A pediatrician from Oklahoma has been arrested for allegedly killing her 4-year-old daughter while on vacation in Florida. Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, is accused of smothering her child to death and then trying to make it look like an accidental drowning.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrested Gupta on Monday and charged her with first-degree murder. Police say she killed her daughter Aria Talathi and staged the scene to cover up the crime.
The case has shocked many because it involves a doctor who saves children’s lives accused of murdering her own 4-year-old in what police call a twisted drowning cover-up. This disturbing case joins other shocking crimes involving young victims that have captured public attention. Gupta worked as a pediatrician, making the allegations even more disturbing for the medical community.
Autopsy reveals no drowning occurred
The incident happened on June 27 at around 3:41 in the morning at a rental home in El Portal, Florida. Police were called to the house after reports of an unresponsive 4-year-old found in a swimming pool. When officers arrived, Gupta led them to the backyard where they found the child in the deep end of the pool.
Emergency workers performed CPR on the little girl and rushed her to a local hospital. Despite all efforts to save her life, she was pronounced dead at 4:28 in the morning. The quick response from medical teams was not enough to revive the child.
Gupta told police she and her daughter had traveled from Edmond, Oklahoma, to Miami for vacation. They were staying at an Airbnb rental property when the tragedy occurred. The mother said her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, did not know the child had left Oklahoma. Police learned the divorced parents were fighting over custody of their daughter.
Bombshell allegations against an OU Physician and professor, Dr. Neha Gupta. She's been arrested in Oklahoma on suspicion of murder in the death of her 4-year-old daughter in South Florida. @kfor https://t.co/lyui7nGojc via @wsvn pic.twitter.com/rJZ9bGDRdH
— Tara Blume (@tcblume) July 2, 2025
According to Gupta’s statement to police, she and Aria arrived at the rental house on June 26 between 7 and 8 in the evening. The child was tired after spending the day at the beach and riding jet skis. Gupta said she carried her sleeping daughter into the house and woke her up for dinner around 9 o’clock.
The mother told investigators that Aria fell asleep at 12:30 in the morning and they slept together in the master bedroom. At around 3:20 in the morning, Gupta claimed she woke up to a strange noise. She said she noticed her daughter was not in bed and that the glass door to the patio was open.
Gupta told police she found her daughter underwater in the pool. She said she tried to pull the child out but could not swim well enough to help. The mother claimed she spent 10 minutes trying to rescue her daughter before calling for emergency help.
However, the autopsy results told a different story. The medical examiner found that the child’s lungs and stomach contained no water and were completely dry. Like other cases where forensic evidence contradicted initial assumptions, the autopsy revealed the true cause of death. This ruled out drowning as the cause of death. The doctor also found cuts inside the child’s mouth and bruising on her cheeks, which are signs of death by smothering.
The autopsy also showed that Aria was already dead when she was placed in the pool. Her stomach was empty, which contradicted her mother’s story about feeding her dinner hours earlier. Based on this evidence, police concluded that Gupta killed her daughter and then tried to hide the crime by making it look like an accidental drowning.
Police obtained an arrest warrant and traveled to Oklahoma City to arrest Gupta with help from local authorities. She is now waiting to be sent back to Miami-Dade County to face the first-degree murder charge. It is not clear if Gupta has hired a lawyer to represent her in this case.
