A Virginia man has been charged with murder more than four months after his wife disappeared, leaving behind a chilling trail of evidence in their home near Washington, D.C. The case has rocked the quiet community of Manassas Park, drawing both local and international attention.
Naresh Bhatt, 37, now faces charges of murder and defiling a dead body. Police announced the charges on Monday after a Prince William County grand jury indicted him. Despite the heartbreaking fact that Mamta Bhatt, his 28-year-old wife, hasn’t been found, investigators say the evidence paints a grim picture.
According to Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo, detectives discovered a significant amount of blood in the couple’s home shortly after Mamta vanished. DNA tests confirmed the blood belonged to Mamta, who was a beloved pediatric nurse. Lugo said investigators were confident from the beginning that Mamta had been murdered.
“We’ve believed she was killed since day one,” Lugo shared during a news conference on Monday evening.
Police found the blood in both the bedroom and bathroom when they first searched the home. At the time, Naresh was there with the couple’s baby. Chief Lugo revealed that evidence suggests Naresh cut up Mamta’s body, which led to the additional charge of defiling a corpse.
Despite not having Mamta’s body, Lugo expressed confidence in the case. “We feel we have a strong case even without the body,” he said.
Naresh Bhatt is already behind bars, facing earlier charges related to the case. In July, just weeks after Mamta’s disappearance, he was arrested for concealing a dead body. That charge came after a prosecutor revealed that the amount of blood found in the home suggested injuries too severe for survival. Naresh has remained in jail since then, awaiting trial.
Mamta’s disappearance in late July sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community of Manassas Park. Her family in Nepal and local supporters joined forces, posting on social media, hosting events, and holding rallies to keep the case in the public eye. Pressure quickly mounted on Naresh, who became a key suspect early in the investigation.
While the trial for concealing a body was originally set for next week, the murder charge adds new weight to the case. Naresh’s defense attorney, Chief Public Defender Tracey Lenox, has not commented on the latest developments.
Cases like this, where a murder is prosecuted without a body, are rare but not unheard of. Thanks to modern tools like DNA evidence, cellphone tracking, and surveillance footage, these cases are becoming more manageable for law enforcement.
Former federal prosecutor Tad DiBiase, who wrote a book on prosecuting bodiless murder cases, has tracked 604 such trials in the U.S. As of September, 87% of these cases ended in convictions.
For now, Mamta’s family and the community await justice, holding onto hope that the truth about her tragic disappearance will fully come to light.
