A Virginia man is accused of killing the mother of his children, then dragging her out of their home and concealing her body, according to court documents made public on Friday.
U.S. Army veteran Naresh Bhatt, 37, allegedly Googled "How long does it take to get married after a spouse dies" in the months before 28-year-old pediatric nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt was last seen on July 27, prosecutors said at his first court appearance on Thursday.
Bhatt faces accusations that he abused his wife, prosecutors said, according to The Washington Post. When authorities searched their home in Manassas, Virginia, last week, they said they found a crime scene suggesting 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 said in court on Thursday, the Post reported. "Every indication in this case is that Mamta is no longer alive. And the commonwealth can pursue a homicide charge without a body."
"The crime scene investigator on the scene indicated she had never seen that much blood," the prosecutor said.
Blood traces indicated that "something was dragged" from the master bedroom to the bathroom at the couple's Manassas home, prosecutors said.
Bhatt has so far been charged with concealment of a dead body – his wife's remains are still unaccounted for.
Shalev Ben-Avraham, the public defender representing Bhatt, has said his client's case has been pushed forward prematurely without sufficient evidence. He repeatedly minimized the amount of blood found in the Bhatt home, according to local outlet Inside Nova, calling it "miniscule" and saying "that's maybe a nosebleed."
"This particular statute requires that there is a dead body. What they have, to be clear, is blood," Ben-Avraham said on Thursday, the Post reported. "[Bhatt] was arrested because there is a huge media frenzy. The chief of the Manassas Park police is under pressure to do something."
"Blood is not a body part. Blood in and of itself isn't enough," he continued. "I have no idea how the magistrate issued a warrant for [Bhatt's] arrest."
Ben-Avraham could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sami argued that the evidence against Bhatt was considerable and said further charges would follow, citing the volume of blood in the couple's home and Bhatt's search history, which she said was provided to local police by the U.S. Secret Service.
Although preliminary testing has concluded that the blood in the couple's home was of human origin, it has yet to be linked to the missing woman.
Earlier this month, prosecutors said Bhatt sold his Tesla, packed suitcases and talked to others about selling his home after his wife disappeared. Bhatt's attorney said his client had no intention of fleeing and that Bhatt was attempting to make money to provide for the couple's 1-year-old daughter.
Sami said Bhatt purchased knives on July 30 – the last day Mamta Bhatt's family heard from her – and also went to a Walmart in a neighboring county to buy Lysol and Febreze. When a search warrant was carried out at the Bhatt home last week, a bottle of carpet cleaner that Bhatt had purchased on July 31 was found empty.
Prosecutors also cited previous police responses to the Bhatt home on Heather Court for domestic violence. In February, Manassas police were summoned to the home for "disorderly conduct" – at the time, Mamta Bhatt told police that her husband "would not give her her documents and destroyed her phone," prosecutors said.
One of the missing woman's friends reportedly told police that Mamta Bhatt was the victim of domestic abuse and "suffered bruises in the months leading up" to her disappearance, Inside Nova reported.
On Monday, Bhatt was denied bond at Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Court. A judge ruled 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, launched multiple searches and captured the attention of the community at large.
"What we heard was worse than we could have imagined," her friend, Holly Wirth, told The Washington Post after a 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 although she and a dozen other supporters in court had been "trying to respect [Mamta Bhatt's] privacy," she was glad that the allegations of domestic abuse had been aired in the open.
"All of us have heard and seen and been texted things that we did not want to share," Wirth said. "But you know what, it’s in the record now. She was abused. And going forward, we are not afraid to call it what it is."
