Folks.
It is Wednesday, April twenty second, and two college students in Florida haven't been seen in six days. They have essentially vanished off the face of the earth. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. This story now is causing more concern and there's more alarm, but I think that's that's a fair way to say it. These are doctoral students Robes, and once they went missing, there ain't been a trace of them.
This is so bizarre because there's no reasonable explanation, and yet there is no evidence of foul play. But we have two twenty seven year olds, so these are grown folks, adults, and they are doctoral students. As you mentioned, Zamil Lemon and Nahata Bristy. They're both twenty seven. They are friends and there is some suggestion that they might be more than friends. But they vanished without a trace, within one hour of each other, different spots, right, different spots, And
this happened. The last time each was seen was April sixteenth, so six days ago.
Okay, USF this is where they're in school. University of South Florida, Tampa is where they are both in school. Doctoral students both from Bangladesh. Right, this is weird that we have to say this now, or even that police had to say it. They're not with ICE. That's where we are these days.
Yeah, and even their family who have been deeply concerned and have been talking to the press because of their concern. That was their initial reaction. Can we make sure that they haven't been detained by ICE? Ice has come out and officially said they are not with us. Are They don't have any issues with their immigration status, so it
has nothing to do with us. And so because basically all the obvious things have been ruled out, police are now officially asking for the public's help because they don't know where to go from here.
Okay, so we go with that. We know it's not Ice, all right. Two people are missing or go missing from two different places.
ROA.
If these aren't two individual abductions, we can possibly rule that out, can we not? Nobody? There was no suggestion of foul play or crime of any kind being committed, is what the police?
Isn't that the word correct?
But university officials have used the term very concerned. They say we are very concerned for these two.
They say they're very concerned. They haven't told us necessarily why they're concerned, But why is it as well that they was important to note that they might be together. This is the part when I hear it, Rob, I said, well, oh, they ran off together. But that didn't necessarily make sense to the friends and family either.
Yeah, because you had said, well, what if they were forbidden from being together and they ran off? And I said, okay, but he hasn't been home in two years they've been studying.
It brought say they did.
Fall in love and want to get married, they could probably go ahead and get married and their parents wouldn't find doubt about it, and they could still be going to classes.
These two were both described as.
Dedicated students, and so this is highly unusual that they would just in the middle of the year and actually towards the end of the year, just skip out on all of their student duties, all of their classes. It doesn't fit either one of their personalities, And how would that make sense if it was that they wanted to be together.
The thesis is due, it's coming up.
Yah. As his brother said, he's been working tirelessly on his thesis which is coming up.
Okay, so let's go back then. All right, We've got two doctoral students at the University of South Florida Robes, both ones in engineering. Tell me what they're getting sores.
Emil Lemon, he's twenty seven.
He's pursuing his PhD in geography, Environmental science and Policy. He was last seen at nine am at his basically just off campus apartment, student apartments, basically right there on campus, nine am, right there on campus. He's working on his thesis and he was seen they know, at nine am on Thursday, April sixteenth. He had already booked his first trip back in July summer to go back home to Bangladesh.
So it's like, here's somebody who had plans, who had a future, who was in the middle of his thesis and he's a doctoral student. He's been in the United States for two years.
Okay, Now tell me about when Nihita.
Nihita Nihaita Bristi is a doctoral student studying chemical engineering. She was last seen as well on Thursday, April sixteenth at ten am, and she was last seen at the Natural and Environmental Sciences building right there on campus.
So she went to a class.
She was in the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building, seen by multiple people. So verifiably she was there and in class at ten am.
So given where he was at his apartment, given where she was on campus.
It's about ten minutes apart, then.
Not far apart, and this was about an hour's difference in the last time they were seen. Correct, all right, So, Robes, where did I read that their phones were off?
Yes? Police have said so.
Obviously here's what the latest is in the investigation.
This is a problem.
Their phones are both turned off.
Okay, Robes, that's a scary proposition, isn't it. Everybody, certainly that age or a little older. Sure you are either Robes in trouble meanings they're in trouble with somebody and they fell into some criminal element and something came about them, or you really don't want to be found.
