Authorities in Florida first accused Oklahoma pediatrician Neha Gupta of staging her daughter’s murder in late June as an accidental drowning ― but now, as she remains jailed without bond in Miami-Dade County, prosecutors are pursuing a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter against her.
Gupta, 36, was arrested by law enforcement last month at her Edmond home after she was accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter, Aria Talathi, while they were staying at an Airbnb north of Miami in southeast Florida.
Officers with the Village of El Portal Police Department responded to a 911 call about 3:40 a.m. June 27 reporting a child drowning in the residential pool. Paramedics took the unresponsive child to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Aria was pronounced dead just before 4:30 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit.
An autopsy cited in that same affidavit showed that the daughter’s lungs and stomach were dry and empty. The medical examiner also said she believed Aria was dead before she was in the pool and found injuries consistent with asphyxiation by smothering, according to the affidavit.
More: Oklahoma doctor arrested after her 4-year-old daughter was found dead in a Florida pool
A vehicle branded by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office as pictured on the Florida agency’s official webpage. *PROVIDED
Detectives with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office traveled to the Oklahoma City metro area to assist in arresting Gupta on July 1 after a warrant was issued for her by Miami authorities. She was later extradited to Florida and booked July 17 into custody of the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department on a first-degree murder complaint.
The Oklahoman reached out to Gupta’s Florida-based attorney, Michael Mirer, but he did not provide comment by time of publication. Gupta’s legal counsel, however, has maintained to other news outlets that authorities were too quick to label her a suspect in her daughter’s death.
“It’s disheartening to learn the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office is rushing to judgment without all the investigatory tools having come to fruition,” Richard Cooper, another attorney for Gupta, said shortly after her arrest. “Because we think it’s a rush to judgment, we look forward to all the facts coming out, and all the evidence, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Gupta had previously told investigators she and her daughter had spent June 26 at the beach riding jet skis, had come back to the Airbnb to eat dinner and had fallen asleep together shortly after midnight. She said she was awoken by a noise around 3:30 a.m. to find Aria no longer with her in the bed and the glass sliding door leading to the outside patio unlocked and open, according to the affidavit.
She said she then saw her daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool but wasn’t able to retrieve her because she can’t swim, according to the affidavit. Gupta told investigators she tried to get the girl out of the pool for about 10 minutes before calling 911.
Related: Pediatrician accused of staging 4-year-old daughter’s death as drowning
Investigators initially believed Gupta staged the death as an accidental drowning within the swimming pool to cover up an alleged homicide. Now, officials say they are standing by the lesser charge.
“Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the 1st degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge,” Lissette Valdes-Valle, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney, said in a statement to The Oklahoman.
Court filings also show that Gupta had been in a child custody battle following a contentious divorce with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, who told investigators he was unaware Gupta and their daughter had left Oklahoma. Gupta had also been let go from her job as a pediatrician with OU Health in late May.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma pediatrician faces lesser charge in daughter’s death in Florida
