A Mother Vanishes: Inside the Bhatt Murder Trial

[MUSIC PLAYING] Did you have a pretty close relationship with mom-tas, your daughter? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] We were very close. I loved her and she loved me. How often would you talk to mom-tas? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] In daily basis, like, morning and evening. That was Gita Kaffley, the mother of mom-tas, Kaffley bot, testifying at her daughter's murder trial in Manassas Park, Virginia. As you can hear, she's using a translator. Mom-tas's husband, Neresh Bot, was charged with murdering mom-tas after she appeared to have gone missing. On August 2, 2024, her co-workers at the UVA Prince William Medical Center requested a welfare check on the bot home when mom-tas missed a few of her shifts at work. Neresh spoke to the officers who conducted the welfare check and then filed a missing persons report on August 5. Neresh was arrested and held without bond on August 22, 2024. He now stands trial for concealing the body of his wife, murder, and defiling a body. The trial is expected to take up to seven weeks. The charges are significant because mom-tas body has still not been found. I'm 48 hours correspondent Ann Marie Green. And this is Case by Case. For our previous coverage of the bot trial, you can head on over to the 48 hours YouTube channel or check out the Case by Case feed wherever you get your podcasts. Joining us today is W USA 9 Reporter, Katie Lusso, who has been covering this case. Katie, it is so great to have you here today. Hi there. Thank you so much for having me. You have really been on this trial since before it was a trial. You all have done extensive coverage. And in fact, you were at the bot home, speaking to Neresh, asking him about the disappearance of his wife, a full eight days before he was arrested. Give me an idea of just what led you to the home. Were you aware that he may have been a suspect? And what was his demeanor like? No, we were not aware that he was even being considered a person of interest at that point. He had appeared at a press conference that afternoon. I was working night side that day. And I was like, hey, have we done a doorknoc? A few days earlier, my colleague Rafael Sanchez Cruz had actually stopped him and interviewed him outside of them and asked his park police department. And when I say interview, I say that loosely because Neresh really didn't want to talk to us yet, he seemed to be confused about whether or not he was allowed to speak with us. And so there was a little bit of an exchange between him and my colleague, Rafael. Rafael was saying, hey, we just want to know what your message is. The community is really trying to find her. What do you want to say to the community about when you last saw her? Is there anything-- you know, the standard conversation that he has journalists have with families when there are missing people? And so that night, I went to his home. I had had a phone conversation with him before I headed out there as it is a little bit out of the way of the DC area where our station is located. And I headed out there after speaking with him on the phone. And I headed to his home. I knocked on the door. Somebody else answered, I said, hey, is Neresh home? I'd love to speak with him. He came to the door. The baby was crying in the background and our conversation began. Wow. I mean, were you expecting him to speak to you? It's hard to say because I had spoken to him on the phone. And he said, yes, I'll talk to you. But today's not a good day. I believe he said to me, I have to take care of the baby. And I said, well, how about I just call you in a few hours. And of course, I knocked on the door instead. As journalists, we want to just go there and try to talk to the person versus trying to convince them again on the phone. Yeah, I've done many a door knock where you're not sure whether or not the person is going to open the door. And when they do, you don't know how long they're going to stand there. What was his demeanor like with you? He was juggling. It seemed like he was juggling a few things. He mentioned that to me on the phone that he had a lot going on. Understandably, his wife is missing. He has an 11-month-old baby. She was crying in the background. I will say there were other people at the home, possibly family or friends. I know a lot of people in the community had been going, they really came together to try and help the family in any way they could. And so I believe they were stopping by with groceries. He mentioned to me and just trying to help in any way they could. But he started answering my question. There was a little bit of a pause in the beginning because the baby started crying. And I could see her and I said, hey, like, do you want to go get her real quick, check on her? He said, yes. And then he came back. And our conversation continued. He did answer my questions. So then fast forward. And you're actually in the courtroom on October 7th for opening statements. Can you give me a sense of what the energy was like in the courtroom and who was there for a month? Who was there on her side? So Momta's mother, Gita Coffle, and Momta's brother, Mahesh Coffle, were both there in the courtroom as were several of the supporters. There have been a ton of supporters that have been backing this family since the very beginning. And you mentioned when I spoke to him at the front door, the family was really getting a lot of support. But at the same time, the community was really demanding answers and they wanted to get answers from him because they weren't really hearing from him. So back in the courtroom, though, Mahesh and Gita have been there every single day. They've been in the US for the past two years. They've been caring for Momta and Neuresh's daughter. She's now three years old. They've been taking care of her. And Momta's father, meanwhile, he's back in Nepal. So it's been