48 Hours - What Happened to Mamta Kafle Bhatt?

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

Mamta Kafle Bhatt vanished without a trace in 2024. Ahead of trial, "48 Hours" producer Michelle Sigona and "48 Hours" consultant Herman Weisberg explore the evidence prosecutors say points to her husband, Naresh Bhatt, and what jurors may hear in this closely watched no-body case.

Hello, sir, how are you? I'm on the United States Park, please. We're looking for Ms. Monta Calfle. Yeah, we see, like on Tuesday, Wednesday, she left, and then she says she's going to go either Newark or Texas, and then she left, like, she had the phone, and then she destroyed that phone, and then she left. That was Nuresh Bhatt, the Manassas Park, Virginia man,

charged with murdering his wife, Mumta Kofli bot. Noresh was arrested and held without bomb. on August 22nd, 2024. Mumpta's body still has not been found. I'm 48-hour producer Michelle Saganah, and this is case-by-case. Now, I'm in the D.C. area, and this is a story that's been covered heavily, especially over the last couple of years, by our local media. Mumta Coughley-Bot was just 28 years old when she went missing,

and that was in 2024. she was last seen on July 27th that year by her coworkers, and that was at the UVA Prince William Medical Center. That's where she was a pediatric nurse. Now, after not showing up for a few days, her coworkers requested a welfare check on August 2nd. It was then that officer spoke to Nuresh, who initially said he didn't want to report her missing,

and that's because she had allegedly left the home like this before. Three days later, on August 5th, he did file that missing report. And on the 7th, he even posted on Facebook that his wife went missing. He encouraged people to go to the nearest police department or to their friends or family with any information, ending his post with, quote, I appreciate your unconditional support and hope to get help down the road in future days. Since she had not contacted her friends, family, or even coworkers, Mumta's disappearance was declared involuntary, and that was on August the 8th. The Nepali-American couple had an arranged marriage back in December of 2020,

and they share a three-year-old daughter together. Mumta's mother and brother came from Nepal in October 2024 to care for the child right here in the United States, and the BOT trial is expected to start in early October, and this could last up to seven weeks. Now, while Nuresh initially faced charges of concealing a dead body, prosecutors later added charges of first-degree murder and physically defiling a dead body. In a bond motion hearing back in September 2024, senior assistant public defender requested that he be released, and this was citing his seven years of experience. and service within the United States Army and the fact that he worked in IT at the White House. Neresh was also hired as a police recruit for Fairfax County in 2020. But according to the Fairfax County Police Department, he was, quote, unsuccessful in fulfilling the requirements of the role.

Now, the bond motion was denied, and Noresh has since been held at the Prince William Manassas adult detention center. Joining us today is 48-hour consultant Herman Weisberg. Herman is a private investigator, former NYPD detective, and the managing director of SAGE Intelligence Group. And this is where he oversees investigations. Thank you so much for being here, Herman. It's always great to see you. Hi, Michelle. Happy to be working with you on this.

I first want to talk to you about Mumta's disappearance. I mean, she was last seen at work on July 27, 2024. for. But from what we've been able to learn, she did speak to a friend on July 28th. And then the day after that, she had a video call with her mom. So I'm curious about how her phone activity leading up to her disappearance may come up in this trial and really play a role. So I read that Momta actually spoke to her mother twice a day. Her mom lived in Nepal at the time, and they kept an extremely close contact. That call on the 29th was actually Momta's last call to her mom. So this sudden cutting off of very consistent, almost systematic communications between her, her mom, that's going to raise some red flags for the family.

