Prosecutors allege that the missing Virginia mother's husband searched for information on how long to wait before remarrying after her death on Google.
Despite the absence of evidence regarding Mamta Bhatt's body, her husband has been accused of hiding it.
On Friday, court documents were made public accusing a Virginia man of killing the mother of his children, removing her from their home, and concealing her body.
In the months leading up to the disappearance of his wife, a 37-year-old U.S. Army veteran is accused of searching online for information about the time it takes to get married after a spouse dies, according to prosecutors.
The Washington Post reported that Bhatt is facing accusations of abusing his wife, and authorities discovered a crime scene at their home in Manassas, Virginia, last week, suggesting the woman had been killed.
"In court on Thursday, Prince William County prosecutor Sarah Sami stated that the blood in the master bedroom and bathroom of the crime scene indicates that the victim, Mamta, suffered fatal injuries. Despite the lack of a body, the commonwealth can still pursue a homicide charge based on the evidence present."
The prosecutor stated that the crime scene investigator had never witnessed such a large amount of blood.
Prosecutors stated that blood traces showed that "something was dragged" from the master bedroom to the bathroom at the couple's Manassas home.
Bhatt's wife's remains are still unaccounted for, and he has been charged with concealing a dead body.
Bhatt's public defender, Shalev Ben-Avraham, has stated that his client's case has been advanced too quickly without sufficient evidence. He consistently downplayed the amount of blood found in the Bhatt home, referring to it as "miniscule" and stating that it could have been a nosebleed. (Source: Inside Nova)
"This specific law mandates that there must be a deceased body. To clarify, what they possess is blood," Ben-Avraham stated on Thursday, according to the Post. "Bhatt was apprehended due to the intense media uproar. The head of the Manassas Park police department is under immense pressure to act."
"Blood is not a body part. Blood in and of itself isn't enough," he said. "I have no idea how the magistrate issued a warrant for [Bhatt's] arrest."
Ben-Avraham could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bhatt's search history and the volume of blood in the couple's home were cited by Sami as substantial evidence against him, with further charges to be filed.
Despite preliminary testing suggesting that the blood in the couple's home was human, the missing woman has not yet been linked to it.
This month, Bhatt's attorney stated that his client did not intend to flee and was trying to earn money to support their daughter, who is one year old. Bhatt sold his Tesla, packed his suitcases, and discussed selling his home after his wife disappeared.
On July 30, Bhatt bought knives and went to a Walmart in a neighboring county to purchase Lysol and Febreze. A bottle of carpet cleaner that Bhatt had purchased on July 31 was discovered empty during a search warrant at her home last week.
Prosecutors pointed out previous police responses to the Bhatt home on Heather Court for domestic violence, including an incident in February when Manassas police were called for "disorderly conduct." During that time, Mamta Bhatt informed police that her husband had refused to give her her documents and had destroyed her phone, according to prosecutors.
According to Inside Nova, a friend of the missing woman reported to police that Mamta Bhatt was a victim of domestic abuse and had suffered bruises in the months leading up to her disappearance.
On Monday, Bhatt was deemed a danger to the community and a flight risk, so a judge denied him bond at Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Court.
The attention of the community was drawn to the disappearance of Mamta Bhatt, a nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, which prompted several searches.
"Holly Wirth, her friend, told The Washington Post after a hearing that what they heard was worse than they could have imagined. She said, "I don’t think we were quite prepared for the image that they painted of what likely occurred in that master bedroom and master bathroom.""
Although Wirth and a group of supporters in court had been attempting to maintain Bhatt's privacy, she was pleased that the accusations of domestic abuse were made public.
""We have all experienced being texted things we didn't want to share, but now that it's on record, we are not afraid to call out abuse," Wirth said."
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