Prosecutors say evidence of blood was found in the master bedroom and shower of the Manassas Park home shared by Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who’s been missing for over three weeks, and her husband, Naresh, who is charged with concealing her body.
During Friday’s arraignment, Prince William County Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Sarah Sami revealed new details about the case against Naresh Bhatt, who was charged Thursday. Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old mother and nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, has been missing since July 31.
In arguing why Naresh Bhatt should continue to be held without bond, Sami said after Mamta missed two days of work, Manassas Park police responded to the couple’s home for a welfare check. Naresh Bhatt declined to file a missing persons report, saying she was in New York visiting family.
“It’s important to note that Mamta has no family in the U.S.,” Sami said.
Over the next several days, her husband “made a number of inconsistent statements on her whereabouts,” including that she was visiting friends in Texas.
On July 30, Sami said Bhatt went to a Walmart in neighboring Loudoun County, “and bought a pack of three knives — two are unaccounted for.”
The next day, he returned to Loudoun County and bought cleaning materials, including Lysol and Febreze, according to Sami.
What investigators found in the home
On Aug. 21, Manassas Park detectives, assisted by the Prince William County Police Forensic Unit, executed a search warrant at the couple’s home.
In the master bedroom, using Bluestar Forensic technology, which allows the detection of blood traces at crime scenes, investigators found “poolings of blood and blood spatter,” Sami said.
The bed had been moved in front of a closet. Investigators found “a light pink puddle or stain that they believe is blood,” she said.
Similar evidence was found leading to the master bathroom, “as if something is being dragged.”
In the shower, “the whole floor of the shower lights up” when processed with the blood-trace technology. And, in the bathtub area, blood in caulking was visible to the naked eye,” Sami said.
After his wife was last seen, Sami said Naresh Bhatt “sold his Tesla to CarMax, his house appeared to be packed up, with a suitcase with clothing in it, and he and his 1-year-old’s passports were openly available in the bedroom” during the search.
Sami acknowledged that much of the evidence is circumstantial.
“We won’t know if it’s Mamta’s blood until it’s tested,” she said.
Defense attorney: ‘We have a media frenzy’ — but little evidence
Naresh Bhatt’s attorney told the judge there’s little in the current case to justify holding him without bond for a Class 6 felony — the least serious in Virginia.
Shalev Ben-Avraham, senior assistant public defender for the county, told Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Katherine McCollam prosecutors haven’t proffered any evidence of a crime.
“They think they have found blood? They have nothing to suggest he murdered her. He bought cleaning supplies? So what, I go to other counties to pick up things when I’m driving around,” said Ben-Avraham.
He argued that holding his client before trial, based on the current charge — prohibition against concealment of a dead body — was an overreach.
“We don’t have a murder or assault. We don’t know that she’s passed away. They think she’s missing, and we have a media frenzy,” said Ben-Avraham, who suggested Naresh Bhatt should turn over his passport, post a private bond and be subject to GPS monitoring until trial.
“I understand the optics, but they haven’t a shred of evidence,” to merit holding the husband without bond. That could change, “if they bring other charges tomorrow, but under this charge, he should be released,” said Ben-Avraham.
Judge McCollam said Naresh Bhatt would continue to be held until a bond hearing Monday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24.
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