The defense could hint that Momta just pulled away from her husband and child because she was unhappy, but prosecutors are going to point out that Momta's probably not going to cut herself off completely from her whole community and family like that. Given the fact that Momta's body still hasn't been found, prosecutors will have to get creative about the evidence in this case. So phone data, camera footage, GPS location, all of this very much comes into play. Absolutely. So in a pretrial hearing, this was in September 24, the senior assistant Commonwealth's attorney laid out this timeline. Now, early in the morning, this is on July 30th, Neresh dropped off their three-year-old daughter at their babysitter's apartment in Manassas Park. At the sitters apartment

complex, he was captured on camera, throwing away several bags of garbage inside one of the local dumpsters there. Now, that same day, according to authorities, he Googled, quote, diagram of a brain and chicken farm near me. Now, all of this was before going to a local Home Depot and a Walmart to buy a set of knives and a 40 pack of extra strong black trash bags. Now, I can see the knives and the bags raising eyebrows. You know, we've seen this before. But chicken farms, why do you think he could have been researching that?

Well, the diagram of a brand you got me, anyone's guess is as good as mine. I can't figure that out. And remember, we're just getting bits and pieces of this. The prosecution is going to have this laid out, and this will be a very important part of the case. I think anyone looking to mask the odor of a decomposing body, you would think to yourself, what's the smelliest places that I remember, even from your childhood or anything or just from reputation?

And one of those places is this chicken farm. If you've ever been anywhere near one, you know that that's an extremely strong smell. I have been near a chicken farm. I own chickens, and we keep the coop far away from the house. So yes. It's a very strong. That ammonia smell is distinct. And it, I would think it would mask anything, you know. Now, Herman, the day after, this is on July 31st, Narech did return to Manassas Park. And this was to pick up their daughter, but not before he was captured on video, taking bags out of that time. Tesla, putting them into a trash compactor about 20 miles away, and that was in Falls Church, Virginia. Now, when he returned to the babysitter's apartment, this is what we've learned in Manassas Park,

he threw away more trash bags there. Investigators spoke to the babysitter who said he was nervous and kept looking around, and Herman, the purchases dropping off trash bags in multiple locations, and now hearing from the babysitter, what do you think is going to stick out here? to the prosecution team. So the police pulled Nuresh's Tesla's GPS data, and the prosecution noted that he was spotted at a gas station with a noticeable limp. He was dropping off a bag at a donation bin.

Luckily, because it was a donation bin and not just a dumpster, the police were able to retrieve that bag, and they found a bath mat testing positive for blood. So that's really fortunate for the police, because when you're just dropping off bags in different various locations, dumpsters and garbage pails, the police are never going to find any of that. There's never going to be recovered, but a donation, that's a slip-up because that stuff sits there

for a while. I think, you know, based on the evidence, he was concerned with the disposal and the concealment of a body or body parts. And based on the purchases and visiting multiple locations, to me, it's conceivable that he was dealing with an extremely messy. crime scene that produced a lot of evidence that he needed to get rid of. So that's going to be something for them to just go through with the jury step by step and create as much of a timeline as they can based on that information. Absolutely. Yeah. Let's talk about the phone for a moment.

So according to the Commonwealth's timeline, on August 1st, Neresh's phone was turned off with no activity. But Mumta's phone sent a signal from Loudoun County, Virginia, and that's about 30 miles away from a NASA's Park. So what do you make of this? I would think he was trying to mislead the detectives or anybody that might be looking at this stuff. As you said in the introduction, he had a IT background and a military background. I think this could be an attempt at somewhat of a false flag operation. That's a military term, basically describing an action meant to be pinned on someone else or to throw off investigators. And that kind of goes back to. to what he had mentioned early on in the body cam footage that we played for you at the beginning of the show.

Maybe she went to New York. Maybe she went to another state, you know, something along those lines. So we've heard from the babysitter. From a witness perspective, who else would you want to hear from regarding this case? I think it's interesting that Noresh was dismissed as a police recruit. I'd love to speak to his instructors. See what happened there because that's kind of a broad statement. You know, he didn't fulfill the needs. for so many different reasons. You know, just never know what you're going to find, and you've got really good, credible witnesses there that are all, you know, current or police officers.

I'd pull his military records. Anything that could show if he had any kind of, you know, anger issues, temper issues, behavioral issues, they might even go back and interview some of his past girlfriends or relationships, neighbors, anybody that he might have interacted with that he might have blown a fuse. You know, I think if I was ringing doorbells out there, that would be like my aim to try to get a behavioral analysis or behavioral information on him.

