A pediatrician from Oklahoma City has been charged with first‑degree murder after her 4-year-old daughter died in what investigators now believe was a staged drowning at a South Florida short‑term rental home.
Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, and her daughter, Aria Talathi, were on vacation in El Portal when she called 911 about a child drowning in a residential pool at 3:40 a.m. on June 27, her attorney, Richard Cooper, told Local 10 News.
Upon arrival, Gupta walked them to the backyard where Talathi was unresponsive in the deep end, an autopsy report obtained by the outlet states.
First responders found Talathi unresponsive and started CPR. She was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where she was later pronounced dead.
Initially considered a tragic accident, the incident led to Gupta’s arrest in Oklahoma City following a weeks-long homicide investigation.
The autopsy reportedly found no water in Talathi’s lungs or stomach, ruling out drowning. Instead, injuries in her mouth and cheeks suggested “asphyxiation by smothering.”
The medical examiner concluded Talathi was likely dead before being placed in the pool, and her empty stomach contradicted her mother’s claim that she ate dinner at 9 p.m.
Gupta awaits extradition to Miami-Dade to face the first-degree murder charge, where she will be held without bond.
Gupta told detectives that the pair went to bed together in the master bedroom around 12:30 a.m. Gupta claimed she awoke at 3:20 a.m. to a noise, found Talathi missing, and saw her submerged in the pool. Unable to swim, Gupta said she struggled to rescue her daughter for 10 minutes before calling 911.
Cooper and Gupta’s other attorney, Michael Mirer, told Local 10 News on Wednesday, “We are disappointed that the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office succumbed to pressure and rushed to judgment. As a result, a grieving mother who just lost her daughter is in jail.”
The attorneys concluded, “We look forward to a full investigation which will uncover the truth of the matter.”
Miami-Dade detectives have taken over the ongoing investigation.
The Independent has contacted the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office for further comment.
