Law&Crime Sidebar - 7 Bombshell Clues Against Accused ‘Killer’ Pediatrician

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

A Florida vacation meant to be a mother–daughter getaway ended in tragedy — and now pediatrician Dr. Neha Gupta is accused of killing her own child and staging it to look like a drowning. From a chilling 911 call to an autopsy that ruled out drowning, the case against Gupta has taken dramatic twists, including shifting murder charges, a bitter custody battle, bodycam footage of her arrest, and haunting video of her daughter in the days before her death. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the timeline, the evidence, and the questions still surrounding this devastating case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A pediatrician said her four-year-old daughter drowned in a pool, but the medical examiner apparently found no signs of drowning, and instead evidence that the child was already dead. Now, a secret vacation, a brutal custody fight, shifting homicide charges, and haunting video of the girl's final days they are all under scrutiny. We're going to break down the entirety of this case right now.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. You know what? If you think the crime stories that I cover every day here on Sidebar are scary, wait until you hear what's happening with your personal data online. Yeah, your name, your phone number, your address. It's all out there. It's easy for anybody to find.

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You have a pediatrician who goes on a beach vacation with her four-year-old daughter. Then you have a 911 phone call in the dead of night and a little girl pulled from a pool. Was it an accident? That's what the doctor said. But the medical examiner who looked into this case apparently found no water in the child's lungs. Instead, she claims she found cuts in her mouth, bruising within her cheeks, and the opinion that this little girl was dead before she ever hit the water. We are talking asphyxiation and smothering, an alleged staged drowning.

This is the case of the accused killer pediatrician, Dr. Neha Gupta. And it spirals from there. You have a custody war that is apparently so vicious that the father didn't know his child was in another state. You have a murder charge that gets downgraded and then upgraded again. You have a dramatic body cam arrest where they find the suspect allegedly hiding in a laundry room. Police for the ward. Open the door. Do it now. Come to the door. Neha Gupta, come to the front door. Do it now.

And then a video surfaces. And it's not from the night that this little girl died, but it's from the days before. It shows this little girl, Dr. Neha Gupta's daughter, Aria, alive, playing. Her voice captured on camera. This is a haunting glimpse of a little girl in the final hours of her life. Now, we have been tracking. this case from the very beginning here on Sidebar. And now we're doing something different. We're putting all of those pieces together. This is the full 360 picture of this story, the contradictions, the custody battle, the forensics, the haunting question, what really happened in that Florida rental home? So we want to rewind. We want to lay out the timeline that brought us here and we're

going to do it right now. It all starts in late June of 2025. You have Dr. Neha Gupta, a pediatrician from Oklahoma, who travels with her four-year-old daughter, Aria, to a a short-term rental home, this property in El Portal, Florida. It's just outside of Miami. Very benign. It's presented as a mother-daughter beach getaway. But according to police, the child's father, gooped his ex-husband, apparently had no idea that the two had left the state. And by the way, this ex-husband and the defendant, they were apparently embroiled in a bitter, long custody battle back in Oklahoma. Now, in the early morning hours of Friday, June 27th, around 3.40 a.m., police and fire rescue are called to that rental home.

And Gupta reports that her daughter has possibly drowned. So first responders, they arrive, they find Aria unresponsive, submerged in the deep end of the backyard pool. They pull her out. They begin CPR. They rush her to the hospital. But she's pronounced dead at 4.28 a.m. That same day, Gupta, the mother, the defendant. voluntarily goes to the police station with her attorney. And she gives a statement. She says that she and her daughter, they were sleeping together. And all of a sudden, she wakes up at around 3.20 a.m., sees that Ari is missing, saw the

bedroom sliding door open, and then finds her daughter in the pool. Now, she claims she tried to help her for about 10 minutes, but claims she couldn't swim. There was not really much more she could do. She couldn't pull her out. And then she calls 911. Now, that is an aspect of this story that has gotten a lot of people. to feel a certain way. But then you go to Sunday, June 29th,

and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner, we're talking about Dr. Tewyet Tran, performs the autopsy on ARIA. And the findings change everything. The medical examiner rules out drowning, saying that Aria's lungs and stomach, they were dry. The doctor apparently finds cuts inside this little girl's mouth,

bruising within the cheek. So injuries, she says, that are not consistent from rescue efforts. Her preliminary opinion? the child was dead before being placed in the water and the injuries are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering. And based on those findings on Monday, June 30th, an arrest warrant was issued for Neha Gupta for first degree murder. U.S. Marshals and the Oklahoma City Police, they arrive at her home the next day, July 1st to make the arrest. When she doesn't answer the

door, they breach it. And I want to go into that arrest, okay, because we have the body cam footage from the U.S. Marshals. They show up at Dr. Gupta's Oklahoma home again on July 1st. Take a look. We saw, we go to the back in the web back. We saw. Watch the heat up. Watch the east side. I don't know it.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's all right. It's all right. We got y'all. We got John's light over here.

Wraps around the dust. You want us to move up or you guys out? And once inside, the team begins clearing each room methodically, checking the closets, the garage, locked doors, they move through the house. They're clearing everything. It is tense. It is quiet. Let me give this closet. Clear?

