Virginia man guilty of murder after claiming wife died by suicide before dismemberment

• After claiming for two years that he did not know his wife's whereabouts, Bhatt testified that he found her unconscious and dismembered her body.
• Bhatt faces up to life in prison for the murder conviction, plus an additional five years for each of the body manipulation counts.

A Virginia jury found 39-year-old Naresh Bhatt guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday in the killing of his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, rejecting defense arguments that she had committed suicide before he dismembered her remains.

Along with first-degree murder, jurors convicted Bhatt of concealing and defiling a dead body, concluding a high-profile criminal case that began when the 28-year-old registered nurse mysteriously vanished in Jul. 2024.

The presiding judge revoked Bhatt's bond and scheduled his sentencing hearing for March 12. Under state law, Bhatt faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for the murder charge, in addition to up to ten years for the two corpse manipulation offenses.

"This verdict represents an important measure of justice for Mamta Kafle Bhatt, whose life was tragically taken and whose family has endured more than two years of unimaginable pain and uncertainty," said Amy Ashworth, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Kafle Bhatt’s remains have never been recovered. She was last seen alive on Jul. 27, 2024, at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, where she worked.

When family and friends raised alarms over her absence ahead of her infant daughter’s first birthday, Bhatt told investigators and reporters that he had lost contact with her after dinner several days prior.

The six-week trial took a turn during Bhatt's testimony, when he admitted under oath to cutting up his wife's body and disposing of the parts. Bhatt testified that he woke up during the night to find her unresponsive on their bedroom floor surrounded by blood, vomit containing pills, and an open packet of Celphos, a lethal insecticide.

Bhatt claimed he attempted CPR for nearly an hour before moving her to a bathroom, but failed to call emergency services.

“I don’t know why I did not,” Bhatt testified. “I tried to call. I was really scared. I don’t know why, something take over me. I was really, really panicked. I don’t know.”

Bhatt told the court that in a state of panic, he decided to conceal her remains.

After realizing her body would not fit into a trash can, he used cutting tools to dismember her, placed the parts into several garbage bags, and discarded them into a trash compactor at an apartment complex where he previously lived.

He also admitted that the couple's 11-month-old child accompanied him on several of those disposal trips.

Outside the courthouse, friends and family members embraced following the verdict.

"The truth has come out," said Holly Wirth, a former colleague and close friend of the victim. "He killed her, he defiled her, he threw her away like trash. But let me tell you what I know: She is not trash. She wasn’t trash then and she’s not trash today, and we are going to do everything we can, Mamta, to make sure your daughter knows how much you are loved."