EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
For more than two years, Naresh Bhatt said he didn’t know what happened to his missing wife.
The Virginia man pressed police, and in media interviews, he last saw her at the family dinner table days before reporting her missing.
Today, Bhatt admitted on the stand at his murder trial that not only was his wife dead, but he dismembered her before disposing of her remains.
Bhatt, 39, has not admitted to killing his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, telling jurors last week that she killed herself. He said he panicked after finding her unconscious and surrounded by vomit and blood in their bedroom.
The stunning testimony came nearly five weeks into Bhatt’s trial, in which he faces charges of first-degree murder, concealing a corpse and desecrating a corpse.
Bhatt was arrested at his home in Manassas, Virginia, a small Northern Virginia suburb outside Washington, D.C., on August 22, 2024 – about three weeks after his wife was reported missing. He was initially accused of concealing a dead body, although a criminal complaint at the time alleged that “on or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.”
At the time, Bhatt was not formally charged with murder. That changed four months later, in December 2024, when a Prince William County grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder and desecration of a corpse, adding those charges to his cover-up charge.
Bhatt now faces a possible life sentence if convicted. Additional charges of concealing and desecrating a corpse carry lesser penalties under Virginia law, CNN affiliate WUSA reported.
CNN has reached out to Bhatt’s attorney for comment. Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County Amy Ashworth declined to comment on the ongoing case and told CNN on Monday that her office would make comments once the jury completes its deliberations.
Judge Kimberly Irving approved an instruction allowing jurors to consider second-degree murder if they do not find the necessary elements for first-degree murder have been met, CNN affiliate WJLA reported.
Kafle Bhatt was last seen on July 27, 2024, at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, Virginia, according to police. Kafle Bhatt worked there as a registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit, the center previously told CNN.
The 28-year-old spoke with a friend the next day, WUSA reported at the time. The same day, she posted a video to her TikTok account showing herself and her baby daughter, according to WJLA.
Then she disappeared, just weeks before her daughter’s first birthday — a decision those close to her found troubling given how devoted they said she was to her daughter.
His absence sparked an extensive search that drew friends and members of the local Nepali community to vigils and rallies calling for his safe return.
Kafle Bhatt’s mother, Gita, and brother Mahesh eventually arrived in Virginia from Nepal. Both testified at Bhatt’s trial through an interpreter, WUSA reported. Gita now lives with Mahesh and helps take care of Kafle Bhatt’s toddler, according to the local station.
Her husband says he ‘panicked’
Bhatt had maintained that he did not know what had happened to his wife, telling reporters the week after her disappearance that he was “suffering” in her absence. But last week, on his second day on the stand, Bhatt completely changed his story.
Bhatt testified that he fell asleep with the couple’s infant daughter around 8 p.m. on July 29, 2024, and woke up around 4 a.m. to a strange smell in their bedroom at the foot of their bed, WUSA reported.
Kafle Bhatt was lying on her back, surrounded by vomit containing pills, blood and an open packet of Celphos, a highly toxic insecticide, nearby. Bhatt said he tried to resuscitate her for about an hour before carrying her to their bathroom, the station reported.
He doesn’t know why he didn’t call 911 for help, he told jurors.
“I don’t know why I didn’t do it,” he said. “I tried to call. I was really scared. I don’t know why, something came over me. I was really, really panicked. I don’t know.”
Bhatt took his child to dispose of his wife’s remains, he said
Instead of calling authorities for help, Bhatt testified on the stand that he decided to hide his wife’s body. He said he first considered dumping her body in the Potomac River, then tried to put it in a trash can.
When that didn’t sit well with him, he said, he began cutting her body into pieces in the family bathroom using a reciprocating saw that he then gave to a landscaper in exchange for a $40 payment, WUSA reported.
“You cut up his body and put it in the trash so it couldn’t be found?” his lawyer Tracey Lenox asked him in court last week. “Yes,” he replied.
Bhatt admitted to putting his wife’s remains in several trash bags, although he did not remember exactly how many, WUSA reported. He said he drove the bags to the trash compactor at an old apartment complex in Falls Church, where he previously lived, and put some in the household trash.
During his testimony, Bhatt said he threw Kafle Bhatt’s clothes into a separate dumpster because he feared his spirit, the station reported. He also admitted to taking the couple’s daughter, who was 11 months old at the time, with him on some trips to dispose of her remains and clothes.
Bhatt returned to the witness box Monday as his trial draws to a close. A verdict could be reached as early as this week, WUSA reported.
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