Shocking developments & gruesome details from Naresh Bhatt's testimony — UPDATE & REACTION

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: continuing to follow shocking developments out of the Prince William County courtroom this afternoon. Naresh Bhatt, the man on trial for allegedly killing and dismembering his wife, Montekoffle, just testified a short time ago that she killed herself and that he found her dead surrounded by pills. He also admitted to cutting up her body. The shocking development comes on the second day of his testimony in his own defense. Let's get right out to our Katie Lusso, who is live outside of the courtroom in Manassas, Virginia. Katie, these are gruesome, gruesome details playing out in court today. What exactly did Duresh tell the jury about the moment that he [00:00:37] Katie Lusso: says he found Momda's body? Yeah, well, Annie, I think the biggest question is where was this story the past two and a half years at this point? So what he told the jury today is that, you know, the same story of he went to bed the night of July 29th that Momda was down in the kitchen. He went upstairs with the baby. He says she never came to bed. He didn't know where she was. But here's where things changed. July 30th, he says he woke up that morning. Something smelled weird. The lights were weird. Things were just odd, and he came around the bed and he found his wife, Momda Kofflebot, on the floor in a pool of what he described as vomit and possibly blood. He said there was food particles. There were pills. He believed she took her own life using pesticides. So that is what he [00:01:21] Speaker 3: said he found when he woke up that morning. Can you describe what you saw when you saw Momda on the floor? [00:01:36] Naresh Bhatt: Yes, on the floor, facing north side, and then she was lying with vomit, stuff like that. [00:01:45] Speaker 3: Was she lying? How was she lying? On her side, on her back, on the front? [00:01:51] Naresh Bhatt: How was she lying? Back tilted head. Back and what? On the back, head tilted. [00:01:57] Speaker 3: Head tilted. Head tilted. Head tilted. Thank you, sir. And what else did you see? [00:02:12] Naresh Bhatt: The vomit with the different stuff. [00:02:16] Speaker 3: You went over to her. Did you stand or did you do something else? [00:02:22] Naresh Bhatt: I do not clearly remember. But like, you know, once I touch her, maybe definitely I bend or knee. I don't remember that. Yes. [00:02:31] Speaker 3: And with regard to the vomit, I know this is hard. Tell me exactly where and what you saw with regard to [00:02:42] Naresh Bhatt: the vomit. Around the neck and then side of the neck on the floor. [00:02:47] Speaker 3: And how about on her face or her mouth? [00:02:53] Naresh Bhatt: A little bit. Yes. [00:02:55] Speaker 3: And did you get did you get close to see to look at? [00:02:59] Naresh Bhatt: Yes. Then I turned the light on. Yes. [00:03:02] Speaker 3: Okay. So you actually turned the light on in the room? [00:03:05] Naresh Bhatt: Yes. [00:03:05] Speaker 3: And did you did you go over and look at what was in the vomit itself? [00:03:11] Naresh Bhatt: That is correct. Yes. [00:03:11] Speaker 3: What did you see? [00:03:13] Naresh Bhatt: There were pills, blood, capsule. And then food particles. [00:03:25] Katie Lusso: And Annie, that is a story we have never heard before. Incredibly disturbing to hear that. And to finally hear the confirmation that Momta Kofflebot is no longer alive. Annie. [00:03:38] Speaker 1: Okay, Katie. So how does this account from Naresh line up with some of the evidence that we have seen in court? Because we've seen a significant amount of evidence. The body is still missing. She went missing two years ago in 2024. But there has there has been a significant amount of digital evidence as well as the the power saw. So walk us through some of that and what prosecutors have to do [00:04:04] Katie Lusso: here. Well, I think it's actually going to be quite easy for the prosecution to come in because his story has once again changed. And that was something that the Commonwealth talked about in opening statements that his stories have been inconsistent. So he is going to have to answer the question of where did this story come from? And why didn't he say this at any point during the past two years? You know, he did interviews with police. How many times we saw that body camera footage? He spoke to the media. He spoke at press conferences. He spoke with us here at Channel 9, and he never mentioned any possibility that she took her own life. He told us she he didn't know where she was. He said that repeatedly. I remember even having that conversation with him, Annie, and saying, so you don't know where he is. There's no way or know where she is. There's no way you know where she is. And he said, no, I have no idea where she is. And keep in mind, this is the mother of his child. So a really disturbing moment, I would say to