tough on that family. But they want justice and they want answers and they believe Neuresh has the answers. And what about Neuresh? You just write about a house with people there supporting him when it was just the missing persons investigation in the courtroom now that it's a murder trial. Does he have friends? Does he have family there? I will say the witness list is very long. And anyone who is on the witness list is not allowed to be in the courtroom. They have made exceptions for Momta's mother and brother to be there. But even when it came to some of those supporters who have been subpoenaed to be witnesses in the case, they're not allowed to attend. And I've spoken to some of those supporters who are like, we want to be there. But we physically can't. We can't watch the hearing. We don't know what's going on right now. In terms of him, I have never spoken to his family. I do know there are several family members for him on the witness list. Nobody has outwardly said I'm here to support Neuresh, though. Well, you talk to him once now that you look at him in the courtroom, what's his demeanor like? You know, he's very quiet. He has not been saying a lot out loud. I'll say, though, during the pretrial hearings, we were hearing from him. He addressed the judge twice on two different occasions and specifically expressing his frustration that he had with his defense attorneys and at one point with the judge herself. But since then, he has been quiet. We've seen him pulling out tissues appearing to dab at what might be tears, seen him drinking a lot of water, seen him talking to his attorneys. And I'll say that every time his attorneys go up to the bench to discuss any sort of sidebar, he's right there with them. He wants to know everything that is happening. Hmm. You mentioned him sort of complaining about his defense team. He actually at one point tried to dismiss his defense. I wasn't sure if this was just sort of a stall tactic, but clearly he had already expressed his displeasure. Yeah, and the prosecution accused the defense of it being a stall tactic. But Neuresh stood up in court and said himself that he felt that his attorneys used the word prejudice. He said he felt his attorneys were prejudiced towards him. He felt that they weren't coming to visit him enough. They weren't ready. That was the big key word that both he and his defense attorneys have said that they are not ready for this hearing to begin. Jerry Selection started on October 5th. And it took about two and a half days. We're talking about over 300 potential jurors summoned for this trial. What can you tell us about the process of selecting just 12 jurors and, of course, five alternates? The jury selection, it was long. It was exhausting. The first entire day was spent just asking people if they were available for seven weeks. Because that is the length of this trial, what it is expected to be. And you know, we saw those hands shoot up right away. People saying, hey, I'm not ready to be in this courtroom for seven full weeks. But it wasn't that simple. You know, the judge wanted to know each person, why they weren't available. And then there were follow-up questions. But they did end up narrowing it down to 11 women and six men. So the defense team attempted something sort of interesting ahead of Jerry Selection. On October 1st, they put forward a motion that was seeking to disallow references to domestic violence allegations during the jury selection and during the opening statements of the trial. The judge denied that motion. But, you know, I wonder sort of what you make of this. We heard earlier from a family friend, Sarita, a friend of the bots, who talked about taking Momta in at one point when there was a disagreement with her husband. And she testified to certain details in regards to their marriage and the stressors in their marriage. Yeah, and when it came to that motion, which I actually have right here, that was filed by the defense. They didn't want the prosecution to bring up any of the specific domestic violence accusations between Neuresh and Mata. They said that they didn't think prior bad acts should be brought up to the jurors and they believed it could potentially prejudice the jury pool and make them take a stand, but domestic violence. I mean, it's such a big part of this case as we did here, Sarita, say, I'll add that during Sarita's testimony, there was a portion of that where the defense objected and there was a big pause where the judge and the prosecution ate a lot of questions for Sarita and it almost felt like I'll add the jury was taken out of the room and it felt like they were kind of asking her to testify while the jury wasn't there and the judge ended up allowing her testimony. So I want to play a little bit of Sarita's testimony. And what was on her face? No, it was a little bit of bruise on her left cheeks. And did you see a bruise on her? Yes, on the video. Did she talk to you about how that bruise got there? He said, she said he hit her. Did mom ever talk to you about divorce? Oh, yes. What did mom to tell you about divorce? She said she has been trying so hard to keep that relationship with Norris and he's been hitting her so many times. He was cheating her and after the postpartum, the relationship was not good. I invited Norris at my house after she came to my house. The next day I invited Norris and my house. Me and my husband, we wanted to have a conversation like, why are you guys fighting? What's happening? And the Norris point was like, he is not happy because he's not cleaning her house. So this alleged history of domestic violence could definitely be crucial in this case. I can see this being a big part of the prosecution's argument. And we want to remind people, domestic violence doesn't have to be physical. It can include financial, emotional, and mental abuse. Yeah, they talked a lot about how specifically Sarita, she talked about how mom to