An Oklahoma pediatrician was arrested in South Florida in connection with the death of her 4-year-old daughter, officials announced Wednesday.

Dr. Neha Gupta and her daughter, Aria Talathi, had traveled from Oklahoma City to El Portal, a village in Miami-Dade County just north of Miami, where they were staying at a short-term rental, according to Det. Joseph Peguero Rivera of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

In the early hours of June 27,  El Portal police responded to the 100 block of NW 90th Street following reports of a child drowning in a pool on the property.

When officers arrived, they found the young victim “unresponsive inside the pool,” officials said.

According to a police transmission obtained by CBS News Miami, a woman in the home saw the child in the pool but was unable to help. It’s unclear if the woman was the child’s mother.

“The complainant is advising [that] the juvenile is in the pool and she can’t swim to get to her,” a dispatcher was heard saying in the call.

First responders attempted CPR and then transported the girl to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Gupta told investigators she woke up shortly after 3 a.m. and saw her daughter submerged in the pool, the local ABC affiliate, WPLG, reported. However, preliminary findings of an autopsy performed on June 29 found no water in the girl’s lungs, ruling out drowning as the cause of death.

The girl also had cuts and bruises on her face — injuries consistent with “asphyxiation and smothering,” according to the arrest document obtained by CBS News.

Detectives also learned that Gupta was involved in a custody dispute with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, in Oklahoma, WPLG reported.

After consulting with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for the child’s mother. They then traveled to Oklahoma City, where, with assistance from the Oklahoma City Police Homicide Unit and the U.S. Marshals Service, they located and arrested her.

Gupta is in the process of being extradited to Miami-Dade County, where she’ll be charged with first-degree murder, Rivera said.

According to her employer, OU Health and the University of Oklahoma, Gupta was terminated from her position on May 30.

In a statement to NBC Miami, Gupta’s lawyer, Richard L. Cooper, said he was “eager to know why the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office seemingly felt so sure to arrest and charge a grieving mother when all other signs point to a simple, tragic accident.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/07/03/pediatrician-killed-daughter-staged-drowning/