Okay. Yes, it does. Kind of come back around, so just hold what you got there. Okay. Does that go out to the garage right? Yeah. Hey, we're going to clear this garage, so back up a little bit, will you? I'm hybrid.

Okay. Come locked. I'm going to go ahead and nothing that is all. Maybe we'll go through this. Are you ready? Are you ready? Yeah, Marie. I don't know what I'm going to stop.

That's one in the right. Nope. Okay. I don't know what's on it, if it's a lock or something. Just going up on that good target. Okay, go just starting to start it and have kind of switch there. Okay. We're opening up these brush doors.

Open it up. And then they approach a close door. And then they approach a closed door. Yeah, they find Dr. Gupta, apparently hiding in a laundry room. We're seemingly hiding in a laundry room. She's taken into custody without further incident. But with that arrest in Oklahoma, the legal process to bring her back to Florida begins, right? We're talking extradition. Now, the charge that she was arrested on that day, is important, was first-degree murder.

And I will tell you, from the very start, this was a legal roller coaster because that first-degree murder charge was based entirely on the evidence that was laid out in that initial arrest warrant. We're going to break that down. What was in that document? This is the foundation of the prosecution's case. The warrant centers on two arguably irreconcilable stories, right? Dr. Gupta's account of a drowning accident and the medical examiner's findings essentially

of a homicide. you have the defendant's story. So according to the affidavit, Gupta stated, quote, she attempted to remove the victim from the pool. However, she was unsuccessful due to the fact that she's unable to swim. The subject stated she attempted for approximately 10 minutes to assist the deceased victim before contacting emergency services. Now again, many parents out there will say, I don't care if she couldn't swim. You jump in regardless. So that was a part of the story that had people's ears perk up. But then you have the medical evidence, according to the warrant, that dismantles that story. The autopsy found, quote, the deceased victim

lungs and stomach did not contain water and was considered dry. The examining doctor also advised that based on these findings, she was able to rule out drowning as being a cause of death. Furthermore, the examining doctor discovered cuts within the mouth and bruising within the cheeks of the deceased victim's face. The examining doctor confirmed this type of trauma is not consistent with any life-saving efforts, which were performed on the deceased victim by medical personnel. And the warrant also notes a key contradiction regarding the child's last meal, because Gupta had claimed that her daughter ate dinner at 9 p.m. The autopsy apparently finds that the child's stomach was empty.

What's going on here? This is the critical conclusion. The warrant states in Dr. Tran's opinion, the deceased victim was deceased prior to being placed into the swimming pool. While the official cause and manner of death remained pending further studies, the doctor's preliminary findings are the injuries are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering. And the warrant also revealed a very critical detail because it states that ARIA his father, quote, did not travel with the subject and the deceased victim to Miami, Florida,

and was unaware that the deceased victim had left the state of Oklahoma. And it notes there was this ongoing legal custody battle. So you have the stage set here. You have arguably a damning autopsy, a suspicious timeline of events, a secret trip, arguably, in the middle of a custody battle. And with that evidence, Neha Gupta was extradited to Florida to face a charge. charge of first-degree murder, an allegation that essentially she killed her daughter while engaged in aggravated child abuse. But if you thought this case was set, you would be wrong.

I talked about a legal roller coaster. Early August, this is when the legal grounds shifted dramatically. At a hearing, on August 7th, prosecutors announced they were no longer pursuing first-degree murder. Instead, they filed a new charge, aggravated manslaughter of a child. The charges at this time you're on the state is filed. They're aggravated manslaughter charges. This was a stunning downgrade to a charge that alleges essentially culpable negligence. It's kind of a reckless disregard for the safety that resulted in death, very different than first-degree murder. Now, Gupta's defense seized on it.

Her attorney, Michael Meyer, told the media at the time our position from day one has been that Dr. Gupta did not intentionally harm her child. This confirms that the state attorney's office cannot prove that Dr. Gupta had at any point harmed her child. intentionally. The state attorney's office issued a statement saying, based on the evidence presently available, aggravated manslaughter was, quote, the appropriate criminal charge. I mentioned the roller coaster. This didn't last long. What was it? Six days later, August 13th, prosecutors filed new paperwork. They dropped the manslaughter charge. In its place, they filed a new count. Second-degree murder. So second-degree murder kind of falls between the two. It alleges essentially that there is an intentional act that was done that was imminently dangerous.

It demonstrated a depraved mind without regard for human life. It is a step above criminal negligence. So what do we have? We went from first-degree murder down to manslaughter, back up to second-degree murder. And it was a clear signal that the prosecution's theory of the case was still evolving, but at the same time, they weren't retreating from the core allegation that this wasn't an accident, but it was a homicide. Now, to understand the context around ARIA's death, you have to understand the war that was raging behind the scenes.