And I think with the military portion, I would imagine, again, I probably have more experience with the police side portion. And you do is while my husband went through a police academy while in the fire department. And they go through, you know, everything. They talk to so many people and do such a large investigation. so there's really a lot there to pull from, as you mentioned. I do think it's interesting that Mumta's phone was still active in the area because around this time is when her coworkers started noticing that she wasn't coming into work, and that's when the welfare check was requested. And so just to let everyone know, a welfare check is an official request to check on an individual. It's due to concern for their safety or well-being under reasonable suspicion, and police officers conducted this.

check on Mumpta Bhat on August 2nd. Now, in all of your years, Herman, as an NYPD detective, have you done welfare checks like this? And if so, what would you look for? Oh, yeah. Welfare checks. When you're on patrol, when you're in uniform, you get calls for this a lot, you know, maybe not daily, but definitely weekly. They vary a lot. You know, sometimes you get a call from an out-of-town relative that wants to check up on their relative that hasn't answered their first. phone in a day or so. And you ring the doorbell and nine times out of ten, you know, they forgot to charge it or they did an update and they left the ringer off. As a police officer, after going on these calls over and over and over again, and it gets kind of mundane. You get jaded from doing

these, like a lot of things. This one's a little different because it's somebody that hasn't reported to work and the husband hasn't reported them missing. But, you know, as a young cop, you'd probably suspect that, you know, that they had a bad marriage and they broke up. I can't really blame the police officers that responded and did this welfare check, but I can tell you, I'm sure they wish that they had a second chance at this. They were invited into the house, Michelle, and they didn't take that offer. If he was bluffing and he invited them in and they went to take a step in and he said, well, let's talk out here. That's a tell. So maybe it would escalate, you know, you're kind of like that spiky sense that you use as a police officer. It's what they

is what they don't do that's also telling if you ask Noresh to show them around or you know can I take a look around and I have to check this box on this form

and say that I search the house is that cool with you sir and right away you know it's a bluff and you really don't have a search warrant or anything like that but if somebody invites you in you get a better feeling

for this welfare check that maybe it is what I suspected when I was rolling up here but you really you're got to push these things as an investigator. And you'll learn that. If I look back on things, I always wish I had a second shot at a bunch of different scenarios that I had early on in my career. Everybody does. But you'll learn from it. It's just one of those things.

So I was surprised that Neresh actually answered the door for this check and spoke freely for over 10 minutes seemed open, forthcoming. Again, has his daughter. in his arms, he seems relaxed, he has answers, even offering to put officials in contact with Mumta's family and suggesting where she could have allegedly gone. So how significant would it be to the officers that the husband answered and that Mumta was not there? I look back and I say, how would somebody act if they're taking care of their child and their wife just left them? It kind of could go with the way that he appeared at this on the body camera. I know people second guess this and Monday morning quarterback it,

but sometimes that's what a person looks like whose wife just left them. So we have to keep an open mind on that. But the fact that she wasn't there when the people from her work called in this welfare check, that's big. And I probably would have pushed this, like I said, if you and I were partners, Michelle, and we went there, I think we would have talked to at least tried to talk our way into their dining room table and maybe give them that thing about that I have to take a look around and it's okay and I'm just going to take a look around your house with you. If that's okay, see what he says. Now, days before his August 22nd arrest, he was interviewed by not one, but two different W. USA 9 reporters, they're local in this D.C. area. And I'd like to play some of those for you here. First, you'll hear W. USA reporter Katie,

Lossos speaking to Nourish at his doorstep. What has been going on the last couple days, weeks? Yeah, it's been very terrible time. You know, like, we are just, you know, like my baby and then myself, we are just waiting minute and second, every minute and second, just waiting, like, to get the, you know, I don't know how to explain. How are you doing? I don't know.

I'm, like, frustrating, yeah. And this is WUSA-9 reporter, Raffee. Al Sanchez Cruz speaking to Noresh a week later. No, I don't want to talk to the media. Like, you know, I don't want to be the bad person. Like, you know, hey, why you talk to the media? I don't, I don't think it would be bad just to say. You don't think, but like, you don't know.

