Two University of South Florida doctoral students who vanished in the Tampa area last week have been classified as endangered, and authorities said Thursday they are actively searching for them in multiple counties. Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27, were last seen on April 16.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said newly surfaced information led detectives to elevate the pair's status to endangered. Investigators are now following leads and conducting searches in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties as the case moves from a missing-person inquiry into something more urgent.
Limon was last seen around 9 a.m. last Thursday at his residence in Tampa, according to the University of South Florida Police Department. Bristy was last seen at about 10:00 a.m. that same day on the USF Tampa campus. Family and friends said they had not heard from either student since last week, and both disappearances struck them as out of character.
The missing students are doctoral candidates with demanding academic schedules. Limon studies the use of AI in environmental science and was set to present his doctoral thesis this week. Bristy studies chemical engineering. A friend said Limon had marked on a shared Outlook calendar at the lab that he planned to work from home on the day he and Bristy disappeared, and family members said he had asked them not to contact him unless it was an emergency because he was extremely busy.
Zubaer Ahmed, a friend, said the situation was deeply unsettling and asked how two people could disappear without a trace. Another friend, Omer Hossain, said Limon planned to work from home to focus on his thesis and had put it in the Outlook calendar. Zahid Pranto, a friend of Bristy's, said there had not been a single day without contact with her before she went missing and said his family was devastated.
Friends said they were unaware Limon and Bristy may have been in a romantic relationship. The two had already booked flights to Bangladesh for summer break, a detail that added to the confusion over why they would suddenly cut off contact. Deputies said the new information has changed how they are treating the case, but they have not said what specifically prompted the endangered classification.
Anyone with information is asked to contact university authorities at 813-974-2628 or the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 813-247-8200. For now, investigators are treating the disappearance of the missing usf students as a serious, active search that appears to have escalated because recent leads suggest the pair may be at risk.
