The attack in Mantua left two women dead, the alleged attacker dead and one man facing a long recovery.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Northern Virginia man is recovering in a rehabilitation center after a Feb. 23 stabbing attack in Mantua that killed his wife and mother-in-law, according to local reporting and police records that describe one of the deadliest domestic violence cases in Fairfax County this year.
The man’s appearance from rehab marks the first public sign of his survival since police said he was found gravely wounded inside the family’s apartment when officers arrived before dawn. Investigators say the attack began inside a home on Persimmon Drive, where 54-year-old Chhatra Thapa fatally stabbed his wife, Binda Thapa, 52, and his daughter, Mamta Thapa, 33, before turning the knife on his son-in-law. The case remains under review as the department prepares to release body-camera footage and complete parallel criminal and administrative investigations tied to the police shooting that ended the assault.
Police said officers were called to the 3900 block of Persimmon Drive in Mantua at about 5:06 a.m. on Feb. 23 for a reported domestic-related assault involving two victims. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the surviving son-in-law had been outside clearing snow from a car when he heard a commotion inside the apartment, called 911 and went back in. What he found, Davis said later that morning, was “an unimaginable scene.” Officers first located a wounded woman outside the apartment, then entered and found another woman inside with stab wounds. They also encountered Chhatra Thapa armed with what police described as a 10-inch curved dagger resembling a meat cleaver, kneeling over the injured man and continuing the attack. Officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon, police said. When he did not comply, one officer fired, striking him several times in the upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The two women were taken to a hospital, where they later died. Fairfax County police identified them as Binda Thapa and Mamta Thapa. The surviving victim, Mamta Thapa’s husband, was also hospitalized after suffering critical injuries. Police have not publicly described the full extent of his wounds, but the report from a rehabilitation center shows he survived the initial emergency, multiple medical interventions and the first stage of recovery. Police also said a 1-year-old grandchild was inside the apartment during the violence but was not physically injured. That detail added to the shock around the case in Mantua, a well-settled neighborhood north of Little River Turnpike. Authorities have not said what the child saw or heard, and they have not publicly identified where the child is now living beyond noting that protective arrangements were made after the attack.
The known timeline remains stark. Officers said they arrived within minutes of the 911 call and moved from a wounded victim outside to an active assault inside. Police have not said how long the attack lasted before officers reached the apartment, and they have not disclosed whether anyone else inside the home tried to intervene. They also have not announced a motive. So far, investigators have described the killings only as a domestic-related assault. Davis said at the initial briefing that he could not imagine “what would compel any human being to butcher his family like he did.” Police later released the names and ages of the dead and identified the officer who shot Chhatra Thapa as Police Officer First Class Nicholas Brazones, a 2.5-year veteran assigned to the Mason Police District. Under department policy, Brazones was placed on restricted duty while the criminal and administrative reviews continue.
The rehabilitation update shifts the story from the immediate violence to the long aftermath. For days, the public record centered on the killings, the police shooting and the graphic evidence described by officers. The latest development points to a second phase: a surviving witness and victim whose recovery may shape the investigation, any eventual public timeline and the family’s understanding of what happened inside the apartment. Investigators often wait until a victim is medically stable before conducting lengthy follow-up interviews. Fairfax County police have not said whether that interview has happened, whether the survivor remembers the entire encounter or whether prosecutors expect any further court action now that the alleged attacker is dead. In cases like this, police reports, forensic testing, autopsy findings and body-camera footage become central to reconstructing the final minutes inside the home.
The apartment complex remains a key part of the case context. Davis said officers found one victim outside and two others inside, suggesting movement during the attack and a desperate attempt to escape. That matches the broad outline officials gave on the day of the killings, when they described a chaotic and violent scene before sunrise. Police later published a photo of the recovered weapon and said it had a curved blade about 10 inches long. They also said there had been no previously documented domestic-related calls for service at that address, though the absence of prior police contact does not explain what led to the attack. The deaths of Binda Thapa and Mamta Thapa stunned neighbors and members of the local Nepali community, where the family was known. Mamta Thapa, 33, was a young mother, and the fact that her husband survived means the family’s future now turns in part on his recovery.
Procedurally, the case now sits at the intersection of a homicide investigation and an officer-involved shooting review. Fairfax County police said the Major Crimes Bureau and Internal Affairs Bureau are both investigating. The department also said body-worn camera footage from the shooting would be released within 30 days of the incident under agency policy. That places the expected release by late March, unless the department announces a delay tied to legal or investigative concerns. No charges are pending against Chhatra Thapa because he died at the scene, and police have not indicated that anyone else is suspected of involvement. The next formal milestones are likely the body-camera release, a fuller medical update on the survivor if the family chooses to share one, and the completion of autopsy and forensic reports that could answer questions about sequence, timing and cause of death.
For now, the most meaningful public image in the case is no longer the apartment building or the recovered knife, but the surviving man in a rehabilitation center, alive after the attack that killed two of the women closest to him. That image does not answer the largest unanswered question, which is why the killings happened, but it does show that the case is not over simply because the alleged attacker is dead. The survivor’s path back through surgery, therapy and grief is now part of the story. His account may eventually provide details that police, neighbors and relatives still do not have. Until then, the official record remains limited to what officers saw when they crossed the threshold and stopped the attack.
The case stood on Saturday with one man recovering, two women dead and Fairfax County police still working toward a fuller public account. The next major marker is the expected release of body-camera footage later in March.
Author note: Last updated March 7, 2026.