Law&Crime Sidebar - Bodycam: Pediatrician Hides After Allegedly Staging Daughter's Death in Pool

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

New bodycam footage shows the moment U.S. Marshals found Dr. Neha Gupta hiding after her 4-year-old daughter was found dead in a Florida pool. Authorities say the drowning was staged—and now the pediatrician is facing a first-degree murder charge. Law&Crime’s Elizabeth Millner breaks it all down with veteran detective Eric Barnes.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:THIS YEAR, SKIP BREAKING A SWEAT AND BREAKING THE BANK. GET THIS NEW CUSTOMER OFFER AND YOUR 3-MONTH UNLIMITED WIRELESS PLAN FOR JUST 15 BUCKS A MONTH AT MINTMOBILE.COM/SIDEBAR. UPFRONT PAYMENT OF $45 REQUIRED (EQUIVALENT TO $15/MO). LIMITED TIME CUSTOMER OFFER FOR FIRST 3 MONTHS ONLY. SPEEDS MAY SLOW ABOVE 35GB ON UNLIMITED PLAN. TAXES & FEES EXTRA. SEE MINT MOBILE FOR DETAILS.HOST:Elizabeth Millner https://x.com/_emillnerLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & 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/lawandcrime/Twitter: 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 Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. Neha Gupta come to the front door, do it now! Turn out! Contacts on the ground, come here. Newly released body cam footage captures the moments that US Marshals find Oklahoma pediatrician Dr. Neha Gupta hiding in a laundry room days after her four-year-old daughter was found dead in a Florida pool. While Gupta claims her daughter's death was an accidental drowning, police say it was staged and that she

killed her child. I'll be speaking with the veteran detective to break down all the details from the explosive body cam footage to autopsy contradictions and red flags in a bitter custody battle. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm Elizabeth Milner and for Jesse Weber. Before I get into the story, I want to make a quick announcement. Law and Crime needs your help. We want to create something new for our viewers, something that you'll love and you'll enjoy. We want to make sure that what we create is based on your opinion and

your voice. So we've created a short survey to get your feedback and we'll be selecting 10 people at random who took the survey to get a free lawn crime t-shirt. If you want your voice to be heard, please check out the survey and let us know your thoughts. The link is in the description and pinned comment. Chilling new body camera footage is shedding the light on the dramatic moments that U.S. Marshals arrested Dr. Neha Gupta, the Oklahoma pediatrician now accused of killing her four year old daughter and what authorities believe was a stage

drowning down in Florida. The footage obtained by law and crime shows officers forcing their way into Gupta's Oklahoma home before finding her hiding in a laundry room just days after her daughter Aria was discovered dead in a Miami area pool. The 36 year old remains behind bars

in Miami Dade County awaiting arraignment in August on a charge of first degree murder. In that newly released footage, officers can be heard repeatedly announcing their presence and demanding Goop to come to the door. But when no one responds, they enter the home. Police with a warrant! Open the door! Do it now! That's still me. Come to the door! Turn around. Let's come up to the breach.

What's up? Breach? Oh! Neha Gupta! Come to the front door! Do it now! For the US Marshals, we have a warrant for your arrest! Come to the front door! Do it now. Watch the inside. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. We got Joe's light over here. We have surround us. Want us to move up and down? OK, so no sign of Doctor Goop Dev so they took the closets,

the garage and the locked doors. Closed closet. Clean. Yes, it does kind of come back around, so just hold what you got there. We're going to clear this garage so back up a little bit. Wait. I'm hybrid. Okay. Turn them off. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. That's on the right. Nope. Okay. Okay, so you kind of know what's on it. It's a lock or something.

It's still in the process of targets. Yeah, you go to the target, so that's kind of twisted. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Come across there. They were opening up these rust doors, opening up the run up your office. Alright, so still no sign of her until. Hey hey, contact on the ground.

