Insidenova.com: "A large police presence has assembled at the site of the former Manassas Christian School in Manassas Park. Holly Wirth, a friend and mentor of Mamta Bhatt’s, told an InsideNoVa reporter Thursday morning the search is related to the Bhatt case. Wirth has been in close communication with police since Naresh Bhatt’s arrest."

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Manassas Park Police, with assistance from Prince William County Police and their Cadets, have closed Signal Hill Park on Signal View Drive in Manassas Park. The park, located approximately a mile and a half from the home of missing mother Mamta Kafle Bhatt, is closed immediately. Bhatt, a frequent visitor to the park, has been missing, triggering extensive searches.

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Chief Mario Lugo of the Manassas Park Police addressed the media on Tuesday, providing updates on the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, last seen over a month ago. Her husband has been charged with concealing a body and is currently held without bond.

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Hundreds of residents gathered at Signal Hill Park on Saturday, August 24, for a vigil to share their thoughts about the missing Manassas Park mother, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who is believed to have been murdered in her home.

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On Thursday evening, more than 200 community members gathered at the Manassas Park home of a missing mother, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who was last seen earlier this month. Her husband, Naresh Bhatt, was arrested and charged Thursday morning with felony concealing a body. At a hearing on Friday morning in the Prince William Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Bhatt remains in custody without bond. According to court documents, "a substantial amount of digital and forensic evidence" was found inside Bhatt and Kafle Bhatt shared. The Prince William Times was present at the hearing and said prosecutor Sarah Sami shared details of the house search on Thursday with Judge Katherine McCollum. Sami said the police found evidence of "significant pooled blood and blood spatter" in the main bedroom. There was also an indication that a body had been dragged from the main bedroom into a bathroom. Police also removed the bathtub in the same bathroom and found blood underneath it and along the caulking. Police also have surveillance footage of Bhatt buying a pack of three knives at a Chantilly Walmart on July 30. He was also seen via footage buying cleaning supplies at a Loudoun County Walmart on July 31. Sami said police have not yet located two of the knives. Sami said police discovered Bhatt had sold his blue Tesla car since Kafle Bhatt went missing and spoke to two people about possibly selling their shared home. Police also found a packed suitcase in a bedroom and passports belonging to Bhatt and the couple's daughter visible. Here is Potomac Local's previous coverage of the case:

UPDATE: Police Say Husband is Person of Interest in Manassas Park Missing Woman Case

Breaking News: Husband Arrested, Charged with Concealing a Dead Body in Mamta Kafle Bhatt Case

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Update 5:40 p.m.: Naresh Bhatt has been charged with concealing a dead body. It is a felony charge of Prohibition Against Concealment of Dead Body in violation of Section 18.2-323.02 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. He is being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center.

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9:38 p.m. -- Manassas Park Police have determined the husband of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, Naresh Bhatt, is a person of interest. They also said he is no longer cooperating.

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Insidenova.com: “The Manassas Park High School football team has adopted a new motto this season. They call it RTH, which means “Ruin Their Homecoming.”

Cougars second-year head coach Mark Teague came up with the slogan after he had to explain to his players why opponents scheduled them last season for their homecoming games on at least two occasions.”

The Manassas Park Police Department is being criticized for what neighbors are calling a slow response to a missing mother who has not been seen since July.

Police and residents have been searching for 28-year-old Mamta Kafle, who has been missing since late July. The case has been classified as an Involuntary/Critical Missing Person, prompting an intensified search effort. The investigation began on August 2, after she failed to report to her job at Prince William UVA Hospital the day before. Officers with MPPD responded to her home in the Blooms Crossing neighborhood to do a welfare check. At that time, her husband, Naresh Bhatt, provided information to the police but did not report her as missing. It was not until eight days after anyone besides her husband last saw her that Bhatt reported his wife missing. Police began a formal investigation but waited three more days to inform the public of the disappearance. Despite the delay in reporting, Police say that Bhatt has cooperated with the investigation. Supporters say this delay in action by both Bhatt and Manassas Park police makes the outlook appear grim. Two groups of supporters have been holding separate efforts to help find Kafle. One group organized by residents with ties to Nepal has been holding vigils at the police headquarters at 329 Manassas Drive. The Nepali Embassy and various other locations, in an effort, are also encouraging local leaders to act.

