on the 18th to the Hillsboro County Sheriff's Office. Now, thankfully, the two departments communicated very quickly and the investigation into their disappearance is kicked off right away. He's to come with a strong warning. The details of this investigation are gruesome. And the actions of the suspect are nothing short of pure evil. But first and foremost, I want all of you to know who's a meal, a moan, and Nishita Bristy were. They were dedicated students and loyal friends. They were accountable and responsible, which is why when they didn't show up to meetings, stop answering calls and misdeployments. Their friends immediately knew something was very wrong. On April 17th, the University of South Florida police department was notified that she or our first victim had been reported missing. This was very unusual, like I'd mentioned. She was responsible. She never missed her thesis appointments. She never missed work. She was responsive. So the University of South Florida department, who I have to thank for being an absolutely and an incredible partner, Chief Daniels, the University of South Florida. President, thank you. Thank you for your help in this case. They immediately started looking back and seeing to create a timeline of when she, when she was last seen. The next day on April 18th, we get a phone call from a concerned friend of Zameel saying, "Hey, he also is very responsible, dedicated, responsive, didn't answer his calls, didn't show up to his appointments, something's wrong." Working so closely like we do with the University of South Florida police department, we immediately notice when our missing's persons detectives and the detective that they have working at the university, realize that hey, these cases are connected. We should work them together. That's when this collaborative effort started. Right off the bat, investigators took steps to try and locate these two missing 27-year-olds. And just as you heard, USFPD reviewed some footage from campus, which captured the last time that Nahida left her office. And she was last seen leaving the natural environmental sciences building at 12.08 pm. She was wearing a light pink long sleeve shirt, long black pants, and sneakers with white bottoms, and she was also carrying an umbrella to block the sun. Then the next day, when they physically went to her office, they discovered some very important information, okay? While they were there, they found several of her personal belongings, including her lunchbox, her Macbook, an iPad, and a larger personal bag. And through gaining access to her iPad, they uncovered her final communications of that day. As I said, Nahida had plans with a friend on the same day. 16th, and they spoke on the phone at 11.30, as well as 2.14pm, so twice that day. She had asked this friend to bring her eye glasses, and according to Nehita's brother, the two of them had very casual plans to go grocery shopping together, and he knew about that because she had spoke to her parents that day, which she did, like, every day. And that conversation was said to be totally normal, nothing seemed off to them at all. Nehita also got in contact with Jamil on the 16th via Facebook Messenger, and they shared one audio call at 12.41pm, followed by a message at 2.39, although it wasn't another language and has yet to be confirmed. And then they spoke again in two more audio calls at 2.42pm, and then after that, nobody had contact with Nehita again. Now when it came to tracking down Jamil's final timeline, and, you know, general whereabouts, investigators first stopped for collecting information was his apartment. So Jamil and two other roommates lived at Avalon Heights apartment complex, which at the time of his disappearance was listed as off-campus housing for USF students, and it's one of the closest apartments to campus, and according to Jamil's brother, he intentionally wanted to live there because of its proximity to the school, you know, it made things more convenient. But anyways, building management led the police into the unit, and through his locked bedroom door, but keep in mind that going into this, they weren't necessarily looking for a crime scene. They were just looking for information on where he could have been. But in doing so, they collected his toothbrush, a Dell laptop, and a charger, Samsung and iPhone boxes, a receipt, sticky notes, a presenter badge, as well as his Bangladesh passport, and a pair of black-round stud earrings. And as for his last contact with anyone, investigators knew that he and he to spoke on the 16th just before 3pm on Facebook, and a friend additionally reported that they talked on the phone around 3pm as well on that same day. And that appears to be the last time that he spoke with anyone. Now his last physical sighting was reported as 9am on the 16th at his apartment, though it's unclear who made that sighting at this time, I assume it's probably his roommate not totally sure on that, but when investigators spoke with both of them on the 18th, his first roommate said that he saw Jamel on the 15th while he was cooking rice. And his second roommate, as you'll hear, is not a reliable witness. And it was through investigators' conversations with both of them that first made them believe that something more was wrong. Now that first roommate I mentioned has stayed out of the media, so I'm not going to be sharing his name for privacy reasons, and honestly, nothing about him gave the police any cause for concern, it's really not relevant to mention his name. His other roommate though, oh my god, his full name is his shaman Abu Garbi. And oh my god, you guys, this guy right off the bat raised several red flags over the course of that day and the days to follow. When he was spoken to alongside that other roommate, he reiterated that he had no idea where Jamel and Nahida were. And one investigators noticed right off the bat when speaking to him is that he appeared to have a wrapped up cut on his left pinky finger, which he said he got from cutting onions. But when he was brought into the station for a follow-up interview, he was asked about what specifically he was cooking, like, what are these onions for? But he couldn't remember. He also reportedly just started word-vomming some very specific things that only someone connected to the disappearances would have known. For example, he shan started saying that he had never been to clear water, Florida. And that neither Nahida or Jamel had ever been in his car. And the reason I bring that up and mind you, according to the reporting, these were things that he just randomly offered up. He brought up completely unprompted for no reason. But what he clearly didn't know was that investigators had already started tracing all of their cell phone data, and by the time that they were conducting follow-up interviews with him, they were already aware of the fact that he shan had been to clear water, and that Jamel was with him when he went. And I'll get more into the data tracking specifics here in a bit, but they basically knew that he shan definitely went there as did Jamel's phone on the night they disappeared. And here's the kicker. Once they tell this dummy that they have this data, because of course they do, he totally changed his story. He said