No. She's in been checked. Good. Gupta is then taken into custody without incident. Her arrest followed the release of an autopsy report that suggested that her daughter didn't drown, but may have been smothered,

leaving investigators to believe the scene was staged to cover up a homicide. You know what doesn't belong in your summer plans? Getting burned by your old wireless bill. With our sponsor, Mint, you can get the same great coverage and speed that you're used to, but for a fraction of the cost. Seriously, all of Mint's plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest five g network ju surprise inflated costs.

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See Mint Mobile for details. After her arrest in Oklahoma, Gupta was extradited to Florida, where she made her first court appearance on July 18th. Prosecutors pushed for her to be held without bond, arguing the evidence points to a deliberate act, but Gupta's defense attorney pushed back, claiming that the child's death was a tragic accident.

It appears that there was a tragic, tragic accident that occurred on June 27th. There was nothing within the four corners of this affidavit that indicate that, if anything, that this was premeditated. Gupta's attorney also ar murder charge was prematur is that this was a rush t

was no official cause and here we are where the sta warrant for first degree my client to be held without bond. But the judge pointed to the medical examiner's findings, which seems to contradict Dr. Gupta's account of what happened that night. Her lungs were dry, indicating she did not, she did not drown. So for purposes of this probable cause hearing, there is probable cause.

In addition, she waited 10 minutes before she purportedly called 911 for help. Gupta was ultimately denied bond. But if you're just now catching up on the case, let's walk through everything we've learned so far based on the arrest warrant. According to authorities, at around 3.41 a.m. on June 27th, police were called to a rental home in El Portal, Florida after Dr. Neha Gupta reported

that her four-year-old daughter had drowned. When first responders arrived, Gupta led them to the backyard pool where they made a devastating discovery. The warrant reads officers observed A.T. here and after referred to as the deceased victim unresponsive and submerged in the deep end of the swimming pool. MDFR personnel extracted the deceased victim from the pool and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. MDFR transported the deceased victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where despite all lifesaving measures,

the victim was pronounced deceased at 428 a.m. Gupta voluntarily agreed to an interview with investigators. She told investigators that she and her daughter were sleeping in the same bed, but she woke up around 320 a.m. and realized her daughter was missing. She claimed that the sliding glass door in the bedroom leading to the pool had somehow been opened.

The warrant reads, the subject stated prior to sleeping, she checked all the sliding glass doors at the residence. The subject stated that she then observed the deceased victim submerged underwater within the swimming pool of the residence. The subject stated that she attempted to remove the victim from the pool.

However, she was unsuccessful due to the fact that she was unable to swim. The subject stated that she attempted to remove the victim from the pool. However, she was unsuccessful due to the fact that she was unable to swim. The subject stated she attempted for approximately 10 minutes to assist the deceased victim before contacting emergency services. But investigators say the autopsy told a very different story and a more troubling story. On June 29th, a medical examiner with Miami-Dade County performed an autopsy on Aria. The results sharply contradicted Dr. Gupta's version of events. The warrant reads, Dr. Tran advised that the deceased victim's lungs and stomach did not contain water and

was considered dry. Dr. Tran also advised that based on these findings, she was unable to rule out drowning as being a cause of death. Furthermore, Dr. Tran discovered cuts within the mouth and bruising within the cheeks of the deceased victim's face. Dr. Tran 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 most chilling detail? 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 remain pending further studies, the doctor's preliminary findings are the injuries are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering. Dr. Gupta was formally charged with first degree murder under Florida statute, which is defined as, quote, the unlawful killing of a human being when perpetrated from a premeditated design to affect the death of the person killed or any human being. So what about Aria's father and why were they in Florida in the first place? According to the arrest warrant, Gupta told police she shared custody with her ex-husband, but detectives quickly discovered he had no idea that they had traveled out of state.