And let's add to that, there is right now no digital footprint, meaning they have credit cards there. You can't basically exist in this world these days intentionally, I guess just out in every you have enough cash.
I don't know how long that'll get you.
But when you go to stay at a hotel room, if you go anywhere, you have to show your there's a credit card. There's something that you can be traced to. So if your phone's GPS is off because it's turned off, then typically to survive to exist outside of living in your apartment, which they're not at. Neither one of them are at their residences. How are they surviving without using any sort of credit card?
Now, so that suggests one of two things, which one you tell me robe is more likely one that they did in These are smart people. They did an incredible amount of planning to make sure they wouldn't be tracked or trace or two there is foul play here.
Foul play makes the most sense because why would you also time it out in the middle of your at the end of your spring semester. It just why would you just leave everything just completely in the middle of the process of things. When you talk about who these two students were, their family and their friends talk about them being it would be highly unusual for them to miss a class, let alone just skip out on a semester. He's in the middle of a thesis. They're both pursuing PhDs.
These are smart, intelligent folks who went through a lot of pain and hard work to get to the United States to study at USF to pursue their PhDs.
This makes no sense.
So let me ask you the next part of that scenario that makes no damn sense? Or if we do want to go with foul play, how do two people abduct it or finding foul play from two different places? Why is it she's over here at a class at ten people see her? Nobody saw him after nine am in a place ten minutes away? How do we what scenario do you have there? Where? Does that make sense?
It doesn't, It doesn't. That's why this story right now is so mysterious. Because I was telling you it reminded me a little bit of the nante guth Through case, where there's no obvious motive.
Other than yes the most.
If you were just looking at this without knowing any of the details, you thought, oh, these two kids' families didn't want them to be together. They felt the pressure of being the successes that their families wanted them to be. They ditched everything and ran off into the wilderness together. But to not have your phones, to not have any sort of credit cards, that makes no sense.
Okay, I am with you there, But also Robes, these are two people who had a lot going for them and who had been working in this country who had been working at this school for years to get to a certain place that they were about to get to. At least it appears what could have come up in their lives that made them want to voluntarily do this. That is a high high bar, but Rose, I am struggling to get over that hump of I guess they could as possible they could have met up later and
something happened to both of them. It's possible they got into a car together, maybe they had an accident. Who knows.
Well. I was curious if they can go back into their phones data and see what was the last text that was sent from each of their numbers. Did they meet up? Were they lured somewhere together? Was there some sort of love triangle going on with you've got another another woman in the picture who was angry, or another guy in the picture who was pissed.
We've watched too much.
That's what remind you because typically these if there was a crime committed, it's typically one from the heart or one from the wallet. So either there was some sort of financial gain or some sort of personal vendetta, and it's one of the two things. If foul play was involved, random act of violence. I guess that's possible, but that's the least possible or probable of any of these scenarios we just mentioned.
Phones off.
Why are there that would suggest foul play to me or like you said, an absolute deliberate planned escape from the world to completely go off the grid.
But then give me a motivation for that.
I mean, roobes, I don't know what the student visa situation.
Was, but you would think that ICE or the government would have weighed in and said, hey, they were facing deportation, there was something happening.
We can under there.
Actually has been that that has been looked into and ruled out.
Well, I have to apologize for this speculation, man, right, and then I'm gonna move ahead. My thought went to is there a plan or knowing that don't don't have a plan when that student visa expires? Like when that student visa expired, do you get to do you have a job? Is it harder to get a job, Is it harder to get someone to sponsor you to stick on and stay in this country? Are we're gonna have to leave this Country're gonna have to leave each other?
But now you've got to leave your identities, your families. You can't have contact with anyone you once knew were loved a man.
Love is a powerful thing, and the heart wants what the heart wants. Robes, I really hope you know, as much as this might be concerning to the campus and concerning to their families, I really do hope the scenario is that they've run off together.
Oh, that would be the best case scenario, and I would imagine that's exactly what their families would say. But in terms of reaction from Nihita Bristi and Zamila Leimoon's family, we have heard from them. We will tell you what they had to say about their thoughts on what is going on when we come back.
