An Oklahoma mother faces charges related to her daughter’s death while they were on vacation in Florida. