Mamta Kafle Bhatt Trial (Oct 26): The Evidence, Piece by Piece — Recap

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Did you also talk to ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement, on August 15, 2024? Yes. Why did you talk to them? [00:00:08] Speaker 2: To flag MAMTA's information if she was going to attempt to leave the country or had already left. [00:00:14] Speaker 1: And since that conversation in August of 2024 to the present date of October 2026, has ICE contacted you to let you know whether MAMTA has left the country? [00:00:28] Speaker 2: No, sir, they have not. [00:00:30] Speaker 1: Let's talk about August 16, 2024. Did you have a phone call with USCIS? [00:00:36] Speaker 2: Yes. [00:00:36] Speaker 1: That stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, correct? [00:00:43] Speaker 2: Yes. [00:00:43] Speaker 1: Why did you talk to them? [00:00:45] Speaker 2: To learn about MAMTA's final interview date, which was supposed to be August 5th of 2024, and that she never showed up for her final interview. [00:00:56] Speaker 1: Let's talk about a communication you had with the White House Military Office. This is August 16th. Why did you talk to them? [00:01:05] Speaker 2: I spoke with them to learn more about Naresh's employment and his federal contracting, and also to see if he was still employed there at that time, and his Google searches. [00:01:23] Speaker 1: Let's move forward to the execution of the search warrant on August 21st through August 22nd, 2024. Which one, prior to the execution of the search warrant, did you have a communication with somebody from CarMax? Yes, I did. Why did you talk to them? [00:01:41] Speaker 2: Spoke to them because we learned that Mr. Naresh had sold the Tesla, I believe it was on August 16th of 2024. [00:01:51] Speaker 1: Once you learned from CarMax that the defendant sold his Tesla on August 16th, what did you do? [00:01:58] Speaker 2: I then went to the CarMax located off of Towerland Place in Sterling, Virginia. Spoke with the service manager, James Gill, who then provided me the service contract along with the purchase agreement, and it showed the defendant's signature on August 16th of 2024. [00:02:16] Speaker 1: What did you have done with the Tesla? [00:02:18] Speaker 2: I then had the Tesla towed back to Prince William County's forensic unit, and it was turned over to CSI Andrea Feldman. [00:02:29] Speaker 1: Did you follow the car from CarMax to delivering it to investigator Feldman? Yes, I did. [00:02:36] Speaker 3: Now, directing your attention specifically to August 27th of 2024, were you requested to assist in this specific matter? [00:02:46] Kamal: Yes, ma'am, I was. [00:02:47] Speaker 3: Were you specifically dispatched to the Liberty Gas Station located at 43673 Little River Turnpike in Chantilly? [00:02:55] Kamal: Yes, ma'am, I was. [00:02:57] Speaker 3: And what was the purpose of you going there? [00:02:59] Kamal: Manassas Park Police, they were requesting assistance. They were going to search some clothing donation bins, and they were requesting assistance with photography and packaging any evidence that they found. [00:03:12] Speaker 3: And how many donation bins were there? [00:03:14] Kamal: There were two, ma'am. [00:03:19] Speaker 3: And after receiving consent from the donation bin owners, did you begin to open them? [00:03:25] Kamal: They had already received the consent prior to my arrival, and yes, we opened those clothing donation bins. They were padlocked, and we cut the locks. [00:03:37] Speaker 3: If I may approach the witness, Your Honor. You may. I'm approaching and handing you, Kamal, the exhibits 169, 170, and 171 for identification purposes. Can you please take a look at those? [00:03:56] Kamal: Yes, ma'am. [00:03:57] Speaker 3: Do you recognize those photographs? [00:03:59] Kamal: Yes, ma'am, I do. [00:04:00] Speaker 3: What are they photographed of? [00:04:01] Kamal: So this is the clothing donations bin, this is the left one that we collected. [00:04:08] Speaker 3: Is it a true and accurate picture of that clothing donation bin? [00:04:11] Kamal: Yes, ma'am, it is. [00:04:12] Speaker 3: Your Honor, at this time, I would move to enter these into evidence. Any objection? No objection. [00:04:17] Speaker 5: All right, without objection, those will be received as commonwealths 169 through 171. [00:04:24] Speaker 3: Now, generally and briefly, can you tell us what you observed upon opening the second donation bin on the scene in Loudoun County? [00:04:32] Kamal: So once that was opened, I observed several, they appeared to be trash bags. Some were white, there was a black one and a gray one, and then I also observed some shoes. Inside the trash bags, it appeared to be clothing, and then there were some bath mats as well in one of the bags. [00:04:54] Speaker 3: Did you ultimately collect and package these items from the second donation bin? [00:05:00] Kamal: Yes, ma'am, I did. [00:05:01] Speaker 6: You said you collected a silver hairbrush from the residence? [00:05:04] Kamal: That's correct. [00:05:05] Speaker 6: And that was collected downstairs in the main living room space? [00:05:10] Speaker 7: Yeah, I believe it was, I preferred it was a den, but it may have been the living room. It was off of the kitchen. [00:05:16] Speaker 6: And you said that you collected it for potential DNA evidence for mom to got. [00:05:20] Speaker 7: That's correct. [00:05:22] Speaker 6: To be very clear, you don't know who that hairbrush belongs to, correct? [00:05:26] Speaker 7: I do not. [00:05:29] Speaker 1: Some of the, which one? Did you see video surveillance during your investigation of the defendant at different stores? [00:05:37] Speaker 8: Yes. [00:05:38] Speaker 1: Lidl, Walmart, Home Depot? [00:05:40] Speaker 8: Yes. [00:05:42] Speaker 1: Do you recall the address for the Walmart that you saw the defendant