A four-year-old was allegedly murdered by her doctor mother, who claimed the toddler drowned, as more clues into the tragic death emerge.
Aria Talathi was vacationing with her mother, Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, of Edmond, Oklahoma, when she was found unresponsive in the backyard pool of their El Portal, Florida, rental house on June 27.
Police have now accused the pediatrician of smothering her daughter to death and then placing her body in the pool in hopes of passing it off as accidental drowning.
Gupta was arrested in Oklahoma City on Tuesday after doctors determined the little girl showed no signs of drowning.
She was taken into custody without incident after officers approached her front door. They observed her near the door before retreating into the laundry room. After entering her house, they placed her under arrest, the incident report, obtained by Daily Mail, said.
Aria’s death came nearly a month after her mother was suspended from her job at OU Health and the University of Oklahoma in May and given a notice of termination.
Gupta was also going through a custody battle with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, after they divorced last year.
Talathi, also of Edmond, told investigators that he wasn’t aware his ex-wife had taken the toddler out of state, Local 10 News reported.
Aria Talathi, four, (pictured) was vacationing with her mother, Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, of Edmond, Oklahoma, when she was found unresponsive in the backyard pool of their El Portal, Florida, rental house on June 27
Police have now accused the pediatrician of smothering her daughter to death and then placing her body in the pool in hopes of passing it off as accidental drowning
Gupta (pictured) was arrested in Oklahoma City on Tuesday after doctors determined the little girl showed no signs of drowning
Gupta told police she was awoken by a strange sound on June 27 and found her daughter unresponsive in the backyard pool around 3:30am.
Aria was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:28am.
However, while doctors were examining the little girl, they found cuts and bruising inside the toddler’s mouth, suggesting she may have been smothered to death and had her body placed in the pool, NBC Miami reported.
They also didn’t find water in the girl’s lungs – disputing the mother’s story that she drowned.
Gupta was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
The mother-of-one had told authorities she and the little girl had enjoyed dinner around 9pm before going to sleep in the same bed in the master bedroom of the rental home around 12:30am.
When she was awoken by an ‘unidentified noise’ hours later, she claimed she saw her daughter submerged in the pool.
She claimed she had attempted to save her daughter, but was unable to as she didn’t know how to swim.
Gupta also told police she had attempted to ‘assist the deceased victim’ for approximately 10 minutes before calling 911.
Gupta was going through a custody battle with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi (pictured with Aria), after they divorced last year
Aria’s death came nearly a month after her mother was suspended from her job at OU Health and the University of Oklahoma in May and given a notice of termination
Gupta told police she was awoken by a strange sound on June 27 and found her daughter unresponsive in the backyard pool around 3:30am
The girl’s stomach was also found empty, which contradicted Gupta’s claim that she had fed the child earlier that evening.
Detectives said surveillance video and the autopsy report burn holes in Gupta’s account and suggested she had staged the girl’s death.
‘The subject attempted to conceal the killing of the deceased victim by staging an accidental drowning within the swimming pool of a rental property,’ the affidavit said.
The doctor was arrested in Oklahoma City on Tuesday by US Marshalls and the Oklahoma City Police Department.
She is currently booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center and is being held without bond.
She will be extradited to Florida to face her charges.
Miami-Dade Sherrif’s Detective Joseph. R. Peguero Rivera told Daily Mail that they did not know when the doctor would be extradited to the Sunshine State. Nor do they have a motive for the brutal crime, he said.
It is also unclear if the child’s remains are in Florida or been transferred back to Oklahoma.
Aria was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:28am on June 27
Detectives said surveillance video and the autopsy report burn holes in Gupta’s account and suggested she had staged the girl’s death. Aria recently celebrated her birthday in April
Gupta’s lawyer, Richard Cooper, told Local 10 that police ‘rushed to judgement’ and ‘as a result, a grieving mother who just lost her daughter is in jail.’
‘We look forward to a full investigation which will uncover the truth of the matter,’ he said.
Daily Mail has reached out to the family and Gupta’s lawyer for comment.
