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Burlington man accused of killing his wife with a flashlight denies murder charge

Bal Khadka is arraigned in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. . Khadka is charged with second degree murder in the death of his wife Lila. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

By Alan J. KeaysPublished Oct 13, 2026, 4:24 PMUpdated Oct 14, 20265 min read

A man in a red jumpsuit with his hands in handcuffs stands in a room, with the back of a person’s head visible in the foreground.

" data-large-file="https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/bal-khadka-1-20261013-1200x798.jpg" /> Bal Khadka is arraigned in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. . Khadka is charged with second degree murder in the death of his wife Lila. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

A Burlington man is accused of killing his wife by beating her with a flashlight in front of young children, according to charging documents made public Tuesday.

Bal Khadka, 44, through his attorney, entered not guilty pleas Tuesday morning during his arraignment in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Lila Darjee Khadka, in a residence on South Champlain Street.

Bal Khadka also entered not guilty pleas to three charges of child cruelty, with court records stating that the fatal beating took place with three children in the residence.

Attorney Stacie Johnson, a public defender, represented Bal Khadka at the hearing Tuesday. Johnson could not immediately be reached Tuesday for comment.

A Nepali interpreter translated Tuesday’s court proceeding for Bal Khadka, who sat at the defense table next to his attorney.

Judge Robert Katims granted a prosecution request to hold Bal Khadka in jail without bail.

“Mr. Khadka is charged with a brutal assault in which he bludgeoned his wife with a flashlight,” Chittenden County Deputy State’s Attorney Marykate Moore wrote in a motion seeking to hold Khadka without bail filed ahead of Tuesday’s hearing. “The act was witnessed by three juveniles and recorded by one of them.”

Police responded to the Champlain Street residence a little before 6 a.m. Saturday after receiving several 911 calls, with one of the callers reporting hearing a child screaming, Detective Cpl. Erica Schaller of the Burlington Police Department wrote in a charging affidavit.

Outside the residence, police said they found a 10-year-old child, frantic and crying, reporting that she and a friend, who both had been in the residence, had left the building through a window on the first floor, and her father was striking her mother and needed help.

Officers at the residence found Lila Darjee Khadka on a bed unresponsive and suffering from head injuries, the affidavit stated. She was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington where she died Sunday evening, Schaller wrote in the filing.

Police said they saw Bal Khadka in the living room, trying to put shoes on a young child, and he said “Hello” in a low, calm voice, appearing unbothered by police there.

Police said three children were at the residence, all ages 10 or younger, including a friend of one of the Khadkas’ children who was there for a sleepover.

One of the children, the charging affidavit stated, recorded audio of the incident on a cellphone, capturing the moments before the assault, during the assault and the arrival of police and emergency services, court records stated.

In the audio recording, according to the court filing, a girl could be heard saying what sounds like, “Dad no,” and then the girl starts screaming.

Two of the children reported witnessing Bal Khadka repeatedly striking Lila Darjee Khadka with a large black and green flashlight, according to the court filings. Police reported later finding a large black and green flashlight in the top drawer of a dresser in a bedroom.

Bal Khadka was arrested and taken to the Burlington Police Department where he made no statements about the incident, though he repeatedly asked why he was in handcuffs, the charging document stated.

The filing described Bal Khadka as “stone-faced” and “appeared unaffected by the incident.”

The children reported to police that Bal Khadka had been using drugs leading up to the incident, the records stated.

According to court records, Bal Khadka has prior convictions for drunken driving, violating an abuse prevention order and violating conditions of his release.

Also, court records show an aggravated domestic assault charge in Chittenden County stemming from an incident in 2020 against Bal Khadka that was dismissed by the prosecution.

“This was a charge that stemmed from an incident in October 2020 – at the height of COVID, and as the prosecution progressed Lila made the decision not to engage with the prosecution and indicated she was not interested in testifying and wanted the charge dismissed,” Chittenden County State’s Attorney State’s Sarah George stated in an email Tuesday in response to questions.

George added that the prosecution could not prove the case without her testimony so the charge was dismissed in 2021.

“This is very common and not meant to blame Lila for her decision. It’s truly a false choice,” George added. “Victims of domestic violence are not just exposed to and dealing with physical abuse, but also significant mental and emotional abuse, financial exploitation, and shared custody of children.”

George added that such cases are often one person’s word against the other.

That “means that the victim is almost always required to testify in order to prove the case – which actually puts her in a position to be cross examined by defense counsel, and puts her at greater risk of escalated abuse,” George stated.

George, in the email Tuesday, said the Khadka children are “safe with family.”

Khadka was listed by the Vermont Department of Corrections on Tuesday afternoon as incarcerated at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.

If convicted of the murder charge alone, he faces up to life in prison. His next court date is set for Oct. 26.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington man accused of killing his wife with a flashlight denies murder charge.

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Burlington man accused of killing his wife with a flashlight denies murder charge

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