For 2 years a Virginia man said he didn’t know what happened to his missing wife. Now he says he dismembered her body

(CNN) — For more than two years, Naresh Bhatt said he didn’t know what happened to his missing wife.

The Virginia man insisted to police and in media interviews he last saw her at the family dinner table days before he reported her missing.

Now, Bhatt has admitted on the stand at his murder trial that not only is his wife dead, but he dismembered her before disposing of her remains.

Bhatt, 39, stopped short of admitting he killed his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, telling jurors last week she died by suicide. He said he panicked after finding her unconscious and surrounded by vomit and blood in their bedroom.

The stunning testimony came nearly five weeks into Bhatt’s trial, in which he’s facing charges of first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body.

Bhatt was arrested at his home in Manassas, Virginia, a small Northern Virginia suburb outside of Washington, DC, on August 22, 2024 – about three weeks after his wife was reported missing. He was initially charged with concealing a dead body, though a criminal complaint at the time alleged “on or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.”

At the time, Bhatt wasn’t formally charged with murder. That changed four months later, in December 2024, when a Prince William County grand jury indicted him on charges of first-degree murder and defiling a dead body, adding those charges to his concealment charge.

Bhatt now faces a life sentence if convicted. The additional charges of concealing and defiling a dead body carry lesser penalties under Virginia law, CNN affiliate WUSA reported.

CNN has reached out to Bhatt’s attorney for comment. The commonwealth’s attorney for Prince William County, Amy Ashworth, declined to comment on the pending case and told CNN on Monday the office would comment once the jury has concluded deliberations.

Judge Kimberly Irving approved an instruction allowing jurors to consider second-degree murder if they don’t find the necessary first-degree murder elements have been met, CNN affiliate WJLA reported.