Prosecutor: Blood trails and cleanup work in case of Manassas Park man accused of hiding wife's body

Prosecutors said traces of blood were found in the master bedroom and shower of the Manassas Park home shared by Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who has been missing for more than three weeks, and her husband Naresh, who is accused of hiding her body.

During Friday's arraignment, Prince William County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Sarah Sami revealed new details in the case against Naresh Bhatt, who was arraigned Thursday. Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old mother and nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, has been missing since July 31.

Arguing why Naresh Bhatt should continue to be held without bail, Sami said that after Mamta was absent from work for two days, Manassas Park police came to the couple's house to inquire about their well-being. Naresh Bhatt refused to file a missing person's report as she was in New York visiting her family.

“It is important to note that Mamta has no family in the United States,” Sami said.

Over the next few days, her husband made “a series of conflicting statements about 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 purchased a package containing three knives – two of which are missing.”

The next day, he returned to Loudoun County and bought cleaning supplies, including Lysol and Febreze, Sami said.

What the investigators found in the house

On August 21, Manassas Park detectives, with assistance from the Prince William County Police Forensic Unit, executed a search warrant at the couple's home.

In the master bedroom, investigators found “pools of blood and blood splatters,” Sami said, using Bluestar Forensic's technology to detect blood at crime scenes.

The bed had been pushed in front of a closet. Investigators found “a light pink puddle or stain that they believe is blood,” she said.

Similar marks were found on the way to the master bathroom, “as if something was being dragged.”

In the shower, “the entire floor of the shower lights up” when examined with the blood stain technology. And in the bathtub area, blood in the sealant was visible to the naked eye,” Sami said.

After his wife was last seen, Sami said that during the search, Naresh Bhatt “sold his Tesla to CarMax, his house appeared to be packed, with a suitcase full of clothes in it, and his passport and that of his one-year-old were lying open in the bedroom.”

Sami acknowledged that much of the evidence was circumstantial.

“We won’t know if it’s Mamta’s blood until it’s tested,” she said.

Defense attorney: “We have a media hype” – but little evidence

Naresh Bhatt's attorney told the judge that there was little reason to hold him without bail in this case because it is a Class 6 felony – the least serious crime in Virginia.

Shalev Ben-Avraham, deputy district public defender, told Juvenile and Family District Court Judge Katherine McCollam that prosecutors had presented no evidence of a crime.

“She think They found blood? They have nothing to indicate he murdered her. He bought cleaning supplies? So what, I drive to other counties to pick up stuff when I drive around,” Ben-Avraham said.

He argued that detaining his client in court on the basis of the current charge – prohibition of concealing a corpse – went too far.

“We don't have a murder or an attack. We don't know if she died. They think she is missing and we have a media frenzy,” said Ben-Avraham, who suggested that Naresh Bhatt surrender his passport, post private bail and undergo GPS monitoring until trial.

“I understand that it looks like that, but they don't have the slightest evidence” to justify holding the husband without bail. That could change “if they bring other charges tomorrow, but he should be released on this charge,” Ben-Avraham said.

Judge McCollam said Naresh Bhatt will remain in custody pending a bail hearing on Monday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 24.

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