(CNN) — The search for Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a nurse and dedicated mother to a young daughter, has gone on for several weeks – but no one has been able to locate the beloved Nepalese community member.
Kafle Bhatt’s husband, Naresh Bhatt, is accused of killing her in their home then dragging her body outside, according to a criminal complaint. Bhatt, 37, faces a felony charge of concealment of a body, according to court records. He was taken away in handcuffs on August 22 after authorities conducted a search at the couple’s home.
Bhatt waived his right to a preliminary hearing during a brief appearance in a Virginia court Thursday morning. The court certified the case to a grand jury, which will decide whether there is probable cause to issue an indictment, court records show.
CNN has reached out to Shalev Ben-Avraham, the public defender representing Bhatt, for comment. Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County Amy Ashworth declined to comment until the case is over.
Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo told reporters Tuesday he hates to give up hope the missing woman is still alive – but doesn’t believe that to be true at this point.
Here’s what we know about the case and investigation so far:
How the investigation has unfolded
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. She last spoke to a friend on July 28, according to CNN affiliate WUSA . The same day, she posted a video on her TikTok account showing herself and her infant daughter, according to CNN affiliate WJLA .
Police visited the couple’s home in Manassas on August 2 after her co-workers at the medical center called for a wellness check on August 1. Kafle Bhatt worked two days a week at the hospital and was expected to work on August 1 and 2. Officials said they grew concerned after she did not show up to work or call.
When police talked to 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, a former Fairfax County police recruit and former US Army Reserve automated logistics specialist, reported her missing and told investigators he last saw his wife at the dinner table on July 31 and hadn’t seen her since.
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.
Initially, Bhatt cooperated with investigators, answering their questions. He also spoke with WUSA to express the difficulty of the situation and shared a message to his wife in the event she’d see the interview: “Hey, just come back. I’m myself and my baby, we are waiting like every second, every minute we are waiting. If you are listening, just, we are waiting here for you. We need you,” he said.
Bhatt told WUSA his wife of three years is “a special person” who is “caring and loving.” She had gone missing three times before, he said, but never for such a long time.
The Manassas Park Police Department issued four news releases in hopes of jogging the public’s memory to help find Kafle Bhatt – and community members created Facebook groups and GoFundMe accounts to raise awareness and funds for the search effort.
On August 21, the couple’s home was searched by detectives, though no details were provided at the time about what prompted the search.
Prior to that search, investigators executed 10 search warrants and conducted “hundreds of interviews related to this case,” Lugo said during a news conference the same day.
When asked 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 Bhatt had stopped being cooperative with police – a departure from the department’s news release on August 15 which said, “the husband, friends and co-workers have all been cooperative throughout the investigation.”
Police were called to the couple’s home for an allegation of disorderly conduct in February, but authorities were not releasing details of the call at this time, Lugo told CNN on Wednesday.
The morning after the August 21 search on the couple’s home, Bhatt was taken away in handcuffs, video from WJLA showed. An infant, the couple’s child, was also seen being taken away under a yellow blanket.
The infant has been reunited with her maternal grandparents who are from Nepal, Bandita Sharma Dahal, an immigration attorney working with the family, told CNN.
Bhatt has not been formally charged with murder, but the preliminary criminal complaint states that “on or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.”
Bhatt was hired as a police recruit in 2020 but was “unsuccessful in fulfilling the requirements of his role” and was dismissed in November that year, according to a statement from the Fairfax County Police Department.
Details about what investigators say they found while searching the couple’s home were revealed by prosecutors at an arraignment Friday.
Bhatt made inconsistent statements about his wife’s whereabouts, WJLA reported , and he claimed she destroyed her own cell phone before disappearing, investigators say.
On July 30, investigators say Bhatt was seen at a Walmart buying a pack of three knives, two of which were unaccounted for after the search of the couple’s home, according to WJLA. A day later, he was seen at another Walmart location buying cleaning supplies.
Investigators found what appeared to be blood pooling and blood splatter in the home’s main bedroom; the bed appeared to have been moved, blocking a closet; light pink stains were found on bedroom carpeting after the bed was removed; and pools of blood were found in the bathroom “as if something was dragged across the floor,” along with blood pooling on the shower floor, WJLA reported from Friday’s arraignment.
When investigators removed the bathtub, they saw what they believed to be blood in the caulking, WJLA reported.
It’s still unclear to whom the blood found in the couple’s home belongs.
A number of the cleaning supplies Bhatt purchased were also found in the home, which appeared to be in disarray, according to law enforcement details revealed at the arraignment, WJLA said.
Additionally, Bhatt sold his Tesla on August 19, and the house appeared to be packed up with a suitcase ready, items missing from hangers and passports available, WJLA reported.
“We’re all in a state of shock,” Holly Wirth, a former co-worker of Kafle Bhatt’s, told reporters after Friday’s arraignment. “Again, the details that came out are way more horrifying than what I would have expected.”
Community members gathered again outside the courthouse following Thursday’s hearing.
Kafle Bhatt “should be known as always a loving wife, a loving mother, a very proud registered nurse and a very good friend,” Wirth told reporters.
Wirth didn’t know her friend’s husband well, she said, but added she believes he had put up a facade.
“I can say people that were close to Naresh have questioned, ‘Why was I duped? Why was I fooled? Why did I trust this man in my house?,’” Wirth said. “The truth is what he portrayed at work and in the community was not his authentic self.”
Bhatt was ordered held without bond during a Monday morning hearing, WUSA reported.
On Tuesday – the same day another search warrant was executed at the couple’s home – Lugo told reporters more evidence had been uncovered but didn’t elaborate.
Authorities are waiting on a search warrant for Bhatt’s Tesla, which he sold to a dealership, Lugo said.
Community rallies behind mother and daughter
Sunita Basnet Thapa has been more than a former colleague and mentor to Kafle Bhatt – she’s been her “didi” or “di” – her “sister,” in South Asian culture. The pair met last June and quickly became close, Basnet Thapa told CNN on Monday.
Even though the two women worked opposite schedules, Kafle Bhatt would make sure Basnet Thapa was fed – often bringing her breakfast or lunch.
Then last February, Kafle Bhatt mentioned she was in a domestic violence situation with her husband, Basnet Thapa told CNN.
“I gave all the resources, I told her leave that house immediately, I offered my home to come, or go to shelter, I offered all help,” Basnet Thapa said.
But later on, “she sent me a message saying, ‘Di, I’m gonna go to family counselor, and wanted to give him one chance. And I realized how much I love him and I want to give him a chance, hoping he could be a better father, better person. Just I did not want to put him in problem.’ That’s what she said to me.”
Bhatt’s court-appointed counsel argued in court Friday his client should be released on bond, saying there’s “no evidence” Bhatt did anything wrong, according to news website Inside NoVa . “They actually haven’t released a shred of evidence that he did anything wrong,” said the attorney, whom the publication did not name. “He has no violent history … he has no allegations of abuse.”
Basnet Thapa described Kafle Bhatt as a humble, hardworking, independent, innocent person excited about her future who enjoys cooking, loves music and is a devoted mother who loves her daughter more than anything in the world.
Some members of the community have said they weren’t surprised to see Bhatt charged in connection with his wife’s disappearance. “The mother wouldn’t leave her baby. Definitely wouldn’t miss her first birthday,” a neighbor, Ivy Freedman, told WUSA .
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