All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ. Where are these kids? Are they victims of a crime or are they love birds? We really do not know, but yeah, the University of South Florida students doctoral students twenty seven years old. Both have been missing for the past six days, when missing from two places ten minutes apart. But we're last seeing an hour apart. So Robes, they's the suggestion is from the family that these two were They didn't flat out say that they were dating, but they what
was it. They were looking at the possibility of a marriage or something down the road, but they never seemed to say that, yeah, these two were in a relationship.
Yes, so Xamille Lemowne's brother actually spoke to news outlets, that's who we've heard from from their family's point of view, and he did put their relationship into better contexts because everyone else has just said they were friends and they believe they're together. His own brother said, another important point is that they talked about having a future together, but they are not that serious about it. Both of them are thinking about whether we can married together and they
are discussing that. So that to me actually made it even less likely that they were running off together, because if his brother knew that they were considering marriage, that means that the families were aware of a potential romance or a marriage.
And it obviously wasn't.
So terrible or awful that his brother felt like that was a negative thing. He just said, yeah, they're thinking about it in the future, but they're focused on school right now.
I cannot imagine again a scenario keep saying Nancy's Guthrie. We can't come up with a scenario that makes sense. I can't come up with one that makes sense on either ropes. None of this the scenario of them being lovebirds, a scenario of them being abducted, and none of it makes sense. A car crash doesn't make sense, it does nothing makes sense.
No, and look to go on further. So Leon Lemone's brother described him, and we've been talking about this, but this is a direct quote from him talking about his brother's emial. He is a very responsible and punctual person. And that's why this situation is so unpredictable and unusual to us like and very suspicious. So his family and I can only imagine, of course, is concerned that there is foul play involved. And look this coming the official
word from the University of South Florida, the PIO. Look, I thought this was interesting too. They said, everybody internally is obviously very concerned, as we are concerned. It's not typical of their behavior. They're graduate students. We don't have information that there is foul play or suspicious nature at this point, but the point being is you've got two young folks who it seems like everyone knew were in a relationship. Didn't seem like it was a controversial thing.
They're both stellar students here on student visas, getting their PhDs in really intelligent, amazing scientific studies, and they seem to have support from their families, or at least lemone did. So how is it possible that they just vanished literally.
Into thin air? That's what I'm thinking.
Like, what I'm hoping next happens is, look, where are all the cameras on campus? If they saw her and they know she was at a building at ten am, hopefully can they retrace her steps? Same with him if he was seen in and apart, can they see how he left the apartment and that it seems like digital technology and hopefully these tips they're now asking for people to call in with will be the answer to what Otherwise it is just an absolute mystery.
That part's concerning robes that they had. They felt like they it almost sound like they didn't want to, but they had to come out and say we need your help. Because Rollup's given all that they track people down with those digital license plate readers, right, those cameras, they can track your every move on a college campus. You surely should be able to track a kid's movements.
I'm surprised.
I'm surpris why they haven't been able to release the last scene footage because yes, when I read that, they don't have any digital footprint of them using credit cards or anything like that. Okay, the fact that their phones are turned off very disturbing.
But where was the last place their phones were?
I mean, there are ways for police to get and to dig deeper on this from a technological standpoint, how.
Much cash would you have to have on you to leave no digital footprint for six days?
Yeah, and a lot of places aren't even like don't even accept.
Cash these days. Like good point, it's it's not even like guaranteed off.
How can you find anything or go anywhere these days with your phone off? You just can't.
So no, no phone number, no email, no nothing like this is Look, if if you're members of their family, you're you're deeply concerned about foul play right now.
But jeez, how do they both go missing from two different places across camps? All right, well, folk, we wanted to hop on and give you updated here. This story is starting to bubble quite a bit, So this is one you are going to be hearing a whole lot more about. But say the names again to me.
Their names are twenty seven year old Zmili Moon and twenty seven year old Nahita Bristie, missing from the University of South Florida.
We'll keep you updated, but you to be hearing a lot more and seeing their names and faces a lot more places. But folks would appreciate you as always spending some time with us on T. J. Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robot. We'll talk to you all soon.
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