The roommate of murdered Bangladeshi student Zamil Limon used artificial intelligence to plan the disposal of the bodies before being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Zamil Limon, 27, and his friend Nahida Bristy, 27, in Florida.
According to NBC News, citing court filings, Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, asked ChatGPT about putting a person in a trash bag and throwing them into a dumpster before the killings of the two University of South Florida (USF) doctoral students.
In a motion filed on Saturday seeking to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial, prosecutors alleged that Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT on the night of April 13 -- three days before Limon and Bristy were last seen alive -- about disposing of a body in a dumpster.
According to the filing, ChatGPT replied that it sounded dangerous, to which Abugharbieh reportedly responded: "How would they find out."
OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, did not immediately comment on the matter, the NBC report said.
Prosecutors said one of Abugharbieh's roommates told investigators he saw him moving cardboard boxes from his room to a compactor dumpster at their apartment complex on April 17.
A search of the dumpster later yielded items belonging to Limon, including a student ID card and credit cards in his name.
The investigation also uncovered several forensic leads.
DNA testing on items recovered from the dumpster, including a shirt and a kitchen mat, matched the genetic profiles of both Limon and Bristy, according to court documents.
Limon's remains were discovered on April 24 in a heavy-duty trash bag near the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa, Florida.
An autopsy found that he died from multiple sharp-force injuries.
Authorities also recovered additional human remains on Sunday during the search for Bristy, although they have not yet been officially identified.
Investigators said there was no evidence suggesting Bristy was still alive.
The suspect was arrested on Friday following a brief standoff with police.
Initially, Abugharbieh denied knowing the victims' whereabouts, but later changed his statement after investigators confronted him with location data placing his car and Limon's phone in Clearwater on the day they disappeared.
smunima@yahoo.com