But the message is you want them that if you see her, if you see. Okay. It's up to you. No, I'm not, I'm not okay. Like, no. I know, I know, I can know that plus, you know. Okay. Sorry about it.

Kudos to these reports. quarters for really going after this story, knocking on doors. And this is before charges were even brought forward. They were just doing their due diligence out there trying to figure out the latest. I mean, Katie was at his doorstep before he was arrested. So, Herman, how do you see these interviews playing out in court? I think these will really resonate with the jury. They're going to be watching his moves, the way he is candor, everything that he has to say. They'll be hanging on every one of these words because this is, like you said, good reporting. You really get to see this person and maybe, maybe they'll think to themselves, that's not how I would act if the mother

of my child and my wife just left under these circumstances. That, you know, that's what, you know, I've sat, I've sat and watched juries and what clicks with them. And I think a lot of people try to see themselves in the way that they think that it's normal to act or that they would act. And I don't think they're going to be thinking to themselves. That's exactly what I would say and do if I was being interviewed by the press about my missing mother of my child. We also know that three WUSA-9 reporters, including the ones we just heard from, were added to the witness list for the trial. So you're going to hear from them firsthand and you're going to get their insight and they're going to put on the record what he said and his demeanor.

So you mentioned earlier that this case could prove to be more complicated because it's what's known as a nobody case. So according to a study, now this was done by the General Counsel for the United States Capitol Police, nobody cases actually have a conviction rate of 86%. This is due to the strength of the evidence associated with those cases. Now, for comparison, the conviction rate of all murder cases is around 70%. I mean, without a body, I would imagine other evidence would have to be extremely convincing to make it to trial. Herman, you've covered another no-body situation with us, and that was on case-by-case in the Larry Milliette murder trial, and that was over the summer, and that's where he was found guilty of first-degree murder. So can you break down what is so you're

unique about these kinds of cases. It's extremely challenging to prove criminal intent without a body present. It's hard enough when you do have one, obviously. You know, you look at those, you know, those statistics that you mentioned before. But this makes investigators look very closely at all the evidence. Some of it's crucial to the case. Some of it's just to rule things out. But every single piece of evidence is given like more weight than usual in a case like this. Absolutely. And in a pretrial hearing, this was just last week, prosecutors discussed thousands of pages of digital records. This is going to be from Google, TikTok, and about 3,700 pages of data from meta alone, which could include Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. Now, they even read some of Norish's alleged searches allowed, and they included things like, how long does it take to marry after a spouse dies and what happens to do.

debt after a spouse dies. So these searches seem pretty damning for sure. And you talked a lot about the digital evidence and why it's so important to go through every corner and every piece of this. Do you see the prosecution using them to build a case against Bob? Oh, absolutely. Think about it like, you know, the way I was trained and the way I go about just about every investigation. It's the five Ws, the who, what, where, when, and why. when you're missing the what, and in this case it would be the what is the cause of death, you have to really bolster the why. So motive and things like getting an inside look into what a person was thinking about

while he was Googling things and searching search terms and things like that. That's an amazing advantage that we have now. I didn't have them during my time as a police officer as much as it's so prevalent. Now, you really get an inside look at the state of mind of a person. You know, everybody's on their phone. Everybody's searching things. You know, he's not searching, what do you do when your wife leaves you and how do you get her back? He's searching, how fast can I get married and what happens to my debt and things like that?

This is huge to a jury. It would be to me anyway. The police searched the bot home and found pools of blood. The prosecution will likely use this, along with Google searches and GPS data to paint a picture of of Noresh's whereabouts. All of this, you know, just being laid out by the prosecution. You know, I've seen it before. They're going to paint a picture that, you know, that they want the jury to see what was going on inside of Noresh's brain while these things were happening.

