Virginia man convicted of wife's murder after dismembering her body
Naresh Bhatt, convicted of first-degree murder, claimed his wife died by suicide before he dismembered her. Prosecutors dismissed the claim as "ridiculous."
Virginia jury convicts man of first-degree murder after wife's remains found dismembered
A Virginia man who claimed he discovered his wife dead by suicide before cutting up her body has been convicted of first-degree murder, theguardian.com reports. Naresh Bhatt, 28, was found guilty on Tuesday following a six-week trial in Manassas and now faces a life sentence when he is sentenced in March.
Bhatt had testified in his own defence that he woke in July 2024 to find his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, dead in their bedroom from an apparent pesticide ingestion. He said he panicked, fearing he would be blamed, and took their infant daughter to a babysitter before returning to the house. He then went to Home Depot and Walmart to purchase knives and cleaning supplies, prosecutors said, and used them along with a saw to dismember her body and place the remains inside a garbage can.
Prosecutors in Prince William County rejected his account outright. "He wants you to believe now that even though he cut up Mamta's body, even though he stuffed her in the garbage can, he had nothing to do with her death," said Sarah Sami, senior assistant attorney of Prince William County's commonwealth's attorney office. "Come on. That's ridiculous."
Sami described Bhatt, a Nepali national, as a controlling and obsessive husband who denied his wife access to their car and money throughout their marriage. "The reality was Mamta lived in a house of terrors … a kingdom of torture where the king reigned," she told jurors.
Surveillance footage shown to the jury captured Bhatt disposing of large items in dumpsters near the couple's home. Internet searches attributed to him included "what happens if spouse disappears?" and inquiries into how to "donate" a baby to a friend. He did not report his wife missing for several days and acknowledged to defence attorney Tracey Lenox that he had not called 911, saying he was "really scared."
Mario Lugo, chief of the Manassas Park police department, told Washington DC's Fox 5 last year that Mamta Bhatt's remains might never be fully recovered.
Gita Kafle, Mamta Bhatt's mother, testified that her daughter would never have abandoned their child, now three years old. Holly Wirth, a friend and colleague of the victim, spoke to reporters after the verdict. "He killed her. He defiled her. He threw her away like trash," Wirth said.
Defence attorney Lenox had urged the jury to acquit Bhatt on the concealment charge, arguing his actions lacked malice. The jury convicted him on all three counts: first-degree murder, concealing a dead body, and defiling a dead body. Sentencing is scheduled for March.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)