Florida student murder suspect Hisham Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT about body disposal

A Florida man charged with murdering two university students asked ChatGPT about putting a person someone in a black bin bag into a dustbin, prosecutors allege.

Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is accused of killing Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27 and doctoral students based at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa.

Limon, whose body was found on Friday, was a roommate of Abugharbieh, a former USF student.

In a court document, prosecutors allege that Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT about disposing of a body on 13 April, three days before Limon and Bristy were last seen alive.

"What happens if a human has a put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster," Abugharbieh asked the chatbot, according to prosecutors.

ChatGPT answered that it sounded dangerous, and Abugharbieh responded by sending another message: "How would they find out."

OpenAI, the organisation behind ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abugharbieh was arrested on Friday after a brief standoff at a house in a suburb of Tampa, according to police.

He made an initial court appearance via video link on Saturday, wearing a green prison smock, where he was ordered to be held in custody until another hearing on Tuesday.

Another roommate of Abugharbieh's told investigators that he saw Abugharbieh moving some cardboard boxes from his room to a rubbish compactor at their apartment complex on 17 April, prosecutors wrote.

When the compactor was searched, they found Limon's DNA and property, including a student ID and credit cards, while testing on a kitchen mat matched with Bristy, the document stated.

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Detectives found Mr Limon's remains on Friday in a heavy-duty rubbish bag, on the side of the Howard Frankland Bridge that spans Tampa Bay. Divers had been deployed to search in the water.

The cause of his death was initially listed as "multiple sharp force injuries", according to a post-mortem.

Officers then found human remains on Sunday in water, at the western end of the same bridge, during the search for Ms Bristy, although the remains have not been identified.

When interviewed by detectives, Abugharbieh denied knowing the whereabouts of the two students and said they had never been in his car, according to court documents.

But the documents say he changed his story once confronted with data recovered from his mobile, which placed him in several locations, including the bridge.

Abugharbieh, who has yet to enter a plea, has been charged with premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon, battery, false imprisonment, failure to report a death, storing remains in unapproved conditions and tampering with evidence.

(c) Sky News 2026: Florida student murder suspect Hisham Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT about body disposal