hear that in court. I want to briefly touch on Monta's family, Annie. They've been in the courtroom through this whole process. They've also been trying to get the answer of where is Monta. That is all they want to know. Where is Monta? And today they got that horrific news that regardless of what actually happened to her, she is no longer here. So you kind of want to think, oh, they got closure, but not really, because they've been asking him for two years now. Where is our beloved daughter? Where is our beloved sister? That is what her brother has been saying to me. He just wants to know where is his sister. And today they got that unfortunate answer from Nareshabad himself. Of course, the question now, is there any truth to what he's saying? And that's what the prosecution is really going to push on? It'll be interesting to see when [00:05:47] Speaker 1: the cross-examination happens, which I'm sure that won't happen for, and correct me if I'm wrong, for a few days. As far as Monta's family, it's hard enough for us to hear and hear the details of what happened that day. According to Naresh was the family in the courtroom. I know I know Monta's mother and brother have been in the courtroom. Were they there today? Were you able to speak with them or see how they reacted to the news today? Yeah, so Monta's mother and her brother have been in the [00:06:21] Katie Lusso: courtroom every single day. They came here from Nepal back in October of 2024 to as Mahesh, her brother said, come and look for his sister himself because he felt like Naresh was not doing enough. Now we supposedly know that he did know where she was this entire time. But when that happened this morning, when the story changed of what that he found her the morning of July 30th, the entire room gasped. I also looked over at Gita Koffle, that's Monta's mother and Mahesh Koffle, Monta's brother, and you could see them both just staring at him. Monta's mother breaking down. Keep in mind, she's getting this information through a translator. So a little bit of a delay, but you could see the moment she heard him say that his her daughter was dead. You could see just the color drain from her face and she immediately started to get emotional. She was fighting back tears for quite a while, but I think the turning point was right before the defense asked Naresh, why didn't you call 911 when this is happening? Gita started crying hysterically. She had to be consoled and then she had to be helped out of the courtroom because obviously the judge wants to remain having order in the courtroom. I can also tell you there is a whole bunch of nurses in there in blue scrubs. They came today in their blue scrubs as a show of solidarity and we saw them gasping and them crying as well. A lot of emotion in the courtroom today. [00:07:43] Speaker 1: That's right. I mean, this has been a high profile case. The community rallying behind the family as well as her team of nurses. Katie, we are also streaming on YouTube, so for those of you watching on YouTube, thanks for joining in. We're streaming on our WUSA 9 app. We've got some comments and questions coming in and you know people are talking about how there's a lack of emotion from Naresh, lack of remorse. You've been in this courtroom since day one and you've seen all of this play out. We've seen clips, but even in those clips we really haven't seen a lot of emotion. What are you seeing in there every minute of the of the trial? [00:08:22] Katie Lusso: Well, I will say that we were all staring at him as he's explaining finding his wife, the woman he supposedly loved and cared about, dead on the floor and he wasn't showing emotion. He was very nonchalant about the whole thing and when we talk about his emotion through this whole thing, yes, we've seen him grabbing at tissues and wiping away what may or may not be tears, according to who you ask. We saw him when they were playing the videos of Mamta holding the baby and videos of her and the rush together. We did see him appear to again possibly get emotional. He was leaning back in the chair rubbing his eyes, but today for the first half of his testimony, no emotion whatsoever. I will say they took a 10 minute break and when they came back from the 10 minute break and he took the stand and the jurors walked in, he was wiping at his eyes with tissue. So is it emotion? Who knows? Some people obviously speculating that it's a performance. We don't know what's inside of his head, but when he was talking about those details of finding his wife on the floor in a puddle, [00:09:21] Speaker 1: no emotion whatsoever that I could see. Katie, I want to revisit some of the details that he he played or he shared in court today. What was his explanation for not calling 911 right away? [00:09:35] Katie Lusso: He said he was scared. He didn't know what to do. He panicked. He was scared. He said in Nepal, he would have, you know, when he thinks back to what he would