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Dr. Neha Gupta, a pediatrician from Oklahoma, has been charged with first-degree murder following the death of her four-year-old daughter, Aria Talathi, in El Portal, Florida. The incident occurred on June 27 at a short-term rental home. According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, authorities responded to a 911 call about a child found unresponsive in a swimming pool around 3:41 a.m. Aria was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where she was pronounced dead at 4:28 a.m.
Initially, Dr. Gupta claimed the drowning was accidental, stating that she awoke to an unidentified noise and found her daughter in the pool. However, an autopsy revealed no water in Aria's lungs or stomach, ruling out drowning as the cause of death. Instead, the medical examiner found signs consistent with smothering, including cuts in Aria’s mouth and bruises inside her cheeks, indicating that she was likely already dead before being placed in the pool.
Authorities also discovered that Aria's stomach was empty, contradicting Gupta's statement that her daughter had eaten dinner around 9 p.m. The investigation revealed an ongoing custody battle between Dr. Gupta and her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, who was unaware that Gupta had taken Aria out of state.
Dr. Gupta was arrested in Oklahoma City with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and will be extradited to Florida. Her attorney, Richard L. Cooper, expressed skepticism over the charges, stating, "We are waiting for the facts to come to light. An autopsy was performed over the weekend. The toxicology reports aren’t back yet."