told her that he took her phone. He disconnected her phone. He removed her from her bank accounts. So there's that financial abuse that they're making accusations of. And then the complications with Norris family, his parents were helping and Norris should actually told me that that was one of the arguments that he and mom to had. She was making to quote him. He said, she was making demands and that was regarding his parents and their involvement in raising the little baby. And you know, this trial comes at the same time as a few others with mentions of domestic violence. Just last week, we covered the Caleb Flynn trial here on Case by Case. That happened in Tip City, Ohio. He was a music pastor found guilty of murdering his wife. He was having an affair. And just two days after that verdict, rapper Rick Ross was arrested on a battery charge from a past relationship, though Ross's attorney says that he was wrongfully accused. October is actually domestic violence awareness month. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 43 million women and 20 million men experience what they call contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. I think it's important to remember just how often this happens and that hasn't been lost on those who've been backing the support for a mom to they've had several domestic violence support events and are really using mom to story to encourage women to speak up especially in the Nepalese community if they're experiencing any kind of abuse. Just sort of put it all in context. I also want to talk a little bit more about the prosecutor's strategy here. Opening statements began last week. October 7th, since then the prosecution has been presenting their case to the judge and the jury. In their opening statements, the prosecutor actually referred to some of the work that you and your fellow reporters have done at W USA 9 when you interviewed Nuresh but I want to play some of that and then we'll talk about what it was like to see your own work up there. You will see inconsistent statements. You will see unbelievable spin as to where mom to went, where she could be. You're going to hear the defendant tell the police that he and his wife mom to had a fight and that mom to went to either New York or Texas to go see her sisters and that she broke her phone. You're going to hear the defendant tell a journalist that mountain him didn't have a fight and he has no idea where mom to is. Ask yourselves this question. Why is the defendant telling different stories to the same question? The same answer applies. Premeditated first degree murder. So they actually did play some of your reporting. What was that like? Yeah, they played our entire interview and they played my colleague Raphael's interview with him outside the police department on August 12th and then they played my interview with him at his front door from August 14th and you know it's odd because we do so many interviews like this. I mean it's part of the day-to-day you're going and you're trying to get answers and clarity and I was just at his front door doing my job trying to get answers for the community who had been reaching out to us over and over asking for these answers. I went there to get those answers and speaking to him you know I kept asking questions and people have asked me oh why did you ask that question that was an interesting thing to bring up and I'm just a nosy person. I was just doing my job and trying to get those answers and get the clarity. You're a curious person, nosy no. So now you know this is obviously the prosecution sort of dream scenario because now it's not about what other people heard him say. It's what's coming out of his own mouth that the jury gets to see and hear. Eventually how do you expect these sort of inconsistencies to play out in the trial? Yeah I mean we heard the prosecution say right in his opening statements that his case is based around the inconsistencies in Neuresh's story. The fact that he tells police one thing during the welfare check he says mom to left she broke her phone. She's with her sisters in New York or Texas. We obviously have learned that Neuresh or that momta doesn't have any blood sisters but in the Napoli community close friends call each other sister and she does have those close friends sisters in New York and Texas. They've also testified that she was not with them but then he he did end up telling police that he believed she was home the night of Wednesday the 31st which is what he told me he said they had dinner together in that he went to bed with the baby and he didn't know if she came to bed. He couldn't answer that question for me. He didn't seem to have an answer for police about that. Manassas Park Detective Claudia Ventura testified last Thursday saying that she spoke to both Neuresh and a close family friend on August 6th, 2024 and that was the day after Neuresh filed that missing persons report for his wife. I want to play a little bit of the detective's testimony here. Yes so at this point I remember going to back to the police station and letting my supervisor and the detectives know that something is wrong. No mom would leave their child and me being a mom myself. It definitely stuck with me and I remember thinking we I need to do something. Something's not right. So what else did Detective Ventura speak about? Tell me a little bit more about her testimony. She talked a lot. She actually went to Neuresh's home two more times after that because she said she you know this case was all over social media and the community played a huge part in getting the word out about Momta being missing and was the reason we started covering this case initially. And so she was seeing those same social media posts that we were seeing and a lot of people were in the comments saying where is Momta's husband? Why is he not speaking? Why is he not addressing the media? Why are the police not saying anything? Because