3 Chilling Cases of Missing Wives and Husbands Charged as Bodies Not Found

Three husbands face charges in the wake of their wives’ disappearances, including murder and concealing a dead body—though a body has not been located.
As Ana Walshe, Mamta Kafle Bhatt and Mischa Johnson remain missing, their husbands have been accused of playing roles in their deaths or interfering with ongoing investigations.
Brian Walshe has been charged with misleading the police, first-degree murder and improper conveyance, or transport, of a human body. Naresh Bhatt has been charged with concealing a dead body. And Dewayne Arthur Johnson II has been charged with providing false statements, obstruction of justice and production and distribution of child pornography.
Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty to all charges, while Naresh Bhatt and Dewayne Arthur Johnson II have not yet entered pleas.
Paul F. Rothstein, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, spoke with Newsweek about the difficulty prosecutors may face in building a case against a defendant in the absence of a body.
“It’s very difficult, but it depends on whether the prosecutors can construct a story that compellingly suggests motive to kill the wife on the part of the husband, and compellingly suggests that it was done, even without a body,” Rothstein said.
The professor explained how these cases can be developed. “If there is no other good reason for her extended absence, and it’s a substantial extended absence, a fairly strong inference can arise,” Rothstein said. “And if it’s combined with a motive of the husband that’s been proven, a motive to do away with her, there is then a circumstantial case that the husband killed her.”
Brian Walshe is the only husband out of the three facing a first-degree murder charge. Rothstein said it is hard to convict someone of murder when that key piece of evidence is missing.
“The cases in which there is no body have usually not gone forward to trial, either because the prosecutors back off, or if they have gone forward to trial and the defendant gets off, it’s because the jury feels the case has not been made,” Rothstein said. “So these are very, very rare cases where there is a conviction of murder when there’s been no body, but they are not unheard of.”
Rothstein added that the chance of foul play in a missing persons case can be more likely if there are children involved.
“The likelihood of an innocent, voluntary disappearance is reduced when there are children present, especially if there is lots of evidence of her being a devoted mother,” he said.
Ana Walshe had three children, who were 2, 4 and 6 years old at the time of her disappearance. Mamta Kafle Bhatt had a 1-year-old daughter. And Mischa Johnson was six months pregnant when she disappeared.
Rothstein explained how the defense could attempt to disprove the case prosecutors are building.
“What the defense would do is parade all the possibilities of what would make a wife be absent and missing for this length of time, and they would be all possibilities other than that the defendant killed her, such as dissatisfaction with the marriage, maybe having another lover or the possibilities of accidents, auto accidents or other accidents that have not yet been discovered,” he said.
Ana Walshe, 39, was last seen by a family member in her home in Massachusetts between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day in 2023. Her husband, Brian Walshe, 49, reported her missing on January 4, 2023.
Four days later, he was arrested on a charge of misleading the police and later received additional charges, including murder in the first degree.
Investigators found blood, a bloody knife and tarps during a search conducted at the Walshes’ home.
While Ana Walshe’s body has not been found, her purse, a piece of a necklace she owned, a COVID-19 vaccine card with her name on it and the boots she was wearing prior to her disappearance were found at a dumpster near her mother-in-law’s apartment complex.
Prosecutors allege that Brian Walshe’s Google searches included “How long before a body starts to smell,” “Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body,” and “Can you be charged with murder without a body.”
In 2005, Ana Walshe immigrated to the U.S. from Serbia. She married Brian Walshe in 2016 and was a regional general manager at a real estate company.
Brian Walshe is expected to appear in court on December 2.
Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was last seen in Virginia on July 31. She did not show up to her job as a pediatric nurse the following day. Her husband, 37-year-old Naresh Bhatt, reported her missing on August 5.
Naresh Bhatt was arrested on August 22 and charged with concealing a dead body. He was allegedly the last person to see Mamta Kafle Bhatt before her disappearance.
Prosecutors allege that blood was found in the couple’s home and that there was evidence that a body had been dragged.
Mamta Kafle Bhatt was born in Nepal. She and her husband had been married for three years, and she worked at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center.
Naresh Bhatt is expected to appear in court on October 10.
Mischa Johnson, 19, was expecting her first child when she went missing on July 31. She was last seen in her home at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu. She is described as a Filipino woman with brown hair and brown eyes.
In November 2023, the couple married. Her husband, 28-year-old Private First Class Dewayne Arthur Johnson II, was arrested in August in connection with the missing persons case.
A neutral officer has been assigned to his criminal case, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel previously told Newsweek. The officer is expected to set a date for his preliminary hearing.
“After the preliminary hearing, the officer will make recommendations regarding the appropriate disposition of the case,” the spokesperson said. “This preliminary hearing is required before charges can be referred for trial by general court-martial pursuant to Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
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