The Embassy is deeply concerned about the missing of Nepali national Ms. Mamta Kafle from Manassas, Virginia since July 31, 2024. As soon as the family members of Ms. Kafle reported to the Embassy about the case, it reached out to relevant US authorities,

— Embassy of Nepal, Washington, D.C. (@nepalembassyusa) August 15, 2024

The second group, consisting of her co-workers and friends, is organized by her former roommate, Nadia Navarro. The groups have self-organized search parties to check local parks and wooded areas. For several nights, groups of about 100 volunteers scoured Blooms Crossing Park for hours, hoping to find her. While the searches have generated only a few leads, they have had a more significant effect of drawing attention to finding Kafle. Media were present Thursday night during the search, and a helicopter hovered over the search area for several hours while the search was conducted.

Both groups are frustrated by the lack of early action by the police and say they are slow to decide when and where to look. “Why aren’t the police organizing these searches? I am here to help, but there should be a central command post to ensure we are efficiently searching these areas and not going over where others have already searched or, worse, skipping areas that have not been searched. The police have the expertise and should be out here directing volunteers where to look.” said Anne Tornatore Lese, a volunteer searcher who didn’t know Kafle but felt a duty to search for her. Police say the initial assessment did not meet the Virginia State Police criteria for anything more than a missing person report, which led to Kafle only being entered into the state-wide missing persons list. Still, family and friends wanted more, saying that Kafle would never leave her 10-month-old daughter voluntarily or the job she loved as an operating room nurse. “She’s a very happy and positive person,” said Sunit Basnet Thapa, Bhatt's mentor when she worked at Inova Fairfax Hospital. “She does not have a car, driver’s license, or passport. She Ubered to work everyday. She couldn’t have gotten far by herself,” said Sadichhya Dhungana, an outspoken member of the Nepali community who participated in Thursday’s search. After Bhatt reported her missing to Manassas Park police on August 5, detectives began investigating Kafle’s disappearance. They found that there had been a lack of recent contact between Mamta and her family, friends, and employer. Additionally, there was an absence of social media activity, which raised concerns. Based on these findings and other circumstances, on Thursday, August 15, police elevated Mamta’s status to an Involuntary/Critical Missing Person.

Bhatt, facing louder public criticism for his failure to report the disappearance earlier, has conducted interviews with the media and has been seen at the MPPD offices several times. “Finding Mamta at any cost is my first and only priority,” Bhatt told reporters. He said that this is not the first time that she has disappeared before and admitted that they don’t sleep in the same room. He told the Nepalese language news site enepalise.com that the couple have been having “strained relations” but were committed to working on it, saying that the couple’s relationship has been improving since May. Kafle’s Nepal-based family backs up a claim the news site wrote. Kafle was last seen at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center on July 27. She spoke to a friend on July 28 and was last seen by her husband on July 31. These were the last known contacts before her disappearance. Kafle emigrated to the U.S. in 2021 and completed a Registered Nurse course. She first obtained a job as a nurse at INOVA Hospital before transferring to Prince William’s UVA Hospital. Kafle is 5 feet tall, 132 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Her blood family is in Nepal, but we’re out here searching for her because we’re her family now, and we are going to find her,” said Jennifer Cooper, who did not know Kafle but helped organize the Thursday search. The Nepal Embassy posted to their X account that they are ‘deeply concerned’ over her missing status and said they have contacted relevant US authorities. Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo did not respond when asked about the three-day delay in publicly announcing the disappearance after the investigation started and why they did not investigate after Kafle’s co-workers said she didn’t show up to work. Police urge anyone with information on Kafle’s whereabouts to come forward. Those with information are asked to contact Manassas Park police at 703-361-1136. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Crime Solvers at 703-330-0330 or online at Manassas–Manassas Park Crime Solvers.