Husband of missing Virginia mom is accused of killing her in their home then dragging her body outside, court documents show
(CNN) — The husband of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old Virginia mother who has been missing for over three weeks, is accused of killing her inside their home and dragging her body outside, court documents obtained by CNN affiliate WJLA show.
Naresh Bhatt faces a felony charge of prohibition against concealment of a body, according to court records, and he was taken away in handcuffs Thursday after authorities conducted a search warrant on the couple’s home. Bhatt was in court Friday morning for an arraignment.
He has not been formally charged with murder, but the preliminary criminal complaint obtained by WJLA states that, “on or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.”
CNN has reached out to the public defender’s office, which is representing Naresh Bhatt.
“There was evidence in the residence indicating the body was inside the residence and dragged out of the residence,” a handwritten addition to the statement says, signed with what appeared to be the charging law enforcement officer’s initials.
“During the course of this investigation, a substantial amount of digital and forensic evidence consistent with her death was recovered,” the complaint says.
CNN has reached out to the prosecutor’s office for comment on whether Bhatt faces upgraded charges to reflect the murder allegation made by the officer.
During Friday’s arraignment, the judge didn’t change the terms of his bail and Bhatt will continue to be held without it, according to WJLA. Bhatt is scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing Monday morning, online court records show.
Kafle Bhatt was last seen on July 27 at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, according to police. She worked there as a registered nurse in the medical surgical unit, the center told CNN Friday. On July 28, she spoke with a friend, and on July 31 she was last seen by her husband at the dinner table, he previously told police.
On August 2, police conducted a welfare check at the couple’s home and spoke to her husband, who “provided additional information” and told investigators he didn’t want to report her as missing at the time, police said. Three days later, he reported her missing, authorities said in a news release on August 15.
The welfare check request came from Kafle Bhatt’s work colleagues, CNN affiliate WUSA reported.
Detectives conducted an exhaustive investigation from August 5-8, they said, and found there was significant lack of recent contact between Kafle Bhatt and her family, friends, employer and on social media, so they elevated her missing status to involuntary/critical missing person status.
Investigators executed 10 search warrants and conducted “hundreds of interviews related to to this case,” Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said Wednesday evening as a search warrant on the Bhatt residence was underway.
When asked Wednesday if there was a “person of interest” in Kafle Bhatt’s disappearance, Lugo said her husband has “been a point of interest and everybody knows that,” adding that he has not been cooperative with police, a departure from the department’s initial release on August 15, where they said “the husband, friends and co-workers have all been cooperative throughout the investigation and detectives will continue to follow up on all investigative leads to locate Mamta Kafle.”
In an interview with WUSA last week, Bhatt said he was worried about where his wife may be and that this wasn’t the first time she had gone missing.
“I’m the one who is suffering,” he told WUSA. “She is my baby’s mom. She is my wife. I’m the one suffering, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
The couple’s infant was taken from the home under a yellow blanket, video from Thursday shows, and police say she’s being looked after by a caregiver approved by the Department of Social Services.
Kafle Bhatt’s family, who live in Nepal, obtained a visa and are in the process of the traveling to the US to try and get emergency custody of her granddaughter, Bandita Sharma Dhal, an immigration attorney working with the family, told CNN Friday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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