you know initially police didn't believe that she hadn't just left. They had no reason not to believe what Neuresh had told them. And so one of the things that Detective Ventura brought up is that after she had that initial conversation with Neuresh and then with one of the friends which we believe was Serita Nupani or Sumita Bindari. Those were two of the friends that were really speaking up. They had come to her and told her and other officers that they were really concerned about Momta that she wouldn't just leave her 11 month old child without telling someone that she was a nurse. She was very family oriented. And it was at this point that Detective Ventura said she went to her supervisors and she said something is wrong and she changed the status of Momta from voluntary missing to involuntary meaning she no longer believed that she had left on her own. Because I mean they're seeing her taking pictures with her child. She's just she's a very devoted mother. It just doesn't happen that way. We've seen women walk away from volatile marriages. Often part of the reason they stay is because because they want to stay with us. with their children. So that just seemed a little odd to investigators. It did. And she she had a TikTok account that detective and her she referred to several times. And I've seen those videos on on TikTok. We've all reported on those videos. It's her and the little baby and their dancing and she's smiling. You can see the baby looking up at her. And it's just these special moments that that luckily her daughter will have forever. But it also signified to her that something was off because she wasn't posting on social media. And I think one of the other big warning signs to her was that mom to was not in touch with her mother who, as you heard earlier, they spoke two to three times a day every single day. Mm hmm. So there we have some of what we're going to hear from the prosecution. What about the defense? We heard the opening statements from the defense as well on October 7th. Before we get into that, let's play a little sound. And you're going to find, I think that most of the police and the forensic work speaks to the Commonwealth's accusation that Mr. Bot defiled and then hid Montacaflé's body. And I'm genuinely sorry that you are being asked to listen to a truly gruesome and horrifying story. And as you listen, remember that your job is not to determine guilt or innocence, your job is to decide if the state has ruled out every reasonable doubt that you have about whether Mr. Bot did the things they accused him of. I mean, the most obvious sort of hole for the prosecution is that there is no body, but they're also as the defense sort of points out describing kind of a really gruesome way of disposing of Montacaflé body. And so one would expect there would be a lot of evidence to indicate that this is what has happened. That appears to be the direction that the defense is going in. Yeah. And the prosecution has said they have a lot of digital and forensic evidence that's going to really paint the picture for the jurors. The defense has said there's a lot of holes that there's a lot of gaps in the story. And you know, while the prosecution has said they believe that Narech Bot killed his wife, dismembered and dumped her body parts, they've not actually shared how they believe he killed her. And they haven't clarified exactly. And this is yet they may do this further on down the road, but they haven't explained exactly when they believe he committed these crimes. He's accused of committing. So the defense is really pushing on that. And I can add that since in the days that have passed since opening statements, the defense when they are making these objections, there, for example, Detective Ventura, when she was talking about Narech's style of speech and how he talks very quickly. And I think she said that he seemed to ramble another officer said he overshares. And the defense made a point to say, you don't know him. So you don't know his speech, the way he normally talks. And the defense made a point to say he's a talkative guy. He likes to talk. There's no doubt around that. She also pointed out that everyone, when they're in a stressful situation, they react differently. And she encouraged the jurors to keep that in mind. But she has brought up that language barrier as an issue that may be Narech Bot didn't really understand the questions he was being asked. So then my question to you is, is he expected to testify? He has not said yet. And that was asked prior to the jurors being brought in. He was asked, are you going to testify? And the defense said, we're not sure yet. We're not clear if he's going to make that decision. And he has every right to make it or not make it. There was something else that sort of struck me about the defense opening statement. I want to play it first and then we can talk. And in the nature of things in a murder accusation like the state has brought, a lot of what you hear will come from observations of people who had already picked sides, who were predisposed towards one person or another. And your job as jurors is to weigh people's biases, listen to their motivations, to embellish or to fabricate. What time and memory, what the effect of time and trauma has add on their memories as you listen to each of the witnesses put forward? Does it seem like they're sort of almost trying to guard against kind of a bias against him? Definitely. And the defense attorney has said repeatedly, you need to stick to the facts and keep the facts in mind, keep the emotion out of it, stick to the facts. She said the defense doesn't have those facts. And there are going to be a lot of gaps that need to be filled in at the end. And she told them they shouldn't use their imagination. They should make their decision based on what facts were actually presented. There is sort of also talk about whether or not the defense team was