that he had went to clear water to look for fishing spots, and had used his phone to map himself there. But when they asked if they could see those searches, he said he deleted his location history. Now, as for why Jamel was there, he shan claimed that he had asked him to drop him and Nahida off there. But he said they didn't give a reason as to why. So he alleges that he took them to clear water but hasn't seen or heard from them since. Now obviously right off the bat, common sense is going to tell you that that is just a total load of bullshit. And this guy is unbelievably stupid. I mean, a real class A idiot. Does class A work for him? I don't know. You know what I'm trying to say, like top tier idiot, S tier idiot. He is just such a moron and you will see as we continue to go through this case. But on top of that, investigators had also gotten a warrant and were allowed to take photos of he shan. And while doing so, they noticed additional vacirations on his upper left tricep. And it was covered up by a bandaid. But when it was removed, it looked like this wound was still relatively fresh. And he also had cuts on both of his legs. So yeah, very quickly things were not looking good for him. Meanwhile, as multiple conversations were being had with he shan over these first few days, other conversations were happening as well. And their other roommate definitely had some important things to share, including the fact that on the night of April 16th and April 17th, he remembered seeing he shan use a cart to move cardboard boxes from their unit to the apartment complexes dumpster. When he was asked about this though, he shan said that he was just getting rid of old clothes. The roommate also said that a few things from their apartment were missing, like a black door mat, some pots and pans, as well as a towel from the counter. And speaking of trash, investigators returned to Avalon Heights apartments on the 20th. And they looked through the trash bin in front of their apartment. And they made some very interesting discoveries. They found a CBS receipt dated April 16th for items such as heavy duty trash bags, lice all wipes, febris, funnions, and Irish spring body wash. And they also found pieces of silver duct tape that had tested presumptive positive for blood. Their other roommate was actually asked about these items and he said that he shan ordered them to be delivered by door dash, but not surprisingly, when he shan was asked about it, he denied even having purchased them. So if you didn't quite catch that, this fucking idiot door dashed items to help him cover up his crime. So then investigators ended up also speaking with his mom, and they talked to her in April 22nd. And she said that the last time she saw him on April 18th, she didn't remember seeing any cuts or anything on him, however, she did paint a picture of her son as someone who deeply struggled with his mental health. She said that he had anger issues and had been violent with his family members in the past. And so concern about his involvement then grew even stronger, because when investigators went back to search the apartment again, oh boy, they found even more evidence. They ended up finding size 6 women's shoes, which appeared to match the shoes that Nehita was seeing wearing on that surveillance footage that day that she went missing. They also found her black umbrella, which we know she had that day too. This is a small, bunny clutch was found, and it contained her USF ID and her credit cards in Jamil's locked bedroom. So yeah, things are looking bad for Hisham and the evidence is stacking higher and higher and higher and it didn't stop. During one of Hisham's interviews, he agreed to let investigators look inside his car, and they could tell it had been recently cleaned, and he had also tried to wipe the car's electronic location data. However, like I said before, investigators did manage to obtain location data for Hisham and Jamil via their cell phones, so that really didn't matter. So a warrant for that data was signed on April 23rd, and that ended up being a really big day for this case. For starters, that day Hisham had his third interview. It was actually the one that I mentioned a minute ago where he brought up clear water and then changed his story about seeing Jamil and Nehita, but that day was also big because their case was upgraded from missing to missing and endangered. And that was largely prompted by the fact that investigators made such gruesome discoveries while searching their apartment that morning again. After learning Hisham was throwing things out in the apartment's dumpster, investigators got in contact with the building to ask if they had been emptied. And luckily, they had not, so that morning, 7am on the 23rd, they returned with a warrant to search it as well as a warrant to search more thoroughly through the apartment as well. And that search of the dumpster you guys revealed several very disturbing items, including a bloody black cushioned floor mat, cooking pots and pans, a black wallet, which was in the same bag as a USF ID badge for Jamil, a Chase Star Wars themed visa card, a built master card, a gray shirt with holes and cuts on it that tested presumptive positive for blood, a light pink iPhone case, which is believed to have belonged to Nihita, a pair of gray shorts which tested presumptive positive for blood, three pairs of socks, all that tested presumptive positive for blood, tan slides, which the right one tested presumptive positive for blood, and glasses that were consistent with the glasses that Jamil wore. And then the blood on these items were tested against DNA taken from Jamil and Nihita's toothbrushes. And then, when they used blue star testing in the apartment, which if you're not familiar with it, basically that is a method of finding blood that has been attempted to have been cleaned up, and that's when it became clear that a crime had definitely been committed there. They saw areas of apparent blood in the entry foyer through the kitchen, and then in the hallway leading to Hisham's bedroom. Then there was also blood like staining on the carpet of his bedroom, and god you guys this is really upsetting, but there were quote two distinct patterns on the floor which appeared to have a relatively human sized shape. And all of this was consistent with him having dragged their bodies through the apartment, and it gets even worse. Under the bed, they found three rolls of heavy duty black trash bags similar to the ones that were found in the dumpster, and they also found duct tape in his bathroom, which as we know was also found in the trash. Our detectives believe that the first stop should be back at our second victim's residence. So we go to Zameel's residence where he lives with two roommates. One roommate continues to be elusive. The stories are inconsistent. Almost at a point where he will talk about anything, loves to talk about himself, and this continues and carries throughout the entire investigation, except when we want to talk about either one of our two victims. Then he immediately starts becoming elusive and and deceptive. The other roommate, we learn very quickly that he wasn't involved, begins to become extremely cooperative. And at that point, he, at the