According to court documents released on Friday, a Virginia man is accused of killing his children’s mother, pulling her out of their home, and concealing her body.
Naresh Bhatt, a 37-year-old US Army veteran, reportedly Googled “How long does it take to get married after a spouse dies” in the months leading up to the disappearance of 28-year-old pediatric nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt on July 27, according to prosecutors in his first court appearance on Thursday.
Prosecutors have accused Bhatt of abusing his wife, according to The Washington Post. When officials investigated their home in Manassas, Virginia, last week, they discovered a crime scene that indicated the woman had been killed.
“The amount of blood in that master bedroom and bathroom is indicative of injuries that are not survivable,” Prince William County prosecutor Sarah Sami told the court on Thursday, according to the Post. “Every indication in this case suggests that Mamta is no longer living. And the Commonwealth can seek a homicide prosecution even without a body.”
“The crime scene investigator on the scene indicated she had never seen that much blood,” according to the lawyer.
Blood evidence showed that “something was dragged” from the master bedroom to the bathroom at the couple’s Manassas home, according to prosecutors.
Bhatt has so far been charged with concealing a dead body; his wife’s remains remain unaccounted for.
Bhatt’s public defender, Shalev Ben-Avraham, has stated that his client’s case was moved forward hastily and without sufficient evidence. According to the local outlet Inside Nova, he continually reduced the amount of blood discovered in the Bhatt home, calling it “miniscule” and suggesting “That’s maybe a nosebleed.”
“This statute requires that there be a dead body. “What they have, to be clear is blood,” Ben-Avraham stated Thursday, according to the Post. “[Bhatt] was detained due to a massive media frenzy. The chief of Manassas Park police is under pressure to act.
“Blood isn’t a body part. “Blood alone isn’t enough,” he added. “I have no idea how the magistrate issued a warrant for [Bhatt’s] arrest.”
Sami maintained that the evidence against Bhatt was substantial and that additional charges would be filed, noting the level of blood in the couple’s home and Bhatt’s search history, which she claimed was handed to local police by the US Secret Service.
Although preliminary testing determined that the blood in the couple’s residence was human-derived, it has yet to be connected to the missing woman.
Earlier this month, prosecutors claimed Bhatt sold his Tesla, packed suitcases, and discussed selling his home after his wife vanished. Bhatt’s counsel stated that his client had no intention of leaving and was seeking to raise money to support the couple’s 1-year-old daughter.
Sami stated that Bhatt bought knives on July 30 – the last day Mamta Bhatt’s family heard from her – and proceeded to a Walmart in a neighboring county to get Lysol and Febreze. When a search warrant was executed at the Bhatt residence last week, a bottle of carpet cleaner that Bhatt had purchased on July 31 was discovered empty.
Prosecutors also pointed to past police reactions to the Bhatt house on Heather Court for domestic violence. In February, Manassas police were sent to the home for “disorderly conduct”; at the time, Mamta Bhatt told officers that her husband “would not give her her documents and destroyed her phone,” according to prosecutors.
According to Inside Nova, one of Mamta Bhatt’s acquaintances told authorities that she was a victim of marital abuse and had “suffered bruises in the months leading up” to her disappearance.
On Monday, Bhatt was denied bond in Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Court. A judge determined that he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
The disappearance of Mamta Bhatt, a UVA Health Prince William Medical Center nurse, prompted numerous searches and drew widespread attention.
“What we heard was worse than we could have imagined,” her friend, Holly Wirth, told The Washington Post following the hearing. “I don’t think we were quite prepared for the image that they painted of what likely occurred in that master bedroom and master bathroom.”
Wirth told the Post that she and a dozen other supporters in court had been “trying to respect [Mamta Bhatt’s] privacy,” but she was relieved that the claims of domestic abuse had been made public.
“All of us have heard and seen and been texted things that we did not want to share,” Wirth claimed. “But, you know, it’s on record now. She was abused. And, moving ahead, we will not be afraid to call it what it is.”