in? [00:05:47] Speaker 8: Which one? [00:05:48] Speaker 1: Tell us both. [00:05:49] Speaker 8: May I consult my notes? [00:05:51] Speaker 1: Yes, if they're refreshing memory. [00:06:00] Speaker 8: The one in Fairfax is 11181 Lee Highway. And the one in Manassas, 9401 Liberia Avenue. [00:06:18] Speaker 3: Moving on, directing your attention to September 10th of 2024. Did there come a time that you received an item of evidence, namely a green Ryobi Sawzall? Yes. Who did you receive it from? Detective Wheeler. Was it packaged and sealed when you received it? It was. [00:06:42] Speaker 5: Why did you receive it? Again, Manassas Park had received this item of evidence, and they wanted me to thoroughly document it. All right, tell us when you received it, what you did with it initially. Initially, I unpackaged it from its packaging, and I began taking photographs of the outside of the saw. [00:07:04] Speaker 3: If I may approach the witness. You may. Approaching you and handing you what has been marked as column 172-485. You may. Do you recognize those? I do. How do you recognize them? [00:08:02] Speaker 5: These are photographs that I took. [00:08:04] Speaker 3: Are they true and accurate photographs? [00:08:06] Speaker 5: They are. [00:08:07] Speaker 3: At this time, I would move to enter those and ask for permission to publish at least one. Any objection? No objection. All right, they're received. You can publish. Ms. Feldman, we're looking at Exhibit 173. Is this the entirety of the packaging that you received from Detective Wheeler at the time? [00:08:41] Speaker 5: This is the entirety of the items that I received, yes. [00:08:45] Speaker 3: Did you notice anything of significance on the outside of the saw? [00:08:50] Speaker 5: On the outside of the saw, no. [00:09:00] Speaker 3: Now, upon examining the exterior of the saw, what, if anything, did you think to do? [00:09:06] Speaker 5: After examining and photographing the exterior of the saw, my next step was to take the saw apart. [00:09:15] Speaker 3: How did you do that? [00:09:16] Speaker 5: The saw was held together by screws. So CSI coordinator and I got a screwdriver and we unscrewed the pieces of the saw to pull it apart. [00:09:27] Speaker 3: And how were they screwed together? And how were they screwed together, the saw? [00:09:30] Speaker 5: The saw has two pieces and the screws held the two pieces together. [00:09:40] Speaker 3: Is it fair to say they didn't just snap together, they would have to be screwed together? [00:09:45] Speaker 5: Correct. [00:09:48] Speaker 3: Upon opening the saw, what, if anything, did you observe? [00:09:54] Speaker 5: Upon opening the saw on the inside, I observed reddish-brown stains, as well as black, what I thought looked to be hair-like strands. [00:10:07] Speaker 3: Can you tell us, essentially, in what parts of the saw you observed this reddish-brown staining? [00:10:16] Speaker 5: The reddish-brown staining was primarily observed on the inside of the saw, where the handle would have been held together, also near one of the vents. And when you say vents, what is that? There were vents from the outside of the saw going into the saw, so the reddish-brown staining was on the inside of the saw. [00:10:40] Speaker 3: And what did you believe the reddish-brown stains to be? [00:10:43] Speaker 5: I believed it to be blood. [00:10:55] Speaker 3: Let's get to this. What item number did you give the saw itself? [00:11:02] Speaker 5: The saw itself was item number 315. [00:11:06] Speaker 3: Once you separated the two parts of the saw, what did you identify those pieces as? [00:11:14] Speaker 5: The saw separated into two pieces. One side contained most of the mechanical pieces for the saw. I refer to that as side A. And the side without the mechanical pieces, I refer to as side B. [00:11:29] Speaker 3: Now, you also mentioned that you observed what appeared to be hair. Can you explain where in the saw you found these items and what form they were, how long they were? [00:11:47] Speaker 5: There were numerous hair-like strands in the saw. They were located mostly towards the front of the saw on the inside and towards the middle, whereas the reddish-brown staining was towards the handle part of the saw. These hair-like strands were not very long, maybe an inch or two at most. Now, when you say collected, did you use a swab? For the reddish-brown stainings, I did use the swab, yes. [00:12:18] Speaker 3: Do you recall what item numbers you gave those? [00:12:23] Speaker 5: Swab from the side A was 317. From side B was 318. [00:12:30] Speaker 3: And when you say you did one per side? [00:12:34] Speaker 5: For the swabs? [00:12:35] Speaker 3: Yes. [00:12:36] Speaker 5: No. I did several swabs for each side. Each swab was individually packaged in a small envelope, sealed shut. And then those envelopes were sealed together into one item. [00:12:49] Speaker 3: Do you recall how many swabs from each side that you took? [00:12:53] Speaker 5: Side A had three swabs. Side B had two swabs. [00:13:01] Speaker 3: But were they collectively 317 for side A? Yes. And what was side B? 318. Can you tell us specifically on side A what part of the saw you swabbed? [00:13:18] Speaker 5: I swabbed the inner handle area. I swabbed the lower vent area. [00:13:24] Speaker 6: Let's talk about the saw that we just had in front of the jury. You said you found, on direct examination, you said it was hair-like strands, and then you switched it over to say just hair. You didn't test those strands, correct? [00:13:41] Speaker 5: I refer to them as hair-like strands. [00:13:42] Speaker 6: Okay. You didn't test those strands yourself? [00:13:45] Speaker 5: No, that's for the lab to test. [00:13:49] Speaker 6: And it's correct that you didn't do presumptive testing on the staining on the inside of the saw, correct? [00:13:59] Speaker 5: I did not. Okay.