unprepared. Tracey Lennox, his boss attorney, she's also the chief public defender. She kind of spoke to the suggestion that the team was unprepared, that they received over 100 pages of discovery. And it was really difficult for them to secure witnesses. Can you tell me a little bit more about sort of this new evidence that they say they received? From what I understand about that new evidence that she was referring to when she made that statement, the prosecution responded by saying a lot of that was just metadata. And he was saying, I can't tell you how to process what the evidence we're giving you is. But I wouldn't think you need to go through every piece of evidence. The judge has repeatedly denied as of late her motions for a continuance citing that this has been going on for two years. August 22nd of 2024 is when Neuresh was originally arrested on that first charge of concealing a dead body. Obviously, the charges were added for the rest of it. But he has been sitting in jail for more than two years now. And the judge said he has the right to a trial fast. And the family has a right to get answers. I'll add that judge Kimberley arranged. She's been from what I've seen. She's been asking the defense when they've made comments. And I've seen them make comments even this week about how they weren't prepared for this particular witness. And for one example, on Wednesday, she gave the defense attorneys a quick break to kind of get their bearings together and come back and ask questions of the witness who was on the stand. They came back and they didn't have any questions for the witness. So I did think that was interesting. But she is aware of it. And she said that she's trying to be respectful and try to help them out. But at the end of the day, while these particular attorneys may not have been the ones that were initially assigned to be in arrest spots attorneys, it has been in the public defender's office since the very beginning. And so for whatever reason, the defense really only cross examined a few of the prosecution's witnesses. When you listen to the cross examination, what sort of direction were things going and what do you make of it? Yes. So most of her questions are centered around, well, do you know Neresh when you're making these comments? Like I said before about him rambling or oversharing. You don't know his personality. So just reminding people to not be judging him when you don't know that he's acting a certain way because of a certain situation. Or if that's just how he always is. And the other things she's continuously been bringing up is that language barrier. I'll add that Neresh does have interpreters in the courtroom. There are four interpreters who've been swapping in and out. They are there for him. But they're also there for mom to his mother and brother. Neresh has not been wearing the headphones. The jurors were instructed that they are not to take that into consideration. But it has been noticed by at least the other reporters in the room. I wonder if that's also part of the reason why this trial might go on for seven weeks or so is that just when you have translation issues, you're sort of saying a lot of things twice. Yeah, we are seeing the translators. They've been very busy. They've been helping out with some of the witnesses who have been called. But they've only word for word had to translate for, I believe, two witnesses, including mom to mother. But they are there. So if he needs them, they are there to help him out. And he has those headphones sitting there. If he does have questions or need some clarity, so I want to go back to the way we started this podcast, which is hearing from Momta's mother, Gita. Her testimony was emotional, was tearful. They showed pictures of Momta with her daughter and other pictures of her. I can't imagine what this was like for her mother to go through. It's been incredibly hard from what I've seen. She's been sitting in front of me for a lot of the trial next to Mahesh. You can see the pain in her eyes. We also saw her up there on the stand, start to get emotional when she was being asked about her daughter. And I've seen her get emotional and kind of look away. And one of the supporters is they are sitting with her and just kind of bury her head in their shoulder. So it is hard to watch because she just wants to know where her daughter is. Right. And, you know, let us not forget that at the center of this is a victim who you will never see in the courtroom, which is Momta and Neuresh's daughter, who is now left growing up, growing up, rather, without a mother. And I just think about her own mother on the stand, you know, probably wanting to get answers not just for herself, but for her grandchild, who's really only left with photos and videos and memories that are probably quickly fading. It's definitely tough. And I know I've spoken to the supporters and the family about the little girl. And she seems to be doing well. They told me that she has a similar personality to mom does. And I think what's going to be hard for them is when they have to start answering those questions of where is mom, where is my mom. I think that'll be a tough conversation that eventually they're going to get that question. Yeah. At least it sounds like she has a good community and a strong family around her and she's definitely going to need it. Katie, thank you so much for your coverage. And I know that you ran straight from the courthouse to get here to talk to us. So I really appreciate you taking the time. We will be back next week with another episode of Case By Case for our continuing coverage. You can check out the Case By Case feed wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch episodes of Case By Case on the 48 hours YouTube channel or by searching Case By Case on Paramount Plus. Be sure to rate and review and let us know which cases you're following and which cases you'd like us to follow. Thank you.