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MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA) — An Oklahoma pediatrician accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter was booked into jail early Thursday morning, jail records showed.
Dr. Neha Gupta was charged with first-degree murder after investigators said she smothered her daughter, 4-year-old Aria Talathi, to death and placed her in a pool while staying at a vacation rental home in El Portal, Florida, on June 27.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate WTVJ, Gupta had traveled to Miami from Oklahoma to stay at a rental home on Northwest 90 Street.
The arrest warrant said Gupta told police that she and her daughter had fallen asleep in a bedroom in the rental home. Around 3:30 p.m., the mother said she saw her daughter had wandered onto the patio and was under water in the pool.
Gupta reportedly told police that she tried to save her daughter but couldn’t because she didn’t know how to swim.
According to the report, doctors said they didn’t find water in the girl’s lungs or stomach but found cuts and bruising inside her mouth. Doctors believe the 4-year-old was smothered to death and then placed into the pool.
Investigators believe Gupta staged the scene to make her daughter’s death appear as an accidental drowning
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant and traveled to Oklahoma with the help of the Oklahoma City Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest Gupta.
Gupta was extradited to Miami-Dade County and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correction Center early Thursday morning.
WTVJ reported that Gupta worked at OU Health and the University of Oklahoma. They told the news station that Gupta had been fired and was no longer seeing patients as of May 30.