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Suspect in students’ killings asked ChatGPT for guidance

The Associated Press / Members of the media document detectives and deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office as they investigate inside the Lake Forest subdivision of Tampa, Fla., on Friday, where authorities said a man was taken into custody after barricading himself inside a home, in connection to the search for two missing University of South Florida graduate students.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The suspect in the killings of two University of South Florida doctoral students from Bangladesh had asked ChatGPT what would happen if a human body was put in a garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster, days before they went missing, according to a report filed by prosecutors over the weekend.

Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, also asked the artificial intelligence chatbot whether the vehicle identification number on his car could be changed and whether he could keep a gun at home without a license, according to the pretrial detention report filed Saturday. ChatGPT responded that Abugharbieh’s question sounded dangerous, according to the report.

An investigation that the office of Florida’s attorney general launched last week over whether ChatGPT offered advice to a gunman who killed two people last year at Florida State University will be expanded to include the killings of the USF students, Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday on social media.

The remains of Abugharbieh’s roommate, Zamil Limon, were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said later that day that they were still searching for Limon’s girlfriend,

Nahida Bristy. On Sunday, the sheriff’s office announced that a body had been found in a waterway near the bridge but had not been identified.

Abugharbieh, was charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Limon and Bristy, the sheriff’s office announced Saturday. The former USF student was ordered held without bond. A hearing is set for Tuesday.

Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared April 16. Limon was last seen at the off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbieh, and Bristy at a campus science building.

Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. She was a graduate of Noakhali Science and Technology University. The school said in a statement Saturday that she was a Ph.D. candidate and described her as a talented and promising student.

A friend contacted police April 17 about being unable to reach both Bristy and Limon, despite repeated attempts by phone, according to the report. Police investigators searched Bristy’s campus office the next day and found her purse, lunchbox, MacBook and iPad.

At Limon’s off-campus apartment, detectives questioned Limon’s two roommates and noticed that Abugharbieh’s left pinky finger was bandaged. When confronted by detectives, Abugharbieh denied any involvement with Limon’s disappearance.

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