Naresh Bhatt, husband of missing Virginia nurse and mother, charged with murder

By Steve Almasy and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

(CNN) — A grand jury has handed up a murder indictment against a man whose wife disappeared this July, sparking a flurry of concern in the Nepalese community of Northern Virginia and beyond for the nurse and young mother.

Naresh Bhatt is now facing state charges of murder and defiling a body, Prince William County court records show. The latter charge is connected to evidence showing the body of his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, was dismembered, police have said.

Bhatt – a former Fairfax County police recruit and former US Army Reserve automated logistics specialist – already faced a felony charge of concealing a dead body, court records show. He’s been held without bond since August.

Bhatt’s trial on all three charges is set to start September 8, Prince William County court records show. In court Wednesday, he waived his right to a speedy trial, CNN affiliate WJLA reported.

Kafle Bhatt, 28, the mother of a young daughter, has been presumed dead, according to authorities. No one has been able to find the beloved Nepalese community member since July 27, when she was last seen at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, where she worked as a registered nurse in the medical surgical unit.

“This is a moment of reckoning that we were hoping was coming, but now that it’s here, there’s a lot of emotions around that,” Kafle Bhatt’s former coworker Holly Wirth told reporters outside court Tuesday.

DNA tests now have proved blood found in Kafle Bhatt’s bedroom belonged to her, with evidence showing she was killed July 29, Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said Monday.

“From the beginning, we believed that she was murdered … based on the crime scene,” he said at a news conference. “This (DNA test result) helps the case and it kind of certifies what we thought occurred.”

Authorities continue to look for a body, though the lack of one is not detrimental to the investigation, the chief said.

“I feel we have a strong case,” Lugo said.

While executing a search warrant, investigators found what appeared to be blood pooling and blood splatter in the Bhatt home’s main bedroom, light pink stains on bedroom carpeting and pools of blood in the bathroom, “as if something was dragged across the floor,” WJLA reported from an August arraignment.

Prosecutors have told the court Bhatt had been recorded on camera driving his car – sometimes at night – disposing of trash bags in dumpsters and trash compactors in the days after his wife was reported missing, WJLA reported after a September bail hearing.

CNN has reached out to the Prince William County public defender’s office, which has said it typically doesn’t comment outside the courtroom on any case. The commonwealth’s attorney for Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park, Amy Ashworth, has said her office won’t comment on this case until it’s done.

‘We will be here every court hearing’

The new charges gave Kafle Bhatt’s family a sense of relief, but no one was celebrating, her former coworker told reporters.

“We’re not here happy,” Wirth said Monday. “There’s no amount of jail time that’s going to bring back what they really want, which is their daughter.”

Kafle Bhatt’s baby, nicknamed Mini Mamta, was reunited in August with her maternal grandparents from Nepal, an immigration attorney working with the family, Bandita Sharma Dahal, told CNN at the time.

Outside court Wednesday, Angel Rodas and other supporters vowed to see the trial through until justice is served.

“We will be here every court hearing, every motion, everything. We are going to see that he gets punished, and Mamta’s family gets the justice that they truly deserve so that they may lay their daughter to rest properly,” Rodas said.

Wednesday’s court appearance was delayed a day because interpreter services weren’t available, WJLA reported. Interpreter services have been a barrier in the judicial process so far, Wirth told reporters.

Mom reported missing days after police visit

Police first visited the couple’s home in Manassas on August 2, a day after Kafle Bhatt’s coworkers called for a wellness check. Kafle Bhatt, who worked two days a week at the hospital, had been expected at work on August 1 and 2, and her colleagues grew concerned after she did not show up or call, officials said.

When police talked to Naresh Bhatt, he “provided additional information” and told investigators he did not want to report her as missing at the time, police said.

Three days after the wellness check, Bhatt reported her missing and told investigators he last saw his wife at the dinner table July 31.

Naresh Bhatt was taken away in handcuffs August 22 after authorities conducted a search at the couple’s home. In September, he was denied bail.

CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji and Emma Tucker contributed to this report.

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