Oklahoma doctor accused of killing daughter, staging drowning

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Photo via Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office

An Oklahoma pediatrician is accused of staging the death of her 4-year-old daughter to make it appear the child drowned in the swimming pool at their rental vacation home in Florida, detectives say.

Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City on Tuesday. She is accused of first-degree murder in Miami-Dade County, an arrest warrant states.

Staged accidental drowning

The backstory:

On June 27, Gupta called 911 at about 4:30 a.m. to report that her daughter, Aria Talathi, 4, had drowned in their pool.

Officers with the El Portal Police Department and paramedics with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the scene and attempted CPR. Aria was eventually transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to a local news media report.

Gupta told investigators that she was sleeping with her daughter at their Airbnb rental home when she heard a noise around 3:20 a.m. She noticed that the sliding-glass door in the bedroom, which led to the outdoor patio, was open.

That’s when she discovered Aria.

Gupta said she tried to save the girl, but told the detective that she doesn't know how to swim and was unable to get Aria out of the water.

No water in Aria’s lungs or stomach

Dig deeper:

A doctor who performed an autopsy at the medical examiner's office did not find water in the child's lungs or stomach, and that "based on these findings she was able to rule out drowning as being the cause of death," the detective wrote. Dr. Tuyet Tran also advised authorities that she believes the child was dead before being placed in the pool, the detective wrote.

The cause and manner of death are pending, but Tran found injuries such as bruising within the girl's cheeks. Tran's preliminary findings are that these injuries "are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering," the affidavit states.

Police have not revealed any possible motive in the case. 

The detective noted in the affidavit that Gupta’s ex-husband told detectives that he and his ex-wife are involved in an ongoing custody battle over the girl.

The ex-husband also told detectives that he was unaware that Gupta and the child had traveled to South Florida. Based on surveillance video and Airbnb records, investigators determined that Gupta and her daughter were the sole occupants of the rental unit, the affidavit states.

The University of Oklahoma and its health system released a statement this week saying that Gupta has been "suspended from patient care, given notice of termination, and was no longer seeing patients at the health system as of May 30, 2025."

Gupta has also been given a "notice of termination" by the university, the statement said.

The other side:

Richard Cooper, Gupta’s lawyer, said he and Gupta cooperated with authorities by telling their account of what happened and were surprised when the first-degree murder charge was announced. The doctor, he said, is a victim of a terrible tragedy.

What they're saying:

"No one thought in a million years that she would be charged with murder," Cooper said in an interview.

Cooper said he visited the home after the child's death and found the latch to the sliding-glass door to be so easily opened that he was able to do so with his pinky finger.

"Her story made sense to me," he said. "It matched up. She voluntarily gave multiple statements with me to the police, and they were always consistent."

What's next:

Gupta is jailed without bond, and Florida authorities are seeking her return to Miami to face the murder charge.