have done if it were Nepal, he would have called his elders. He would have called on the seniors. I believe we do have some some sound we can listen to of him actually explaining that. Take a listen. [00:09:52] Speaker 3: Why didn't you call literally anyone else for help? [00:09:57] Naresh Bhatt: I did not take first initiation action. Later, I get really, really scared. [00:10:05] Speaker 3: Were you concerned about how it would look? [00:10:10] Naresh Bhatt: I concerned about everything. I cannot explain what I was concerned about. Everything around around the world. [00:10:17] Speaker 3: Concerned about your job? [00:10:18] Naresh Bhatt: Everything. Not only the job. Job doesn't, that doesn't come on my mind. Everything. [00:10:26] Speaker 3: Are you afraid that you're going to be blamed for driving her to suicide? Yes. Are you afraid that you're going to be blamed for not taking serious? How hundred percent? Yes. [00:10:45] Katie Lusso: And I think what's interesting is he talks about being concerned. You know, the defense sort of set up this narrative of that he was scared of getting in trouble by talking about yesterday, how he had that White House clearance. He had this high security clearance and anytime the police were called, he did have to answer to that. So that kind of makes sense of why they were talking about that at [00:11:04] Speaker 1: the length yesterday. And you know, ultimately this comes down to the jury, the 12 men and women chosen to sit, you know, and watch over this case. Difficult task ahead of them. Were you able to get a glimpse of their reaction in any of this? [00:11:22] Katie Lusso: Oh yeah, I saw some mouths open. I will say at the beginning of the day, and we've seen this in previous days as well. The jurors have been laughing at him, not at his jokes, but at him, at his story. There was wonder who could just not keep it together because some of his story isn't making sense and they're catching that. But you know, the jurors today when he made the, you know, the announcement that he did in fact find his wife the next day, they were shocked. Everyone was hyper focused on Naresh and what he was about to say next and how he was going to explain the past two years. Again, that story that just he has never shared before when he has been asked so many times. [00:12:02] Speaker 1: Katie, I see some questions here from our our viewers on YouTube. They're asking more about the charges. I know he's charged with murder, concealment of a body and a physical defilement of a body. He has pleaded not guilty to all of this. Can you talk a little bit more about the charges and what he could be facing here? Yeah, so he's facing a first degree murder charge, [00:12:24] Katie Lusso: which the Commonwealth would have to prove that there's premeditation and that is a life eligible sentence. Obviously, we know as we've discussed in the past, Annie, that in this in Virginia there is no death penalty, but it is a life eligible case. He is also charged with concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. And so what we are seeing today is him admitting to the concealing and the defilement, but not admitting to any sort of thing that would land him that life sentence. So, you know, there has been speculation that this might happen. It was still shocking. Let me be completely clear, but I definitely saw some speculation online yesterday of, hey, is he going to switch over to admitting that she is dead? Because keep in mind, Annie, something that happened that was not in front of the jurors last week, the judge and the attorneys had a whole conversation. We heard from the defense attorney them trying to get this case thrown out. They said the Commonwealth had not proven their case and that obviously we know they hold the burden here. They said that the Commonwealth had not proven that this was a premeditated murder or that there even is a body in this case, which obviously we know that now we have more information about her body, but until this moment we did not know where her body was. And hopefully we will find out later today where in fact her final resting place, if you will, was. But that concealment charge, that is now front and center because he's admitting to that. So it appears the defense is trying to remove that life sentence and say, hey, we'll accept these lesser sentences to avoid that life sentence. [00:13:54] Speaker 1: Okay, Katie, we have some more viewers joining us on YouTube as well as streaming. So let's sort of reset that. And go over what exactly he told the jury today. And also we also have some some clips from the courtroom today. The first steps that he took to start hiding her body, for example, going to Home Depot. So if you want to kind of play through all of that for our new viewers here. [00:14:19] Speaker 3: What did you do next? [00:14:24] Naresh Bhatt: Just laying down on a bed and then thinking about life, a little bit military stuff