The warrant reads, the subject shares custody of the deceased victim with her ex-husband, who 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. According to Dr. Talathi, there is an ongoing custody battle within the state of Oklahoma over the victim's care between himself and the subject. Court documents reveal that Dr. Gupta and her ex-husband, Dr. Talathi, were locked in a bitter and prolonged custody fight. In fact, just months before Aria's death,

Doctor Talathi had been awarded temporary sole custody by an emergency order that finding reads 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. As a part of that ruling, Doctor Gupta was ordered to turn over vaccination records and disclose her location, but there were even deeper concerns about her behavior. Back in April,

Tlauthy filed a motion asking for the court to enforce a psychological evaluation of Doctor Gupta, pointing to what he described as disturbing behavior that raised serious concerns about her ability to safely care for their daughter. In the court filing, he detailed a pattern

of emotional instability and conflict, including 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. He went on to say,

The respondent has put the child's ability to receive medical treatment at risk due to her inappropriate behavior towards the child's providers. 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. Regarding Aria's d through her attorney maint In an interview with Flor

Richard Cooper, one of Dr describe the murder charg a statement to several me said, quote, we're disapo date, Sheriff's Office sec rushed to judgment as a r who just in jail. We look forward to a full investigation that will uncover the truth. In a separate statement to the Miami Herald, Cooper added, quote, Dr. Gupta fully cooperated with law enforcement and provided multiple consistent statements.

Instead of conducting a thorough investigation, including additional autopsies and toxicology analysis, the MDSO chose to pursue a warrant for a grieving mother facing the unimaginable. We look forward to all the facts coming to light. I'm joined by veteran detective Eric Barnes. Detective Barnes, now you saw this body cam, what's your reaction to it? You know, my first reaction to the body cam was, you know,

why wouldn't she come to the door? Right. And not only, not only did she not come to the door, you know, she hit in the closet. So that's a pretty good indicator of guilt. Yeah. And I agree too, because I'm like, if they're knocking on the door, you're saying it's an accident, you're claiming it's an accident. It's just horrible overall thinking that, you know, her child might have allegedly been smothered

by her herself, it's just hard to imagine, and you would think if she's gonna try to keep up this facade, she would have at least just came to the door, or the body cam, or the reaction to her arrest might have just been a little bit different. But overall, do you think, just kind of looking at the case that this was premeditated? When I took a look at the case, you know, one of the things that stuck out to me immediately

was that, you know, the initial claim that the child drowned while the mother was asleep. And so, you know, you look into was this a case of neglect where or was it just an accident that the kid sneak out of the bed and go into the backyard while mom was unaware? But then when the medical examiner said there was no presence of water in her lungs, you know, that's a pretty telltale sign that there's more going on. Yeah. And just thinking about it, because obviously, you know, these are just allegations at this stage that we have to say allegedly.

But just thinking about the allegations overall of allegedly smothering your own child and then trying to cover it up and then tossing your child away, kind of like trash into a pool in a rented home over in Florida when you're from Oklahoma, it just seems like there's so many factors and layers that kind of lean towards the right charge,

that being first degree murder. Now her attorney says that this was an overcharge, that authorities rushed to judgment, and then the judge kind of brought back this whole like aspect of that. There was no food found in her daughter's body. There was no water indicating a whole drowning situation. But what are your thoughts overall just about kind of the layers and I should say the,

the layers that she did to kind of cover this up allegedly. My thoughts as an investigator is, you only can work with the facts that you have. You try to find the facts and then once you get the facts, you kind of lay them out and you go with where the facts lead you. And I think in this investigation, the one thing that's overwhelming

is that there's a story behind the story. You know, the initial account of what the mother gave doesn't match with the scientific evidence behind it. So, you know, to my knowledge, there was no one else present at the time. So it's just mom and daughter. So someone's not being honest. And I think that, you know, there's a lot of room for, it could have been an accident, but if it's an accident, why do we go through this dramatic storyline? Right.

You know, so there's a lot of questions left unanswered. Yeah, and the other layer to this is the whole custody aspect to this case and the fact that the daughter's father, that he was awarded temporary custody of the child, all of that sort. But in terms of just the motive might have been this whole custody battle.