Now, to be clear, when you're talking a murder case like this, prosecutors don't have to prove motive, right? They don't have to prove the why, what was going on in a defendant's mind. What was the reason for doing this or allegedly doing this? Helps to tell the story. And I will tell you, it seems based on the reporting right now, it hasn't definitively been said what the theory of the case is, what the motive is. But for you to understand the context around Aria's death, you do have to understand what was essentially or seemingly a war that was raging behind the scenes. The warrant notes about an ongoing custody battle. Neha Gupta and her ex-husband, Dr. Sarab Talathi, they were locked in what court documents

describe as a, quote, highly contentious and procedurally complex litigation spanning over two years marked by aggressive tactics, repeated motions for extraordinary relief, and protracted proceedings. It was a fight over everything, primary custody, daycare, attorney's fees, and it escalated dramatically in the time leading up to that Florida trip. Because in April, R. His father filed a motion to enforce a psychological evaluation of Gupta, citing alarming behavior, allegedly alarming behavior. The filing stated, quote, unreasonable positions on issues concerning the child, unusual mood swings, and erratic behavior raising concern for the safety of the minor child. Extreme conflict and

defensiveness with almost all persons caring and providing insight for the minor child to include family members of the child, medical providers, counselors, and experts involved in this litigation. That respondent continues to author false information to the minor child's medical providers regarding claims of domestic violence by the petitioner and a restraining order that has been previously denied by the court. And the motion went further, asserting that respondent's behavior leads petitioner to believe that respondent has mental health issues that are not being treated. That an evaluation of respondent's mental health is crucial to ensure the safety of the minor child. And then you go to May, where an Oklahoma judge granted an emergency order awarding

temporary sole custody to the father. And the reason stated was stark, quote, the court finds as follows that temporary sole custody is awarded to the petitioner. The court finds that an emergency exists and that the respondent will continue to interfere with medical treatment of the minor child. So this was the legal landscape when Gupta took Aria to Florida without the father's knowledge. She was under this court order concerning medical interference. had this pending request for a psychological evaluation hangover and it just lost temporary custody. And this custody war isn't just background noise for prosecutors, potentially it can speak to motive. It can speak to state of mind. We'll see where they go with it. But for the defense,

maybe they can frame kind of like a narrative of a mother under extreme stress, volatile backdrop against which the tragedy in Florida unfolded. We'll see. But against that backdrop of this bitter custody fight and the secret trip and a child's death, you also had a new piece of evidence emerge. This two, very, very important. I mentioned it before. Surveillance footage from the rental property itself. Now, we obtained that footage, and it shows Aria Talathi in the final days, the final

hours of her life. These are just what seemed to be ordinary moments. You wouldn't look at another way, but considering what happened here, these moments, captured by a security camera can be pivotal pieces of evidence, really important pieces of evidence. And if you take these allegations as true against her mother, these moments are very chilling to watch. Why? In that footage, you can see who police say is Gupta pulling up to that El Portal home in her car on June 25th? And stepping out with her daughter, you can even hear Aria's voice. Because...

We see her again in this video where Gupta appears to walk to her car and grab bags. Later, she's seen bringing in a suitcase and you can still hear the little girl's voice in the background. Mommy, I can help you with this bag. I can't help you. That evening, a food delivery arrived. And the next afternoon, there was apparently a diaper change. Later on, Gupta is seen carrying her daughter, this seemingly tired out girl inside, and we believe that is the last time Aria was seen alive.

The next morning, so this is now June 27th, flashing lights, first responders arrive, and then you have the heartbreaking scene of Aria's body being taken out on a stretcher. The footage doesn't show a crime per se, but for investigators, it is a critical. tool. It helps establish a timeline. It captures ARIA. And by the way, the defendant's condition and behavior. But as we dug deeper, we ended up finding another video. Now, this one wasn't from the trip. It was from November 18th, 2022. You see, Gupta was participating in a virtual medical discussion. And in this video, which was uploaded to YouTube, the host asked her to share a fun fact about herself. Here's what she said. So are you comfortable sharing a fun fact about you with our

viewers? Yes. So I love adventure sports. So I guess not a lot of people know about that. So I love scuba diving, snorkeling, and skydiving. So I've done that too. And it has been a lot of fun. Okay. Did you catch that? I love scuba diving, snorkeling. You remember what Gupta allegedly told police on June 27, 2025, according to the arrest warrant? When asked, why didn't she? just pull her daughter from the pool, she stated she attempted to remove the victim from the pool. However, she was unsuccessful due to the fact that she is unable to swim. Huh. Tells police she couldn't swim, but in her own words, years earlier, she loves snorkeling. An activity that fundamentally requires the ability to swim, right? Seems to be a direct contradiction. Now, for the

prosecution, I have to imagine they're going to want this in because it seems to be a potential crack in her credibility. For the defense, it might be difficult. They'll try to probably exclude it, say it's not relevant or overly prejudicial of some way. But it adds one more layer of mystery to a case that is already full of them. And that is where the evidence stands today. An alleged staged drowning, according to the medical examiner, a bitter custody battle as a backdrop, a charge that has bounced between murder and manslaughter, a haunting home video. And Gupta is currently in custody in Florida.

she is currently charged with second-degree murder. And our plan here is to continue to follow every development. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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