Husband on trial for murder of missing wife in Virginia, body never found

Naresh Bhatt, 39, faces murder charges in Virginia after his wife Mamta vanished in July 2024. Her body was never recovered, with experts saying discovery is near impossible.

Landfill expert: finding dismembered remains "would have to be luck"

The body of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, has never been found — and according to testimony heard this week in Prince William County Circuit Court, it likely never will be. John Poague, co-founder of Patriot Disposal, told jurors on Tuesday that locating human remains in a northern Virginia landfill "would have to be luck," courthousenews.com reports.

Prosecutors allege that in the days following Mamta's disappearance in July 2024, her husband Naresh Bhatt, 39, disposed of heavy-duty bags containing her dismembered remains in trash compactors across the region. Bhatt has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, defiling a body and concealing a body.

Circumstantial case in third week of trial

Now entering its third week, the trial rests entirely on circumstantial evidence. To address the absence of a corpse, prosecutors called William Hall, director of solid waste in Page County, who testified about the cost and environmental consequences of excavating a landfill in search of body parts.

Jurors also watched a recorded police interview with Naresh Bhatt. When asked to rate his own truthfulness on a scale of one to ten, he said he never lies. Asked whether he had done anything to cause his wife's disappearance, he said, "No." When pressed on why Mamta — a nurse and mother of an infant — had left, he responded, "I don't know. That's the problem."

Bhatt told investigators that Mamta had been happy in the relationship, though he acknowledged she had left him before and that the couple had argued. Asked whether someone might have harmed her, he said, "I don't know. I don't have any clue."

Purchases and bloodstain evidence

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors presented surveillance images showing Bhatt buying knives, heavy-duty trash bags and cleaning fluids at multiple stores. A crime scene investigator testified about the use of Bluestar, a chemical used to detect traces of old or cleaned blood. After spraying the couple's bathroom, blue spots appeared around the bathtub and in front of the shower. Additional traces of a suspected bloodstain were found in the bedroom carpet.

Mamta's credit cards were discovered inside her wallet, still in the couple's home, when officers searched the property shortly after her disappearance.

Witnesses describe change in Naresh's behaviour

Testimony on Tuesday painted a contrasting picture of life before and after Mamta vanished. The couple's babysitter described how Mamta routinely checked on the infant and always sent the child to care clean and well-dressed. After Mamta's disappearance, Naresh Bhatt brought the baby unwashed and in stained clothing.

A friend of Mamta's testified to feeling uncomfortable around Naresh. Prosecutors also attempted to introduce a colleague's account relating to domestic violence, but Judge Kimberly Irving limited that testimony on evidentiary grounds.

"She would not have missed her baby's milestone"

Central to the prosecution's argument is the claim that Mamta Bhatt would never have voluntarily abandoned her family. Lead prosecutor Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Sweet told the court early in the trial that the young mother would not have chosen to disappear just weeks before her daughter's first birthday. The child was nearly one year old when Mamta was last seen.

Naresh Bhatt offered shifting explanations to friends who began searching for Mamta shortly after she vanished. The trial continues in Prince William County, Virginia.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)