initial stages, when this is still a missing's persons case, notifies us that something's wrong. The door, by the doors missing. There's some pots and pans missing. So our detectives as hard charging as they are, their first stop is the dumpster. They learn that the trash compactor in the complex hasn't been emptied yet in these couple days. This is where we get the first break in our case. We go out there dumpster diving. These detectives getting inside of the dumpster and empty the entire contents, and they find the zameel's glasses, his student ID, his wallet, and his clothes, which are extremely bloodied at the time. Again, this is where we get our first break. This is where, during this timeline, this missing persons becomes a missing's person in danger's case. So we have enough evidence to get a search warrant. We go back to the residents, and we serve the search warrant. And the search warrant for the residents, for the roommates, both roommates, phones, for their person, and for their cars. They go into the residents, and we have some amazing technology, one of it being blue star, that identifies the presence of blood. And when they deploy blue star, they can see in the kitchen area, there's a large pool of blood. They see that the blood continues down the hallway and into our suspects bedroom. The technology is so precise and finite that we can see the outline of a human being on the floor next to our suspects bed, where it was curled up in a fetal position. Then after searching his car, and again using blue star testing there, they found a large amount of blood on the passenger floor board, blood which was later confirmed to be a match to Nishita. At that point, we turn to the car in the trunk very little blood. On the floor board of the passenger side of his vehicle, again deploying blue star technology, we see a large amount of blood there. We later find out that that's Nishita's blood that comes back, that comes back to her. And the incriminating findings definitely didn't stop there, and like I've said a few times, the investigators retrieved the data from Hishams and Jamil's phones. Well, that data painted a very clear picture about what happened before, during, and after Jamil and Nishita went missing. On Jamil's phone, they could see that on April 16th, it panged in the area of his school and residents between 4.44 and 5.57 pm. And then after that, around 7.43 pm, it began moving in the direction of clear water. And at 8.25, his phone panged in clear water at 2.40 sand key estates drive. It then panged one final time at 12.11 am in the same location, but there was no activity after that. As for Hishams phone, the earliest time and location stamp I could find on court records showed that at 9.41 pm on the 16th, he was at the Avalon Heights apartment complex. Then at 102 am, now on the 17th, his phone connected to his car's Bluetooth, and then five minutes later, it left the apartment complex traveling west on Fletcher Avenue. Now this next one is super important. At 127 am, his phone panged on the Howard Franklin Bridge, and then it stopped moving. His flashlight turned on at 134 am, which I'm sure some of you didn't know that your phone does keep track of when your flashlight is turned on. But then between 135 and 146, he continued traveling west on the bridge, made a U-turn and then proceeded back over the bridge headed east. And then next between 209 and 2.12 am, the data showed that he was back at Avalon Heights, where his activity tracker recorded that he took 289 steps. Then between 321 and 325, his phone connected back to his car, and it showed that he had gone in the direction of the apartment complex's dumpster. And then finally, his phone traveled back towards the Howard Franklin Bridge, stopping there again between 410 and 413 am. And then you guys, his phone data proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a complete idiot to the end degree, and S tier moron. I mean, if you didn't already think that, based off everything else we have gone through, it gets even worse. This guy is truly a dumb mother fucker because it turns out he was using chat GPT before, during, and after the disappearances, almost like his accomplice trying to make chat GPT his accomplice. I think I just said chat GPT. Does anyone else get that wrong? I say that wrong all the time. But anyway, I just have to read you what he wrote. It is so stupid. I mean, oh my god. I don't even have words for this man. He must have truly thought that authorities wouldn't be able to look at his history with chat GPT. I mean, come on. So let's go through it. Oh my god. Just buckle up. Take a deep breath because stupidity is going to like eat you alive for a second. On April 13th at 916, he asked what happens if a human has a put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster. And yes, I know that makes barely any sense, but that is what he typed. And I'm sure you understand what he was trying to get answered. So then chat responded to him saying that it sounded dangerous to which he followed up by asking, how would they find out? Two days later, between 1004 and 1014, he asked, "Can a Vin number on a car be changed? Can you keep a gun at home without a license?" So can I keep one at home legally if I don't have a license? And then at 1226 am on April 17th, just before his phone tracked him traveling to and from that bridge, he wrote, "Or cars checked at the Hillsboro River State Park." On April 19th at 526, he asked, "Will my neighbors hear my gun?" My god. At 528 am, he wrote, "Will Apple know who is the iPhone user after the previous user?" At 657 am, his message reads, "Has there been someone who survived a sniper bullet to the head?" Can't make this shit up. Then at 1020 pm, big dummy asks, "Is there a water temperature that burns immediately?" And lastly, on April 23rd at 630 am, he wrote, "Into chat GPT. What does missing endangered adult mean?" And mind you, April 23rd was when their disappearances had been reclassified, so he's obviously trying to figure out what exactly that means. I literally don't have words for for the level of. stupid that this loser is. It's just, it's beyond. And of course, we love stupid on this show. We love stupid in this world because stupid gets caught. But wow, next level this guy. I mean, truly, he should have just tattooed "I'm guilty" across his stupid greasy forehead. But yeah, the fuckery doesn't end there, you guys. His phone data also revealed the purchases that he made on DoorDash. So at this point, they were able to confirm that he didn't make the purchases beyond just the receipts. So yeah, he DoorDash'd his supplies. On the night of April 16, 1024 PM, he placed a DoorDash order from CVS for those trash bags, lice all wipes, the breeze, funnions, and Irish Spring Body Wash. What kind of sicko can stomach-eating funnions? In my opinion, just anytime. I know a lot of people love funnions, so no hate. But like, what makes you feel hungry for funnions after committing such a heinous crime while you are cleaning a crime scene? Like, to just throw that in there is. baffling, baffling. Then on April 21, he DoorDash some Neo Sporn at 1039 PM. And of course, his Amazon data was recovered too. I mean, this guy truly thought they weren't going to see any