Doctor Neha Gupta, 36, allegedly orchestrated the drowning of her own daughter Aria during a family trip to South Florida – and now faces a first-degree murder charge
A four-year-old girl’s tragic death at a Florida holiday rental has now turned into a chilling murder investigation – with her own mother, a pediatrician, accused of staging the scene to look like an accident.
Dr Neha Gupta, 36, allegedly orchestrated the drowning of her daughter Aria during a family trip to South Florida, authorities say. The Oklahoma-based doctor was arrested this week in her hometown of Oklahoma City and now faces a first-degree murder charge out of Miami-Dade County. According to an affidavit filed by a homicide detective, Gupta “attempted to conceal the killing of the deceased victim by staging an accidental drowning within the swimming pool” of the Airbnb property in El Portal, just north of Miami. Officials claim she tried to pass the child’s death off as a tragic pool accident in the early morning hours of June 27.
Gupta allegedly told police that she and Aria were asleep in a bedroom when a strange noise woke her around 3.20am. That’s when she claims she noticed the sliding door to the patio was ajar – and moments later, found her daughter face-down in the deep end of the pool.
She said she panicked, tried to save the girl, but couldn’t swim and was unable to pull her out. Emergency responders rushed to the scene and performed CPR, but the child was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital before sunrise. But detectives were not convinced by Gupta’s story.
After the incident, she fled Florida and returned to Oklahoma – a move prosecutors now say was an attempt to dodge prosecution. She is currently being held without bond in the Oklahoma County Jail while Florida authorities seek her extradition.
A doctor who performed an autopsy at the medical examiner’s office did not find water in the child’s lungs or stomach, and that “based on these findings she was able to rule out drowning as being the cause of death,” the detective wrote. Dr. Tuyet Tran also advised authorities that she believes the child was dead before being placed in the pool, the detective wrote.
The cause and manner of death are pending, but Tran found injuries such as bruising within the girl’s cheeks. According to Tran, these injuries “are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering,” the affidavit states. Police have not revealed any possible motive in the case.
The detective noted in the affidavit that Gupta shares custody of the child with her ex-husband, who told detectives that he and his ex-wife are involved in an ongoing custody battle over the girl. The ex-husband also told detectives that he was unaware that Gupta and the child had traveled to South Florida.
Based on surveillance video and Airbnb records, investigators determined that Gupta and her daughter were the sole occupants of the rental unit, the affidavit states.
Gupta practiced medicine at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, part of the University of Oklahoma’s health system, according to records from the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. The university’s faculty directory showed that she has also been an assistant professor at the university’s health sciences center.
The University of Oklahoma and its health system released a statement this week saying that Gupta has been “suspended from patient care, given notice of termination, and was no longer seeing patients at the health system as of May 30, 2025.”
Gupta has also been given a “notice of termination” by the university, the statement said.