Inset: Bal Khadka (Burlington police). Background: Apartment in the 200 block of S. Champlain Street where Khadka allegedly beat his wife to death (Google Maps).
A 44-year-old Vermont man allegedly beat his wife to death with a large black and green flashlight in front of three kids and ignored his daughter's pleas to stop the assault.
Bal Khadka is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Lila Darjee Khadka. He's also charged with three counts of child cruelty.
The Burlington Police Department said in a press release that officers responded shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday to an apartment in the 200 block of S. Champlain Street after they received several 911 calls about a fight in progress and someone in need of an ambulance.
Cops entered the apartment and found the unresponsive victim lying in a bed with "substantial injuries" to her head. Paramedics rushed Lila Khadka to the hospital, where she was first listed in critical condition. She died on Sunday.
Investigators said they learned Bal Khadka repeatedly bludgeoned his wife with a large flashlight.
An arrest affidavit obtained by VTDigger said three kids under the age of 10 saw the beating, and one of them recorded it.
On the audio recording, the 10-year-old girl was heard yelling "dad no," and screaming, cops reportedly wrote.
Officers found the frantic, crying girl outside the apartment building. She reportedly told cops that she and her friend were having a sleepover. She said she and her friend saw her father allegedly beat her mother with the flashlight, so they escaped through a window.
When officers encountered the suspect, he reportedly said "hello" in a low voice while trying to put shoes on a young child in the home and acted as if everything was normal. They recovered the flashlight in a bedroom dresser drawer, per cops.
Officers arrested the suspect and took him to the police station. During an interview with investigators, Bal Khadka appeared "stone-faced" and "appeared unaffected by the incident," the affidavit reportedly said.
The kids told cops that Khadka had been using drugs. He was reportedly arrested for aggravated domestic assault against his wife in 2020, but prosecutors told VTDigger that they dismissed the case after Lila Khadka declined to testify.
Bal Khadka is being held at Northwest State Correctional Facility without bond.