What do you think of that? I know that it's not uncommon, especially for us at Law & Crime, to see these types of things happen. But I think adding that she was in a highly respected field. She was a doctor, and then this custody battle was going on and then her daughter ends up dead, allegedly at her hands. What are your thoughts overall about that extra added layer

of the whole custody aspect? I think anytime you bring the family dynamic into these investigations, everything is just so, it's very touchy, especially dealing with all the emotions that go on. And typically, people will only show you what they want to show you. You never know what goes on behind closed doors.

I'm sure families and friends were probably surprised by this. You just never really know what is truly going on or what's going through an individual's head at the time that a custody battle was going on. And kind of going into the overall investigation and kind of seeing how the aspects of the body cam kind of lean into that, talk to me a little bit

about when officers first get the call that there might be a homicide investigation going on. They have a suspect that's at their home and how does that all work in terms of the response when trying to find an apprehender suspect to find and apprehend their suspect? You know, police officers respond to a large variety of calls, but one of the most difficult calls

that you ever respond to is a call involving a child death. You know, there's death in itself is a part of life, but when a child is dead, you know, something unnatural about that, and it taps into the personal side of officers. Most officers are parents themselves. So to see a young child laying there deceased, it just puts you in a mind frame

of what if that was your child? And so it's just something that kind of goes with you, but it also makes you want to do everything right. You don't want to make any mistakes, obviously. Something that if there is foul play, that could cause the case to be jeopardized. But also you want to show sympathy as well to the parents that are at the scene. So it's just a really tough situation. Yeah, because I can imagine that officers initially were, you know, probably empathetic and sympathetic towards her until, you know, more layers were kind of peeled back and more

evidence was kind of coming to light. And in terms of just the response and whether or not officers have the discretion to use force entry as opposed to just door knocking, how does that all work, especially when you have a situation like this where Dr. Gupta was hiding in her own home and then officers are calling out for her and she doesn't come to the door or anything like that.

When is that kind of decision made to just enter the home versus kind of waiting around to see if the suspect will actually come forward? Well, that decision is made like long before you even get to the house. Typically in the pre-planning of the warrant, you sit in the boardroom and kind of draw up contingency plans and if A doesn't happen, we're going with B. B doesn't happen, we go with C.

And I think in this situation, officers approached the door. They obviously had on, you know, warrant vests. They had their heavy plate carriers. They had a ram and they had their weapons out. So at that point in time, they very loudly announced U.S. Marshals. And, you know, I think she was that point in time, they very loudly announced US Marshals. And I think she was aware that, hey, they're here, they're not here to do an interview.

They're here to take me in custody. And I think I heard one of the officers say, I saw her and she walked in a different direction. So that was a clear indicator that she was not gonna be complying. And it's hard to believe too, that she didn't hear what was going on or she wasn't aware that officers or authorities

were kind of coming into her home because I can only imagine how loud that could be. So it's kind of hard to deny, deny, deny in these types of situations. And being the one who's been in those interrogation rooms and doing those police interviews, how much discrepancy is it when it comes to kind of drafting that initial probable cause

in terms of you're listening to, you know, the mother, not yet the suspect, kind of talk about what had happened and then, you know, you're peeling back those layers and then you find out, okay, well, the medical examiner's findings were a little bit different than what you were telling me in the police interview. How does that part all work work especially in the initial stages of

an investigation like this? You know in the initial stages the one thing that you have to lean on is more of like a hunch. You know like a feeling in your gut where something just isn't right. You know typically you try not to rely on that too much because it could mislead you. Or it could be that you're right something is off but it may be, you know, a minor detail. So what you do, you just collect, like I said, you collect facts, you trust your gut instinct and you continue to ask, you know, questions that will kind of probe for the answers that you're looking for.

