MIAMI — Oklahoma pediatrician Neha Gupta was portrayed by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office as a mother who staged her daughter’s murder to look like an accidental drowning.
But just weeks later, prosecutors declined to pursue that charge — opting instead to file a lesser count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Despite the shift in charges, she remains jailed in Miami-Dade County on no bond.
Gupta, 36, was taken into custody last month at her suburban Oklahoma home by local police after a warrant was issued accusing her of intentionally killing her 4-year-old daughter, Aria Talathi, during a stay at an Airbnb in El Portal, just north of Miami city limits.
In the predawn darkness of June 27, officers from the El Portal Police Department and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a 911 call about a child found unresponsive in a swimming pool at 156 NW 90th St. Rescue crews pulled the 4-year-old from the water and attempted CPR. She was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where a physician pronounced her dead around 4:30 a.m.
Dr. Tuyet Tran, a medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, ruled out drowning, according to Neha’s arrest warrant. She found no water in Aria’s lungs or stomach — instead, she discovered bruises inside the child’s cheeks and cuts in her mouth.
Her findings suggested Aria died of asphyxiation, likely smothered, before being placed in the pool, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives laid out in the warrant, which took over the investigation from El Portal police.
But Neha’s attorneys have maintained that the decision by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office to file her arrest warrant under a first-degree murder was a rush to judgement.
“Our position from day one has been that Dr. Gupta did not intentionally harm her child, that her child tragically got out of the locked door and fell into the pool accidentally, and this [is confirmed] by the state’s filing,” Michael Mirer, Gupta’s attorney, said after her Thursday court hearing.
Gupta did not attend the hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary James.
Under Florida law, for Gupta to be charged with first-degree murder, her case must be presented to a grand jury, which would ultimately decide on the charge.
“Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the [first] degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge,” Ed Griffith, Miami-Dade State Attorney spokesman, said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
A vacation gone wrong?
Gupta, a licensed pediatrician in Oklahoma for the past six years, had traveled to South Florida with her daughter two days before her death. The trip was a mother-daughter vacation, and the two were staying in a short-term Airbnb rental in El Portal.
Surveillance footage and rental records show Gupta and Aria were the only occupants of the home, according to Neha’s arrest warrant from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Gupta shared custody of Aria with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, also a pediatrician, who remained in Oklahoma. Authorities say he was unaware the child had been taken out of state.
With her attorney present, Gupta gave a voluntary statement to investigators two days after Aria’s death describing their day leading up to the tragedy.
According to the warrant, Neha said the two spent a day the beach and rode Jet Skis before returning to their rental between 7 and 8 p.m. Aria, tired from the day, fell asleep, then awoke around 9 p.m. to eat dinner.
Later, the two shared a bed and fell asleep. Around 3:20 a.m., Gupta told investigators, she was awakened by a sound and discovered Aria missing. She said she found the sliding glass door — which she said she had locked — ajar and spotted her daughter submerged in the backyard pool.
Gupta claimed she can’t swim but tried for 10 minutes to save Aria before calling 911.
Autopsy told a different story
But an autopsy painted a far more troubling picture.
Dr. Tran, a medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, ruled out drowning, according to Neha’s arrest warrant. She found no water in Aria’s lungs or stomach — instead, she discovered bruises inside the child’s cheeks and cuts in her mouth. The injuries, Tran noted, were inconsistent with resuscitation efforts.
Her findings suggested Aria died of asphyxiation, likely smothered, before ever being placed in the pool.
Adding to investigators’ doubts, Aria’s stomach was completely empty, contradicting Gupta’s claim that the child had eaten dinner only hours earlier.
Based on the autopsy and evidence gathered, detectives concluded Gupta caused Aria’s death and tried to stage it as an accidental drowning, according to the warrant. The warrant noted that Aria’s cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation. Her autopsy has not been publicly released.
But Mirer, her attorney, says that her arrest paperwork filed by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s office is “no longer valid.”
“I think today was a vindication for Dr. Gupta, because the state has now decided to not charge her with murder,” Mirer said. He added that he is expecting an updated autopsy report.
By MILENA MALAVER/Miami Herald