of this, uh, just amazing. But he made three purchases leading up to the disappearances as well. This included an order of duct tape on April 7, fire starter, coal, trash bags, and lighter fluid on the 11th. And get this, guys, this is a fun one. He also ordered a fake beard the day before they disappeared on the 15th. We then examined his phone. Entire history had been wiped clean. No text messages, no emails, no GPS data, his search history totally cleared. So it takes us a little bit of time at that point because we have to do a forensic deep dive onto the phone. And what we found by doing a forensic deep dive is where we found a lot of disturbing searches. He searches for, can a knife penetrate a skull? Can a neighbor hear a gunshot? Can you properly, can you not properly, can you bury a body in a trash bag and throw it in a dumpster? Why is conducting these searches? We also see and discover that he's making purchases. Purchases for large heavy duty black contractor bags. Lysol wipes, duct tape, lighter fluid, a lighter as he's ordering some of the items from Amazon. Some of them come from door dash. I want everyone in the room to think about this. These searches were conducted days before our two victims went missing. This was calculated. This is what makes this so premeditated. Now all of this obviously was and is absolutely huge for investigators and really, really bad for Hisham. Not only because this evidence largely points to the guilty party here, right? But also because the data informed them on where to narrow down their search efforts because they still need to find their bodies. So the first large scale search effort began on April 22nd at San Key Park in Clearwater. And those efforts continued through the 23rd and into the 24th as well. However, once the Hillsboro County Sheriff's Office had the knowledge that Hisham's phone had pinged on the Howard Franklin Bridge, which side note they also confirmed that by his car's geolocation data. They went ahead and focused their search there. And that was ultimately when Jamil's body was discovered. This is just so disturbing, but around 6am that morning officers responding to the bridge came across a black heavy duty trash bag similar to the one that they knew Hisham had purchased. And as they approached it, you know, the unmistakable horrific smell that we hear about all the time, the smell of decomposition hit them. And this bag was then transported to Pinellas County Medical Examiner's office where the positive identification was made. And in the autopsy, it was revealed that he had sustained several lacerations and stab wounds, including two on the right lower abdomen, one to the left of his belly button, and then another to his lower back, just absolutely brutal. And not only that, his wrists and ankles had also been bound, and he was not wearing clothes. The manner of his death was undeniably ruled a homicide, and the cause of death was listed as multiple sharp force injuries from a belated instrument. While we're conducting this forensic deep dive on his phone to see where he had been days prior, we're able to determine that he had traveled over to Clearwater, the Sankieria. We confirm that by looking at a video surveillance from a nearby fire station that shows him get out of the car, and he's around the Sankieria over in Clearwater. He spends a short amount of time there. Then as we're examining the Longitude Latitude coordinates, we see he goes on the Howard Franklin Bridge and he stops there for a short amount of time. So at this point, we make the decision to launch a surge full of manpower to go out and start an extensive search. Knowing that he spent an amount of time there, we should find and locate our victims there because we believe, again, he's not a suspect. He's a person of interest. We let him go. Yes, he's under 24 hours of valence, but we're conducting this exhaustive search now at this point. Our marine unit, our divers, who continued nonstop, our investigators, our professional staff that were out there helping, anyway, they could, our aviation team, our drone team, again, nonstop. As some of our detectives are examining the latitude and longitude of some of where he had been, they're traveling northbound on the Howard Franklin Bridge, on the panelist side of the bridge, and they see a large black trash bag sitting on the shoulder of the road, all by itself. They stop. They walk up and as they're approaching it, they immediately smell that unique smell of of of human remains when it's when it's in that decomposition phase. They go up, they physically feel the outside of it and realize that their human remains there. They stop what they're doing, knowing that this could be evidence. We're in Pinellas County at this point and they contact the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office who immediately responds along with the Pinellas County Medical Examiner Office, Examiner's Office who takes custody of this bag and goes back. We learn during this that it is our victim, Zameel. We're able to determine that because he's in the early stages of decomposition. So we knew it was him through fingerprints that were attained through the Department of Homeland Security when he had entered the country. When I talk about gruesome, he had been stabbed several times, which ultimately was the cause of his death. He was bound in front at his hands and at his ankles. His legs up towards his buttocks area was almost completely severed, so he could be bent together and place, make it easier to place in a trash bag. He was left on the side of the road as gruesome as this murder was. He was literally left on the side of the highway like a piece of trash. It is just devastating thinking about what Zameel went through in the final moments of his life. It's just getting that news for his family must have just been. I mean, there are no words in how you begin to understand how your loved one could possibly experience that in their final moments of life. It is just it's sick. But for as big and painful as this discovery was, it was only half the picture, of course, because at no point on the 24th were they able to locate Nahida. That being said, though, following Miss Discovery, Hisham was arrested. Although, it's probably not what you think. At 9.09am on April 24th, Walla Jamil's remains were actively being sent to the lab. Hisham's brother, a mod, called 911 to report a domestic violence incident at their mom's house. Now, his family lived not too far from campus and earlier that morning, Hisham showed up there, reportedly acting super radically and honestly just fucking creepy. I guess he had taken a shower and was playing video games in just a towel. And at some point, his sister was walking down a hallway when he approached her. And according to the court documents, he came up to her asking for a hug. And after she gave him sort of a side hug, he grabbed her and held her against her will in a front hug. And then this freak attempted to kiss her on the lips and asked her to kiss him. Thankfully, she was able to push him away and then go and hide in a bedroom. But can you just imagine how traumatizing and scary that must have been for her? This is her brother. She knows that he has this history of being violent. I