Warning: This report includes gruesome details that readers might find disturbing.
Jurors found Naresh Bhatt guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of his wife and the mother of their child, Mamta Kafle. They also found him guilty of defiling and concealing Kafle’s body.
Tuesday’s verdict followed almost six weeks of testimony from numerous witnesses, including Bhatt, who admitted in surprise testimony last week that he dismembered and disposed of Kafle’s body. Bhatt claimed he didn’t kill his wife but found her dead from an apparent suicide.
But the prosecution told the jury not to believe Bhatt’s “made up crazy story” during closing arguments earlier Tuesday.
News4’s Erika Gonzalez explains the prosecution’s case against Naresh Bhatt, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of his wife and the mother of their child, Mamta Kafle.
“The defendant murdered Mamta Kafle, the defendant dismembered Mamta Kafle and the defendant got rid of her like garbage,” Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Sarah Sami said.
Kafle’s body was never found after she disappeared from their Manassas Park home in July 2024.
“He gave her a final resting place of the landfill in Luray, Virginia. Mamta will always be missing for that family there. Always be missing. We know she’s dead, but she is missing because they will never be able to give her her last rights. She’s in pieces, crushed in some landfill somewhere. That is what this family will have to live with,” Sami said.
News4’s Drew Wilder spoke to Mamta Kafle’s friend, Holly Wirth, after the Naresh Bhatt was found guilty of murdering his wife, Mamta.
Bhatt faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for the first-degree murder conviction. The other convictions of concealing and defiling a body carry up to five years each. Bhatt is set to be sentenced in March.
Dozens of Kafle’s friends and members of the local Nepali community celebrated the verdict outside the courthouse.
“Today we got justice!” one man exclaimed to reporters. “Justice has prevailed.”
“After 832 days … since Mamta has been missing, finally he has been convicted,” another man said.
A 12-year-old boy walked up and said boldly under the shadow of the mics, “Today is a day we should proudly celebrate as it is also a Nepali festival called Tihar which is very similar to Diwali and can celebrate the end of evil and the victory of righteousness. I think we should all celebrate this day every year as a remembrance in the name of Mamta Kafle. Mic drop.”
Bhatt suggested on the witness stand Monday that finding Kafle dead triggered his PTSD and he began dismembering her in a state of mind that he wasn’t fully in control of.
The verdict came Tuesday after nearly six weeks of testimony from numerous witnesses, including Bhatt, who admitted to dismembering and disposing of Kafle’s body in surprise testimony last week.
“He had to admit what he could not deny and deny what he could not admit,” Sami said to the jury. “He had to admit that he cut up the mother of his child.”
“A normal person who finds their wife dead on the floor with some supposed poison calls 911 and somehow he wants us to believe it’s a cultural thing? Are you kidding?” she said.
However, Bhatt’s defense attorney Tracey Lenox alluded to there being reasonable doubt and questioned the prosecution’s claim that Bhatt abused Kafle.
“If a doubt about what happened lives in your mind, based on reason, you must render a not guilty verdict,” she said.
Naresh Bhatt’s testimony about getting rid of his wife’s body in Northern Virginia was met with gasps. Watch News4’s special coverage deep dive.
Bhatt’s bombshell testimony took trial in unexpected direction
In stunning testimony last week, Bhatt claimed he found Kafle dead of an apparent suicide and that he dismembered her body and threw it out in the trash after his attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.
Bhatt said there were pills and open cases of pesticides near Kafle’s body the morning of July 30, 2024.
“Why didn’t you call 911?” Lenox asked Bhatt.
“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 don’t really even, like, it’s been, like, over two years. I have completed more than 3,500 hours of meditation. Still I don’t have that answer,” he said.
“Are you afraid that you’re going to be blamed for driving her to suicide?” his lawyer asked.
“Yes,” he said.
Bhatt remained emotionless as he described using a saw to dismember Kafle’s body to get it to fit into a trash can at the home.
Multiple surveillance videos the prosecution presented during the trial show Bhatt dumping numerous bags into different trash dumpsters while wearing gloves. Bhatt said none of those bags contained Kafle’s remains, but they had her personal belongings.
The prosecution challenged Naresh Bhatt after his claim that his wife, Mamta Kafle, killed herself. News4’s Drew Wilder reports.
His testimony was a direct about-face from his previous statements to police and reporters. Bhatt said after Kafle’s disappearance that she left their home and was likely either in New York or Texas.
Prosecutor Matthew Sweet immediately confronted the change to Bhatt’s story in cross examination.
“You’re a liar,” he said.
“Yes,” Bhatt replied.
“You lied,” Sweet continued before applause erupted in the courtroom and the judge called for order.
This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.