for a moment. Then I left. [00:14:35] Speaker 3: And do you remember what you did when you left? [00:14:41] Naresh Bhatt: I just I think I changed my Facebook profile to the military one. So and then I just left. I think about like what to do next, how to do next. Then I just left. [00:14:57] Speaker 3: Do you remember going to the Home Depot? Yes. Why did you go there? [00:15:03] Naresh Bhatt: To find anything like to hide or like anything to go to the Potomac. To do what? To find anything to hide a body. And what was the second thing? Or anything like, you know, I can get something to take to the Potomac. To the Potomac? Potomac, yes. [00:15:22] Speaker 3: Were you thinking about what? Why did you what? What were you going to do if you went to the Potomac? [00:15:28] Naresh Bhatt: With the gold and money and I put the dead body on the Potomac River. [00:15:34] Speaker 3: What do you mean with gold and money? [00:15:36] Naresh Bhatt: Gold means G-O-L-D gold. Money means dollar money. [00:15:41] Speaker 3: Why would you do that? I don't know. My question is what made you what? Why would you put gold and money with a dead body? [00:15:54] Naresh Bhatt: I don't know. Just that's come in my mind. That's because of the high. When I was back home, you know, like that's the people do usually. Maybe that's why I did. But that's come in my mind. [00:16:04] Speaker 3: Is that a cultural thing to do, Mr. Bhatt? [00:16:06] Naresh Bhatt: Yes, ma'am. [00:16:07] Speaker 3: And describe that. What is that? So let me ask it again. Maybe you don't understand. Or if you understand, answer the question. [00:16:18] Naresh Bhatt: Yes. Over there like belongings, clothes belongings, and then some money or they throw like they say, the word burki maybe. What does, what does booty mean? Burki. [00:16:31] Speaker 3: Let me, let me ask the question. So what does booty mean? [00:16:37] Naresh Bhatt: That means like some of the money and then some of the jewelry or gold, whatever it is, whoever capable, they throw away on the name of that person. [00:16:47] Speaker 3: Okay. Did you do that? Did you try to take her body to the Potomac? [00:16:51] Naresh Bhatt: No. After that, I did not find anything and then I did not do that. [00:16:55] Speaker 3: You did, though, buy something at Home Depot. [00:17:00] Naresh Bhatt: No. On that day, yes. [00:17:03] Speaker 3: Yeah. So on that day, what did you buy? [00:17:06] Naresh Bhatt: Gloves. One pair of gloves. [00:17:08] Speaker 3: Why did you buy gloves? [00:17:09] Naresh Bhatt: I have no idea why I buy that. Usually I was trying to buy a drink or something. [00:17:21] Katie Lusso: Yeah. So, Annie, that was his summary of what he was doing. Instead of calling 911 when he found his wife on the floor and what he described as a pool of vomit and possibly blood. [00:17:31] Speaker 1: Okay. I see, I see more people joining us and they're asking, what did I miss? So if you're just joining us, Naresh bought the man on trial for allegedly killing and dismembering his wife Mamta Koffle testified earlier today that she killed herself and that he found her dead, surrounded by pills, a pool of blood. He also admitted to cutting up her body. Katie, following these details, and I know there are a lot more to this, what else did he share that we have. We don't know right now. [00:18:06] Katie Lusso: Yeah, well, I think some of the most shocking moments were when he said that, you know, he did find her, that he did see her the morning of July 30th, contradicting that initial statement. And then when he talked about why he didn't call 911, I mean, it's as simple as that. Just dial 911 if you believe she took her own life. But he says he was scared. He was concerned that no one would believe him. And that goes back to those, you know, allegations that there was abuse between them. You know, hard to speak to his state of mind in that moment. But he says he was scared to call 911, but he made an effort to go drop the baby off at the babysitter's house. He said he thought about taking his own life. He says he actually tried to take his own life but was unsuccessful. But then he moved on to deciding he was going to dispose of her body. He actually, Annie, and this one was really tough to hear and it was really hard for Momta's family to hear. He said he tried to throw her in the trash can in his garage first, but he was unable to do it. So he did try to throw her in the trash. Again, this is his wife, the mother of his 11 month old child. [00:19:11] Speaker 1: Again, just these are gruesome details that we're getting right now. I want to get to this question here, Katie. We have a question from someone who is interested to know if the defense lawyers knew about all of this until now or not. I know initially you and I, we were thinking that too. Why now? Why didn't this come out sooner? Do we have any idea if the defense knew that this was the story? [00:19:42] Katie Lusso: It's hard to say. You