mean, Hisham seems to freak everyone in his life out. out. So yeah, shortly after that, their other brother calls 911. And right away, the police realized that the caller was talking about the same guy they were looking into in connection to the murders. But when they got to the house and tried to get him to walk out peacefully, his ass wouldn't leave. So at 10.36am, SWAT shows up. And finally, at 11.38am, they were able to get him to surrender and come outside. Now, for my video viewers, you'll see this in the clip that I'm playing now. And if you're listening, I highly suggest looking this clip up because it is absolutely wild. But in the clip, you can see he shone exiting the house, wearing just a blue towel wrapped around his waist. And he approached SWAT with his hands above his head, just looking like a complete pathetic lunatic. As we're out there, and this is occurring, and remember this investigation's large is expansive, and it's very fluid and very dynamic. As this is occurring, we get a phone call from our suspects family. He had been acting erratic. He got out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around him. He approached, approaches his sister and begins to almost like a humping faction of fashion, trying to grind on his sister. And at one point, tries to kiss his sister. His sister has difficulty trying to push him away. And she is not able to freely leave that confrontation because he's able to overpower her. He batters the family at the same time. So we try to make contact with him. We know he's inside the residence. The family tells us and we have him under constant surveillance. We know he's there. He refuses to answer the phone. He refuses to come out. We make the decision based on the violent nature that we know this, this individual's capable of. At the same time, we learn that a few days prior, he had purchased a firearm from a pawn shop. Now later on, we determined that he never picked up that firearm, but we didn't know that. We didn't have that information at the time. Again, very dynamic, very fluid. So we activate our SWAT team and negotiators to try to bring this to a peaceful resolution. After several hours of trying to make a contact, we're at the point where we made a determination, we're going to go in and physically remove from the house, place him under arrest. Right about that point, as you guys have seen the video and are watching the video now, he surrenders peacefully and he's placed under arrest without incident. At that time, we begin deferred, conferred with the state attorney who has been there since moment one, walking through this and we're able to charge him with a bunch of charges that at that point later on charge him ultimately with the two preditated, premeditated murders of our two victims. Then the following day, April 25th, he appeared in court for the first time, and his charges were upgraded to two counts of premeditated murder, as well as unlawful holding or moving a human body in unapproved conditions, failure to report death to medical examiner or law enforcement, tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment, and battery. And yes, even though Nahida had not been found yet, they thankfully were still able to charge him with two counts of murder, given the total evidence that had been found thus far, they were obviously very confident that she was met with the same horrific fate as Jamil. In the blood on the kitchen floor mat that was found came back as a match to her DNA, which they compared to the DNA that they had gotten from her toothbrush. And as I mentioned, they had matched her DNA to the blood found on the passenger side floor board of Shamp's car. And of course, Jamil's blood was also a match to much of the blood evidence that they found. And listen, from everything that they found, everything that we have gone over today, they definitely have a super solid case against Hisham, even without Nahida's body. But of course, they were not going to stop looking for her. So the searches continued on the 25th and into the 26th, focused largely in the water surrounding the Franklin towered bridge. And on the 26th, a critical phone call came in. Two kayakers were out in clear water when one of their fishing lines got snagged on something. And in order to remove the hook from whatever it had gotten caught on, the kayaker had to paddle into this main grove area. And in doing so, he smelled something that he literally described as indescribable. And then this poor guy, I can't imagine coming across something like this, he kept going towards his fishing line. And then when he gets to the end of it, he sees a partially opened plastic bag with what appeared to have a human body inside. So of course, he calls police right away in the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office immediately took custody of the bag. The thing is though, unlike Jamil's remains, these remains were significantly more decomposed, making it a lot harder for them to positively identify who they belong to. And I think everyone was fairly certain this was Nihita, but it wasn't until five days later that they were finally able to confirm her identity. We need still needs to locate her. So we're still conducting conducting that search. We get a phone call two days later that two recreational kayakers are out again on the Pinellas County side. And while this is occurring, the deputies in the marine unit are doing a great job trying to determine the tide. And when they're occurring and what the tide patterns are to see, hey, how far of a search pattern do we need? The divers are still in the water. As you guys were out there covering, it was a long several days as we were trying to locate our two victims, especially now knowing that we have one victim. The other one should still be in the nearby area. As one of our kayakers is fishing, his fishing line snags on a bag. He has to go further into the mangroves. He smells something as he describes as undescribable. And when we when he went and got closer to remove his fishing line, he sees that a plastic bag has been open. There's been saltwater in there. He can't tell what it is, but it looks like he human bodies. So he does the right thing in contacts law enforcement. We immediately regalocate over there contact to Pinellas County Sheriff's Office of the Marine unit that's already out there with us. The Pinellas County medical examiner, Pinellas County forensic science department who came out and took custody. Unfortunately, because of the conditions that her body was left in, it was more in those advanced stages of decomposition, decomposition. And we weren't able to just do a fingerprint. So that's what took longer. Today, I'm able to constantly stand in front of you and tell all of you that we have located Nasida, Bristol. We have contacted her family. On May 1st, the Hillsborough County Sheriff gave a press conference and actually the clips that I have been playing throughout this episode are from that. And this is really when the public was first made aware of the deaths that I'm sharing with you today. Now, the whole day, as you can imagine, was somber for everyone because not only were people now hearing the tragedy of what these two experienced, but a vigil took place