And how do you see the defense arguing against some of these claims? Well, I think the defense is going to use Momta's history to portray her as somebody who has abandoned her husband in the past. Sarita is a friend of the couple who told the Washington Post that Momta and the Resh had had a disagreement in February of 2024 that resulted in Momta and her daughter staying with Sarita for a week. I can see them trying to illustrate the possibility that she just left him again. And this time she left behind her child. The defense will likely use the lack of, what is known as corpus delecti, which means body of the crime. It doesn't necessarily mean corpse or body in that sense. But going back to the five Ws, the what is the cause of death and the prosecution is lacking sufficient evidence by not having a body.

So they don't have a body to autopsy. They don't have things like defense wounds or anything else to analyze. it gives the opportunity for the defense to speculate and theorize as to what did or didn't happen. You've got a cause of death here that they can pretty much illustrate that there are a bunch of different alternative situations here. I want to talk for a moment about the bot family before Mumpta's disappearance because, as you mentioned earlier in the relationship, it definitely had its own challenges. certainly as i mentioned earlier momta had stayed with her friend serita after a disagreement with nerec back in february of twenty twenty four i believe the same friend serita even said that momta briefly had her own apartment in nearby falls church virginia what really sticks out to me

though is that the police were sent to the bot house that february on reports of disorderly conduct they called it and no charges were filed but according to the prosecutor Manta claimed that Nuresh wouldn't give her her official documents and destroyed her phone. Both sides in this case are going to scrutinize what the police did and what they did not do in response to that disorderly conduct call. And he referenced her leaving home to stay with Sarita and that WSA-9 interview with Katie Lassau, right? He even mentioned that Falls Church apartment in the body cam footage. Yeah, that's definitely more evidence for. for the defense to paint that picture of an unhappy marriage and a wife who was prepared to leave

her husband. It, you know, it's just indicating that the couple had issues, but both sides can use this. I think the prosecution will show she was looking for an escape, and after Neresh wouldn't provide the necessary paperwork for separation, she attempted to find a safe place for herself and her child. They could say something like, Momton needed a friend to help her facilitate leaving in the past. So she would need it again. If anyone knew or thought that she was going to leave or plan an escape, it would be her friend that helped her the first time, I would think. It was her coworkers that first reported her missing. It doesn't add up well when you really think about she left. The husband didn't report her missing. The police responded because her coworkers

reported her missing. That's a very important point about the coworkers reaching out to say that she's nowhere to be found. And it wasn't her husband. And there has been an outpouring of community support to find Mumta. Back in July, there were supporters gathered outside the Manassas Park Police Department. And this was to remember Mumta two years after her disappearance. Now, Momta's mother and brother, they were both present at this vigil. Both also spoke to I want to place some of that here, first hearing from Momta's mother via a translator. Whatever he did, whoever did this to my daughter, he has to get punished. I'm just waiting for the justice of my sister.

Momta's friend and former co-worker also spoke up at the vigil, and here's what she had to say. I want us to flood the courtroom of Prince William County Judicial Center to look Nuresh in the eyes. and let him know that we are here as Momta. She has such a strong support network of people and friends who love her so much. And I can only imagine what those friends are going through. I mean, it has been two long years without answers. I also think about her little girl left behind. And as I mentioned, I have children.

I have a toddler. And I know how connected these children are to their routine, their life with mom and dad in this particular case. And having that communication shut off for this child, it just, you know, it makes your heart heart. It's, you think about, you know, think about this child. I think about so many cases where these kids are left behind. And, you know, it's, it's tough. It's really tough. I mean, you look at the pictures of mom to enter child.

It's heartbreaking. You know, that's just, you know, what a tragic, tragic situation. It's clear that she's been missed, and we can only hope the upcoming trial would shed some light and give her loved ones some peace of mind, maybe closure. Absolutely. No, you're right. We can only hope that this will bring some sort of peace of mind. Thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, thank you. And we will be back next week with another episode of Case by Case. For our continuing coverage, you can check the case-by-case feed wherever you find your podcast. You can also watch episodes of case-by-case on the 48-hour's YouTube channel or by searching case-by-case on Paramount Plus. Be sure to rate and review us and let us know which cases you're following and which cases you'd like us to follow.