Jury Convicts Naresh Bhatt of Murder Hours After His Own Admission

A nurse vanishes from Manassas Park

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was a registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, Virginia. She was last seen at the hospital on July 27, 2024. The next day she spoke with a friend and posted a TikTok video of herself with her infant daughter. Then she was gone — weeks before the girl's first birthday.

Her husband, Naresh Bhatt, reported her missing in August 2024. He told police and reporters at the time that he didn't know where she was, suggesting she might be in New York or Texas. Friends, family and members of the local Nepalese community held vigils and rallies calling for her safe return.

Police arrested Bhatt on August 22, 2024, at the couple's home in Manassas on a charge of concealing a dead body. On December 2, 2024, a Prince William County grand jury added charges of first-degree murder and defiling a dead body.

The trial, held before Judge Kimberly Irving in Prince William County, ran six weeks. Prosecutors built their case on DNA and surveillance evidence: store video showed Bhatt buying trash bags, knives, cleaning supplies and gloves at Home Depot; a reciprocating power saw he later gave to a landscaper tested positive for Kafle's DNA; and blood found on the primary bedroom carpet was, in a forensic witness's words, "beyond likely" hers.

In the trial's fifth week, Bhatt took the stand and changed his story. He testified that on the night of July 29, 2024, he slept down the hall with the couple's baby, woke around 4 a.m. on July 30, and found Kafle on the bedroom floor surrounded by vomit, pills and an open packet of Celphos, a toxic pesticide. He said he tried to revive her for up to an hour, moved her body to the bathroom, and never called 911.

Instead, Bhatt said, he panicked. He texted the family's babysitter, dropped off his daughter, and drove to Home Depot. Over the next day and a half, he testified, he used a saw to reduce his wife's body so it would fit in the household trash. Surveillance video the prosecution had already shown the jury captured him dumping bags into area dumpsters; he said those bags held only her belongings. Her remains have never been found.

Who's involved in the case

Naresh Bhatt, 39, grew up in Nepal before coming to the United States, working odd jobs and later enlisting in the Army, where he testified he began experiencing symptoms a defense psychologist would later diagnose as PTSD. He worked as an IT specialist and systems technician.

Mamta Kafle Bhatt was 28, a nurse, and the mother of the couple's daughter, who was not yet one year old when her mother disappeared. Kafle's mother, Gita, and brother, Mahesh, traveled from Nepal during the case; both testified at trial through an interpreter. Gita now lives with Mahesh and helps raise her granddaughter.

Mahesh Kafle testified he told his sister not to marry Bhatt the first time he met him, and that months before she disappeared, she secretly texted him a photo appearing to show a black eye, telling him she might need it later and that she planned to delete it from her own phone. Holly Wirth, a friend and former coworker, described Kafle to reporters as a devoted mother who "loves to dance."

The case was tried by Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sarah Sami and prosecutor Matthew Sweet for the Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney's office, led by Amy Ashworth. Bhatt was represented by defense attorney Tracey Lenox. Forensic analyst Iris Dalley Graff and a Department of Forensic Science witness testified about the physical evidence; psychologist Dr. Barry Rosenfeld of Fordham University testified for the defense that Bhatt meets the clinical criteria for PTSD.

"The defendant murdered Mamta Kafle, the defendant dismembered Mamta Kafle and the defendant got rid of her like garbage," — Sarah Sami, Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney, per NBC4 Washington.

Charges, verdict and the sentence ahead

Bhatt pleaded not guilty to all three charges: first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. Judge Irving allowed jurors to also consider second-degree murder if they found the elements of first-degree murder weren't met.

The jury didn't need that option. On Tuesday, November 10, 2026, after about four hours of deliberation following closing arguments, jurors convicted Bhatt on all three counts — first-degree murder, defiling a dead body and concealing a dead body.

Under Virginia law, which abolished the death penalty in 2021, Bhatt faces 20 years to life in prison on the murder conviction, plus up to five years each on the concealment and defiling counts. He's scheduled to be sentenced on March 12, 2027. He can appeal the convictions to the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

What was said in the courtroom

The Facebook post that brought readers here pointed to a juror telling a TV station, "So many lies were told." That specific interview does not appear in the court coverage available to this desk, and it isn't reproduced here. What the record does document is a trial full of moments where jurors and the courtroom reacted, in real time, to Bhatt's credibility.

Describing the moment he said he found his wife dead, Bhatt testified: "I really at that point scared. I don't know why I did not. I tried to call. I really scared. I don't know why. Something take over me. I was really, really panic. I don't know … I have completed more than 3,500 hours of meditation. Still I don't have that answer," he told the court, according to NBC4 Washington.

Prosecutor Matthew Sweet opened his cross-examination by telling Bhatt directly, "You're a liar," before adding, "You lied" — a moment NBC4 reported drew applause in the courtroom that the judge had to call to order.

In closing arguments, Sami told the jury: "The defendant murdered Mamta Kafle, the defendant dismembered Mamta Kafle and the defendant got rid of her like garbage," according to NBC4. She added that Bhatt "gave her a final resting place of the landfill in Luray, Virginia … She's in pieces, crushed in some landfill somewhere. That is what this family will have to live with."

Defense attorney Tracey Lenox urged jurors toward doubt: "If a doubt about what happened lives in your mind, based on reason, you must render a not guilty verdict," she said, per NBC4. Outside the courtroom, a friend of Kafle's was less measured: "He has no emotions. It's all made up … he memorized all this last two years. 'This is what I want to say,'" she told reporters, according to NBC4. After the verdict, members of the local Nepali community celebrated outside the courthouse — one man told reporters, "Today we got justice! Justice has prevailed."

What happens next

Naresh Bhatt is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12, 2027. He faces 20 years to life in prison on the first-degree murder conviction and up to five years each on the concealing and defiling a dead body convictions. He can appeal his convictions to the Court of Appeals of Virginia.