to honor their lives. We're not alone as we grieve the loss of Jamil. Some new Jamil Le Mans. Jamil was very special. He was extremely bright. He possessed a deep and very insightful intellect. Others knew Nahida Brishti. Her fellow graduate students look forward to seeing her and talking to her. They told us about her love for music and singing. The umbrella she always had on hand to shield herself from the Florida sun. Her willingness to help other newly arrived graduate students on how to navigate procedures at USF and in the US that she herself had to figure out. Many didn't know either. As a graduate assistant myself, I see myself in them and being able to come here in community rings us all together. Fellow students from Bangladesh, perhaps knew them best. We shared our food together. We stayed most of our time together. We have joy together. We have loved together. Two close friends now remembered as one. To the families of Nahida and Jamil, near or far, this entire community is standing with you today. Then one by one, each friend or stranger with a flower, processing toward their pictures, leaving them on the ground as a symbol, as a cry, a meditation, a promise or prayer. I hope we'll have a good world where we all can stay safely. Showing the rest of the world how one campus, one student body, and one community can come together. Jamil's brother remembers speaking with him on Monday the 13th and since he was busy finalizing his thesis, they didn't call him for a few dates. You know, they were giving him space to focus on that. And without knowing it, that was their last conversation. And Nahida's brother recalls her last conversation with family too. So, the last time my parents contacted me with her, it was on Thursday, but they didn't They went missing, and it was 10 p.m., but it's time so it should be 12, 10 p.m. So my, it was just a usual conversation, my bias had a punishment with her, and she was at her office or landed at the time, and after that, as it was already late at night and after that my mother contacted her the next day, I'm morning, but she could not feature out. So after the Friday, we could not feature out, and on Saturday, I was trying to reach out myself, and then on Saturday evening after evening, her, it's sadness, the silly contact me, and me and my wife. So they took me, and they just told me that they are busy right now, and they have filed a police case, and the police is currently investigating the whole scenario. And then right after that, I called her a flight mate, the family, and I just came to the whole scenario. Like, my parents has been calling her to the last, every single day, every single day, the morning and the late at night. So twice a day, at least she would have contacted once a day, that's the least. So there has been no single day without contact with her, no single day. Now early on, there were rumors, I think sort of wishful thinking that the two of them had run off to get married, but both of their brothers have said that they genuinely didn't believe that was true. Both of them were just too focused on their education and had a lot going on at the time, and it just really wasn't in either of their characters. They were also sending money back to each of their families in Bangladesh. So that was another reason they knew that something bad had happened. Plus, according to their brothers, they had already purchased flights back home in July, and we're really looking forward to that, of course. Here's a clip of both of their brothers speaking about the pain. Oh my God, of finding out this horrific news. The meal's body was found Friday. His brother describes getting the worst call a family can get. Police called me that night, and that night was the darkest night of my life. It was so long that it wasn't finished. They called me and said that a body was found, what is found, and they couldn't identify whether it is a boy or a girl. So you can imagine how much pain for it could be. I ran to my mother and said that calmly and hugging her. My brother is no more. After hearing that my both of my parents, their heart's broken and the crying like a child, so loud that you can hear it from the sky as well. You can imagine that how heartbreaking it is. This is unbelievable. My parents are barely coping with the whole cellar. Still, sometimes I feel like maybe this is a dream, maybe this is not happening. Maybe it's just a bad dream and I'll wake up and things will go back to normal. Every time I fall asleep, I wake up, I just pray that maybe I'll take my mobile and I'll get the call from my sister. We used to sing a lot, sing together a lot, and the last song we did was living on a jet plane, and we were, we did not finish the whole song. We were crying because she will be living soon. So that was the last memory and an all-mistage. Those memories to my last breath. A heart-breaking conclusion for Nehita Briste's family, who say they will remember her as a joyful, positive and bright young woman, looking for a better future in the United States. We were really happy that she will be coming soon back to Bangladesh. So we were making plans. It's her. We're what we agreed to do. Everything's just a collapse. But whatever comes next, Nehita Briste's older brother told us, her family will continue to ask for the death penalty. Like you heard, her family is pushing for the death penalty, and Jamil's family feels the exact same way. And as of mid-May, it was reported that prosecutors plan to seek it, given the heinous nature of the crime. And no shocker here, but a not guilty plea was entered on his Sean's behalf during the arraignment hearing. So as it currently stands, this case will eventually go to trial, although not anytime soon. The next hearing isn't until December 10th, and the trial is tentatively slated for November of 2027. And in the meantime, there is a lot that their families and this community want to see happen. And a lot of questions they had that they absolutely deserve the answers to. For starters, at the end of April, they released a joint six-point memo. And in it, they requested the following. Islamic funeral rights, accountability of Avalon Heights, justice and legal support, a return of their personal belongings, financial matters and family support, and a memorial in the victim's honor. And I want to talk about point two for a minute here because this is extremely important. In point two, as I said, they call for the accountability of the apartment complex, requesting that the university take appropriate legal action against them. And the reason for that is going to make your blood boil. It is ridiculous. It turns out that Jamil and their other roommate had filed multiple complaints about Hisham living there and nothing was ever done to address it. And one of those complaints was filed as recently as 15 days before the murders. I just could not believe that. And from what's been made available online, they were very upset because Hisham had a prior criminal record and they were never told about that when they moved in. He was also reportedly unpleasant to them, which I'm sure that's putting it nicely to some degree, and wouldn't leave their house for days on end. I can't imagine what it was like living with this guy. And