TAMPA, Fla. — The remains of one of two University of South Florida graduate students who have been missing since April 16 were recovered on Friday, authorities in Tampa said. A suspect has been arrested, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced.

According to Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer of the sheriff’s office, human remains found on the Howard Frankland Bridge -- a section of Interstate 275 that connects Tampa to St. Petersburg -- were identified as Zamil Limon, 27, an international student from Bangladesh, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The whereabouts of the other graduate student, 27-year-old Nahida Bristy, another doctoral candidate from Bangladesh, remain unknown.

Deputies said the suspect who was arrested is Hisham Abu Gharbieh, 26, Limon’s roommate, the Times reported.

Earlier, the sheriff’s office had elevated the status of the two missing student to endangered.

Detectives had been chasing several leads over the past two days.

On Thursday, WTSP reported that the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search at Sand Key Park, north of Clearwater Beach, because it may have been related to the investigation on the other side of Tampa Bay.

On Friday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office closed down a north Tampa neighborhood near the university and detained a barricaded person allegedly linked to the two doctoral candidates, the Times reported.

Also on Friday, two lanes of the Howard Frankland Bridge, a section of I-275 were closed as evidence was gathered that possibly was linked to the students, according to WTVT. The evidence was taken to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office facility in St. Petersburg to be processed, according to the television station.

Limon was pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, WTSP reported. He was last seen at his home at around 9 a.m. ET on April 16.

Bristy is a doctoral student studying chemical engineering, according to the television station. She was reportedly last seen at around 10 a.m. ET on April 16 at the university’s Natural and Environmental Sciences building, the Times reported.

Limon came to USF in 2024, and his brother, Zubaer Ahmed, described him as “very responsible and punctual” in a message to the Times. Limon had previously earned a degree in urban and rural planning from a university in Bangladesh.

“He was scheduled to submit his thesis paper the day after he went missing, which makes this situation extremely unusual for us,” his brother told the newspaper.

Bristy spoke by phone with her parents in Bangladesh shortly after noon April 16, her brother, Zahid Hasan Pranto, told the Times. She was in her office, a campus laboratory, and spoke of how busy her days were.

“Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary,” Pranto said.

Bristy missed a 3 p.m. class on April 16 and did not turn up two hours later to go grocery shopping with a friend, her brother told the newspaper.

Bristy left her laptop, iPad, bag and lunchbox in the lab in the campus building, Pranto told the Times. Her purse and phone went missing with her.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in applied chemistry at a school in Bangladesh. She applied to USF’s doctoral program in chemical engineering last year, according to the newspaper.

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