have to think that they might have known, but I also strongly wonder if Thursday's conversation that was had with the judge may have changed the story for them, may have changed the game. You know, the prosecution rested on Monday and the defense did not have to call any witnesses Monday. They said they didn't know who they were going to call. They didn't know how long it was going to take them to show their side of the case, so no indication to the prosecution. But I can tell you that the judge on Thursday, she talked about how when the when the defense tried to get the case thrown out, the judge said, you know what? No, I think there is evidence that the prosecution has shown. She talked about how she did believe that there was enough evidence to show that he and his wife were not getting along, that there is suspicious moments that he had those Google searches. I mean, the trips to the dumpster, his story changing. And she said that just going off what the prosecution has shown, remind reminder that the defense had not shown any evidence at this point, she said just going off what the prosecution has shown. I do believe these charges can stand, and I think that speaks a lot. She also said that she believed based on the evidence that was shown that Mamta was no longer alive. So I think when the defense heard that, they had to think of another plan. They had to figure out how are we going to work around that? Because you have the judge here saying that she believes Mamta's is dead, so they have to try and create a narrative of how she died, and I think that is what we saw up there on the stand today. All right, some folks are wondering [00:21:10] Speaker 1: when we might see a cross examination, if whether, you know, prosecutors will have an opportunity to challenge this account in the coming days. Do we have a timeline or sense on that right now? [00:21:22] Katie Lusso: I know that my colleague, our colleague Sophie, who was in the courtroom, she said that the defense said they had at least another hour and a half of questions they had for Naresh Bhatt. Now will that extend beyond? Obviously we know Naresh is a chatty guy. He likes to answer questions at length, so could that take longer? Possibly. It's 12:51. I believe they come back from lunch in the next 15 minutes or so. I'm not sure on the timeline of what time they actually come back from lunch, but when they come back from lunch, she expects to go at least another 90 minutes. Of course, the question is, will she want to have the last word today or will she want the jury, which remember there's no court tomorrow, so the jury goes home after today for the weekend, does she want to have the final say and have her client having the final say, or does she want to give the prosecution a chance to be the ones with the final say? And I think that'll be something she's probably or they're his both of his attorneys are probably discussing right now. How long do we want to continue this or do we want to pass it off to the prosecution? Okay, Katie, I know this trial [00:22:19] Speaker 1: was projected to take about seven weeks. We are well past the halfway mark here. I want to reset and for those of you joining us on YouTube and also on our WSA 9 streaming app, thank you so much for all the questions we're getting in in the comments. We see you. We want to play some clips from key testimony from over the last week. Let's take a look here. Okay, it looks like we may not have that ready for you. All right, Katie, let's talk more about how he disposed body because we also have been showing our viewers the surveillance footage of Naresh driving to multiple trash sites, wearing gloves and disposing bags of garbage. What how did that play out in court [00:23:13] Katie Lusso: as part of his testimony? Yeah, and Annie, that was the things we talked about yesterday in terms of how is he going to explain that? You know, he has an answer for everything from what we were hearing yesterday, but how is he going to explain those trips to dumpsters across Northern Virginia at all times of the day in the middle of the night? He's wearing gloves in those videos and also how is he going to explain the very bizarre Google searches that he was doing when it comes to those trips to the dumpsters? He talked about how he also discarded some of her belongings because he was scared of the spirits, so he was discarding her body, her belongings. He also talked about considering at one point disposing of her body in the Potomac River. He decided not to do that and decided to dump her body parts across Northern Virginia, so you know, I think he'll continue to talk about that when they come back. It'll be interesting to see, but when it comes to where those dumpsters were, one was in the apartment complex that he once lived in with Momta. It was an apartment that he was renting out to other people, so it was that complex in Falls Church that he has mentioned before, and