And then once the medical examiner finds it, makes their findings and releases their report, you just kind of sit back and you analyze everything all at once and see if everything adds up. And in terms of just how kind of, I don you analyze everything all at once and see if everything adds up. And in terms of just how kind of, I don't want to say the word's unique, but in terms of this case kind of varying across different state lines, the murder happened in Florida, but the family lives in Oklahoma. How does that all work in terms of just like working with detectives from a different state

and kind of coordinating the investigation and relying on you know each other to get the information correct and right how does that all work especially because again they live in Oklahoma, but this murder happened in Florida It takes a lot of pre-planning and coordination Obviously the detectives in Florida You know are bound by Detectives in Florida are bound by jurisdictional duties in Florida. So you have to coordinate a lot with authorities in Oklahoma. So typically when you have an arrest that needs to take place, the US Marshals are going

to be the first ones to get a call. They have arrest powers across all the US territories. So they will be the lead in carrying that out. And it really takes a lot of trust. Being a detective, you want to be hands-on, and you obviously want to be the one to put cuffs on. You want to see the physical reaction from your suspect and also be there to hear anything that she may say,

you know, any kind of excited utterances that she may make that may help you with your case. But it's kind of hard to do that when you're several hours away and you just have to trust the detectives that are in the area that are working with you. I'm sure there was a rush to solve this case too, given that a young child died as well. And given that you work in law enforcement and you've done a bunch of different investigations, homicide investigations too, how common have you seen it

or how often have you seen it where you see a mother accused of murdering their child but then staging it to make it look like an accident? How often have you seen that in your line of work? Well, you know, this is actually the first time I've come across a mother being involved with staging a crime scene. I think one of the things that stood out to me in this case was the fact that it was in a separate state. They were down in Florida and the fact that she was a professional.

And so being a doctor, having that background, being involved with this, you know, someone with a professional background, you spent so much time and effort into, uh, you know, becoming a doctor that, you know, for you to throw it all away and, you know, typically people will jump into protection mode. Once they are involved in something serious, they try to cover their tracks. And so that's pretty typical. I also think that's also what made it so dangerous when the marshals were knocking at her door. You don't know what kind of thought process she's going through.

The mother is grieving after the loss of her child, whether she's responsible or not. You just never know what state of mind she's in. And now you knock on the door, she obviously knows you're there to do more than talk to her. She goes in a room and locks herself in a room. So it's just a lot of very touchy situations. Yeah. And of course, we'll continue to follow this case and continue to see how this all continues to play out.

Detective Eric Barnes, I want to thank you so much for your time and your insight into this case. Before we sign you off, is there anything else you would like to add? What do you so much for your time and your insight into this case. Before we sign you off, is there anything else you would like to add? What do you think the next steps are going to be in this case? I believe I believe the defense

attorney kind of laid the tracks on which direction they're going to go. He already hinted to the fact of the police overreacting and making her reach with charging or with murder, and he and he also brought up the fact that she had never had any arrest. And so I think that he's gonna say,

hey, before we rush to judgment on this case, let's see what facts the police have. So I think he's gonna challenge their facts very heavy. And I think that from the law enforcement aspect, a lot of their investigation is gonna be science-based. And we'll see how that all continues to play out too. Again, Detective Eric Barnes, thank you so much for your time and your insight into this case, I really appreciate it. is going to be science based. And we'll see how that all continues to play out too. Again, Detective Eric Barnes,

thank you so much for your time and your insight into this case, I really appreciate it. All right, no problem. According to the Miami-Dade Criminal Court records, Dr. Gupta is scheduled to return to court for her arraignment on August 7th. In the meantime, she remains in custody without bond. If convicted of first degree murder,

she faces life in prison or potentially the death penalty. Well that does it for this episode of Sidebar. Be sure to subscribe to us anywhere you get your podcasts, whether it's YouTube, Apple podcasts or Spotify. I'm Elizabeth Milner filling in for Jesse Weber and this has been Sidebar presented by Law & Crime. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.