I'm sure there was a lot more to, but that's just what's been said so far. And I'm sure also more will come out in trial whenever that begins. But yeah, despite them asking for him to be removed as their roommate, nothing was done about it wasn't taken seriously at all. And I mean, I don't know about you, but I would be so fucking livid if I found out that my randomly assigned roommate had a criminal record, a violent one nonetheless. And I was never told about that. It is just so irresponsible, so reckless and like I said, absolutely ridiculous. It turns out Hisham was charged in May of 2023 that misdemeanor battery and then again in September of that year with misdemeanor battery and burglary. His younger brother Amad, who we've already talked about, was the victim of the domestic violence and had filed protective orders as a result. In one petition, he stated that his brother quote repeatedly punched me in the head. He ripped my shirt and made me bleed and gave me a few bruises on my face. In another instance, he tore up their living room and was screaming that he was God and that they all had to bow down to him. Now, I'm not sure the extent that Jamil and this other roommate were aware as far as the specifics of his criminal record, but they definitely knew he had one. And what's terrifying too is after the murders, Amad said that he had no idea that his brother was living with other roommates. He told CBS News that he thought Hisham should have been living on his own or even been homeless. And apparently he's been estranged from their family since 2023. So I feel so bad for their family. Amad feels just horrible for what has happened. And I really do appreciate that he has taken the victim side in all this and been so vocal. He shared this quote. He said, I can't stop thinking about all of them. I'm just I feel I just feel so awful. I'm really sorry about everything. I feel so my entire family feels so much shame and guilt. We tried to warn the police in the past. So even they tried to call attention to the fact that Hisham is a dangerous person. And obviously the police can't do much to prevent him from causing harm to others, but it absolutely should have been flagged without a doubt when he applied to live at that apartment complex, which get this. This pissed me off so much. Even though it's listed as an off campus housing option for students, he wasn't even a student. He was enrolled from spring of 21 through 2023, but hasn't been enrolled since. Now technically the housing isn't exclusive to students, but even if If that's the case here, proper background checks should have been completed, especially in student housing. And if they were completed in this scenario, and we just aren't aware yet, his roommates should have been made aware of what was found before living with him, right? It's just insane. Plus, action absolutely should have been taken when they filed those complaints. So that's why students have formed a petition calling for accountability and increased safety measures at that complex. It is entirely student run and not associated with the families, but I know they want the same outcome, which is for students living there to be safe and prevent something like this from ever happening again. So they're calling on Avalon Heights to hire an independent third party to review the safety policies they have in place, including how complaints, concerns, and roommate change requests and safety reports were handled, to release a public summary of those findings and any reforms they plan to adopt, and create a written emergency transfer policies for residents who report credible safety concerns. They're also calling on the university to review how off-campus housing options are presented to students, including ones listed on their university facing housing resources, and to set basic eligibility standards for which off-campus housing property may appear on their websites. And these points align with the points that were made in the family's shared memo. Now, the university has since removed Avalon Heights from their website for off-campus housing. They're also reportedly reviewing conditions and safety measures in place at other off-campus housing buildings. In a statement, the university said in part, "While USF does not own these apartments, we recognize the importance of safety and well-being of our students where they live. We are actively working with law enforcement and relevant authorities as they investigate this tragedy, and we fully support efforts to examine all factors involved, including housing conditions and safety measures that are in place." And they actually responded to each of the six points outlined on the family's memo where they provided reassurance that efforts were being made to address each request. Avalon Heights also released a statement saying that they are saddened by the loss of one of their residents and that they are committed to supporting law enforcement in any way they can through this investigation. And I think what everyone is wondering now is why? I mean, clearly, Hisham is a very, very disturbed person. But what set him off to cause him to commit such a heinous act against not one, but two people? And of course, motive doesn't necessarily have to be proven to get a conviction. But I know it's something that people want to know. It's certainly something I want to know. And it seems as if he premeditated this crime, so it wasn't like a spur of the moment the thing. Jamil's brother said that maybe it's because Hisham found out about the complaints he filed against him, but of course that doesn't explain why Nihita was killed. It could be a situation of wrong place, wrong time, but I really just don't know. It doesn't make sense. What I do know though is that both of them should still be here today that they had extremely bright futures. They are both very, very intelligent and we're going to do amazing things in the future for the worlds. And the person who is responsible for this, this weak Hisham needs to be locked up for the rest of his life. He should never see the light of day again. And if, you know, the family is supportive of the death penalty, I am too. I was super happy to see that the university honored both Jamil and Nihita at their graduate graduation ceremony in early May. It's just so awful to look at though. Oh my god, how heartbreaking. They have two empty chairs that were placed in the front row during the ceremony and they did have a moment of silence for them. And I was very, very happy to hear, but not totally surprised as this is pretty common, but they were given posthumous degrees. I mean, considering how dedicated they were and how hard they had each work towards getting their PhDs, it feels like a really beautiful and important way to honor them. Jamil was so close to finishing his thesis on the use of generative AI to study the shrinking wetlands of Florida, which is very important work. And according to his brother, school was the most important thing to him. And it really was for both of them. I mean, that's why they came to the United States in the first place to get the highest education that they could. Jamil was even living in a different apartment and then moved to Avalon Heights so he could be closer