then the other apartment complex was the babysitter, the woman who was watching his child, and that was in Manassas, not far from his home, so those were the two locations. Annie. Okay, Katie, looks like we do [00:24:27] Speaker 1: have that clip right now, the key testimony from last week. Let's take a look here together. [00:24:33] Katie Lusso: It was a normal day. That's what Naresh Bhatt told me about the last time he saw his wife, Momta Kofle Bhatt. That was eight days before he was arrested. He is now on trial, accused of killing her, dismembering her body, and concealing her dead body. I'm Katie Lasso. Momta Kofle Bhatt was 28 years old. She was a nurse and the mother of a then 11 month old baby girl. The summer of 2024, she, Naresh Bhatt, and their little girl lived in Heather Court in Manassas Park. The night of July 27th, 2024, she left work at UVA Prince William Medical Center. When she didn't show up to work on August 1st, her coworkers called police to do a welfare check. We're looking for Miss Momta Kofle. On August 22nd of 2024, Naresh Bhatt was arrested in connection to his wife's disappearance. On a scale of one to 10, one being you're not honest at all, [00:25:35] Speaker 5: you lie about everything, and 10 being you're a unicorn and you don't lie about anything. You never lie, right? How would you put yourself? I never lie. You never lie? Never lie. All the way up here. [00:25:48] Katie Lusso: Two years later, a jury will decide his fate. After hearing weeks of witness testimony, these are just some of the most compelling moments presented by the prosecution. Naresh Bhatt's ever-changing story, telling police that Momta broke her phone and left to go to New York or Texas, that they were going through a divorce. That story would change multiple times, he told investigators. Talk to me about the last time you saw her. In the evening of the Wednesday, we were here and then we ate together. And us here at WUSA 9, that he saw her the night of July 31st, that they ate dinner together, that they didn't have any arguments, that he and the baby went to bed and he never saw her again. Well, neither did anyone else. He did not report her missing until August 5th [00:26:33] Speaker 6: of 2024. Monta has now been missing over two weeks. Every day, we're getting more and more anxious to [00:26:40] Katie Lusso: find her. Surveillance images paint a concerning picture of where he was and what he was doing in the days between when Monta was last seen and when he filed that missing persons report. It shows him shopping for cleaning supplies, extra strength trash bags and knives, visiting dumpsters in Falls Church and Manassas multiple times a day, even in the middle of the night, wearing gloves and throwing away bag after bag. What was inside? Hard to even fathom. Suspected blood on the bedroom carpet, furniture moved to hide the stains. Reciprocating saw that prosecutors say had what they believe to be Monta's blood inside of it, a saw that he later gave away to a landscaper just days after Monta disappeared. Then there's the data from his computer and his cell phone. Monta's number last saved in his phone as bad memory with a running man emoji. A conversation from March of 2024 between Naresh and someone who prosecutors have not identified where Naresh writes quote, I need Columbia girl. I need good girl telling the person he and Monta are getting a divorce. And then there are the multitude of [00:27:53] Speaker 5: Google searches flagged by investigators. What are the words? Naresh by typed into his White House military's office. Google. How long does take to get married after spouse dies? Between July 30th and [00:28:10] Katie Lusso: August 17th, prosecutors say he Googled human brain diagram. Melatonin is safe for kids. Missing person finding rate in Virginia. What happened to property if you go to jail? And can I donate my baby to my friend? And then there's Monta's mother and brother. They have been in the courtroom every single day. Monta's mother testified that she spoke with her daughter, her only daughter, multiple times a day, every single day. They last spoke on July 29th. She never heard from her again. And Monta's body has never been found. And today we obviously got that upsetting update about where Monta was and how she died, according to Naresh, of course. But this has been an incredibly tough day for so many people who were really hoping for a different outcome. But now they know they know Monta is no longer alive. As to what happened to her and how she died, that remains unclear, Annie. [00:29:10] Speaker 1: Well, this, of course, following weeks of the prosecution laying out their case and day two of Naresh taking the stand. The man on trial for allegedly killing and dismembering his wife, Monta Katie. I know you have to get back inside the courtroom. We appreciate all of our viewers joining us on streaming and YouTube. We'll have much more on the news at 4 p.m.