The husband of a missing Manassas Park, Virginia, woman has been indicted on a charge of murder and physically defiling a dead body.
Naresh Bhatt, 37, was charged in August with concealing the body of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, — who was last seen in July and whose body still hasn’t been found.
He is now scheduled to appear in Prince William Circuit Court on Wednesday to be formally charged, after a Nepalese interpreter wasn’t available Tuesday morning.
During a Monday evening news conference, Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said one reason for the updated charges was that they were able to match Mamta’s DNA to blood found at the couple’s home.
Lugo said “there’s a lot of evidence” in the case against Naresh.
“I know the crime scene was a big one. The forensic unit at Prince William County said it was one of the worst crime scenes they’ve seen,” he said.
The chief added that he was sorry Mamta’s family found out more details of the charges because of “the courts posting it before I had an opportunity to talk to them.”
Police have not yet talked to Naresh Bhatt, Lugo said, but they have sent all of the collected evidence to prosecutors, who “felt confident” enough to take it to the grand jury Monday and secure the indictment.
“I feel we have a strong case for not having a body,” Lugo said, though he added that authorities still hope to find Mamta’s remains.
Lugo alluded to the notion that Mamta was likely dismembered inside the home.
“From the beginning, we believed that she was murdered,” he told reporters.
Investigators conducted their first search warrant when Naresh Bhatt was home with the couple’s baby and discovered blood in the bedroom as well as the bathroom, Lugo said.
He added that evidence shows that Bhatt cut up his wife’s body, which prompted the defiling charge.
In a detailed timeline, Prince William County prosecutors have said Mamta’s last video call with her mother was on July 29, which is the same day police believe she was killed.
The next day, July 30, prosecutors said Naresh Bhatt dropped the couple’s daughter off at a babysitter’s apartment early in the morning. Moments later, he was seen on camera dumping several plastic and trash bags into a dumpster at the babysitter’s apartment complex.
Later that morning, he went shopping at Home Depot and Walmart, buying a set of knives. That evening he bought a “40-pack of extra strong black trash bags,” according to senior assistant commonwealth’s attorney Sarah Sami.
On July 31, at 1:30 a.m., Naresh Bhatt was also captured on video in Falls Church retrieving bags from his Tesla and putting them into a trash compactor. His Tesla tracks him to that location, but his phone was inactive and not with him at the time.
Later that morning, over 150 gallons of water were consumed by the Bhatt residence — far more than the typical three or four gallons, according to prosecutors.
Three weeks after Mamta’s disappearance, Naresh Bhatt was charged with a felony count of concealing a dead body and placed in jail, where he remains.
A prosecutor had said in court over the summer that the amount of blood found in the home indicated injuries that were not survivable.
The investigation continued into her death. But in September, Tracey Lenox, the public defender, argued that Naresh Bhatt was still entitled to a speedy trial on the count of concealing a dead body.
The trial on that charge was scheduled for next week.
Holly Wirth, a former hospital co-worker of Mamta and spokesperson for her family, said the family feels “a sense of relief” that a charge has finally come.
“Their goal has been two things: justice for Mamta and securing a future for her baby. And that’s what guides their steps every day,” Wirth said at the Monday news conference. “This is not a celebration. We’re not here happy.”
Angel Rodas, who told WTOP she was a survivor of domestic violence, said she felt a connection to Mamta and helped in the earlier searches for her remains.
“People who have narcissistic tendencies, they have no feeling of remorse. And every time I came into the courtroom, he had no remorse,” adding that she has long believed Naresh Bhatt killed his wife: “I just wish that he would just have admitted it, and save everybody the time and grief,” allowing Mamta’s family to grieve.
This story is developing. Check back with WTOP for updates.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, Mike Murillo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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