to school. Nahita obviously didn't live there, but it sounds like she did spend a good amount of time there with him. And one thing that I just have to talk about in this episode too, that makes me super upset is all of this chat GPT shit. We are seeing more and more AI used in criminal cases and it is very scary. I mean, how can these platforms be used to aid criminals and then nothing is done to punish them? There needs to be some type of safeguard in place. Obviously, I'm not an expert on AI, I don't know what that would look like, but I imagine it could be some type of flagging system that alerts law enforcement if suspicious searches are made, especially when that many suspicious searches are made. And of course, I get it is complicated and like I said, I'm not claiming to have the solution here, but I think it's something we all need to explore and talk about. It's definitely something I'm hoping law enforcement is thinking about at this point, but I get that they can't be on call 24/7 with weird bullshit that people are searching up. I'm sure it's just millions of searches every day. And there's a privacy issue there as well, but I feel like if the technology is as smart as they say it is. There has to be a way to flag searches that have more credible threats. But the good news is it seems like there is some action that's being taken. Florida Attorney General James Othmeyer has launched a criminal investigation into open AI. Prosecutors are now taking a closer look at the suspect's digital footprint, including his interactions with chat GPT in the days leading up to and after the murders. According to court records on April 13, three days before the killings, the suspect asked what happens if a human is put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster. And how would authorities find out after the murders? He asked our cars checked at the Hillsboro River State Park. And on April 23, what does missing endangered adult mean? Today, two statewide prosecutors were appointed to investigate whether artificial intelligence played a role in the crime. This week, today, I announced a criminal investigation into open AI over the murders of two USF students with a primary suspect consulted chat GPT before this tragedy took place. The Attorney General's office is working alongside local prosecutors, specifically examining whether those interactions contributed to the killings and whether there could be broader legal responsibility for chat GPT developer open AI. In a statement, State Attorney Susie Lopez said, "This will let every big tech company know that when you create a product in the pursuit of profit, the full resources of Florida's prosecutors will join together to protect public safety." In a statement about the investigation, open AI told me, "This is a terrible crime and our thoughts are with everyone affected. We're looking into these reports and we'll do whatever we can to support law enforcement in their investigation." I definitely am going to be keeping my eyes on this and see how it goes. I'm very interested to see if anything comes out of it, if it can be improved in any way, because I understand there's no getting rid of AI at this point. You can't put AI back in the box. I mean, it's part of our lives, but we have got to figure out a way to have it serve us better, to make sure that it can't be used by criminals as basically a co-conspirator. I mean, if you think about it, if chat GPT was a human in this case, which at this point AI is really starting to feel very human to us, right? Which is scary in a topic for another day, but if he shahm was texting these same things that he was searching to a human, that person would be getting charged. So why does open AI not receive a punishment or a warning or a fine or something? You have to figure out a way to better manage people like this or to alert authorities of credible threats or your platform gets shut down or I don't know, I don't know, we just, eh, something has to happen, right? This doesn't make sense. It's obviously a huge discussion, like I said, I am not an expert, I am so curious to hear your opinions on this case as a whole, but definitely on the chat GPT side of things. And just AI being used in crimes in general, I mean, it's a scary world. And AI companies be held responsible, not just for this case, but in all other cases where these platforms are used to aid perpetrators and so many other very disturbing things that, you know, AI is helping humans to do or information that has been given to young people. I mean, like I said, I could just go on and on, but it's a conversation we have to have because this is the world we live in now, right? This is not the first time that I've seen this. This is not the first time I'm sure many of you have seen this in different cases that I haven't even looked into and sadly, it's definitely not going to be the last. But what I'm extremely hopeful for at the end of the day here to wrap on, you know, somewhat of a silver lining or positive note, I guess, which feels just horrible to say in this case. but you know, you've got to try and do it. try to see the light at the end of the tunnel to some degree and that light I believe is that Hisham will be held accountable. He is currently being held without bond, I think, fully, until his next hearing, which is in December, quite a bit of time to wait there, but of course I just have to say he's innocent until proven guilty. But yeah, the evidence speaks volumes to me and I'm sure to all of you. It's just duh, of course he did this, allegedly in my opinion. But another positive note I want to highlight here, which just speaks volumes, is the effort of the sheriff's office and even the campus police. They worked really well together, they jumped right on things, they handled this case very, very well and they worked very quickly to get answers. They really prioritized the case and you know, they did get those answers even if it was not the answers that any of us wanted to hear. We don't always see that, especially in cases involving minorities, so I really appreciate the fantastic police work here. Also I wanted to update you that they have released the victim's bodies back into the care of their families, which I know was extremely important for them, so I was happy to hear that as well. And I'm going to link their go fund me in the description box of this episode or the show notes if you're listening to the episode. And if you guys are interested in able to contribute, I'm sure that would really mean a lot. I'm going to both families who are having to deal with not only the emotional toll of these impossible losses, but also the financial burdens associated with it. And as I mentioned, my team will be reaching out to both of their families to offer them hope grants. And I'm really hoping we are able to help them in that way. But that is going to be it for me today, guys. I wanted to thank you for tuning into this episode. This is such an important one for so many different reasons. And for all of you who made it to the end of the episode and care about these victims. Thank you. You are amazing people. I love my audience so much. I will be back next week to discuss another case. And until then, stay safe out there. [MUSIC]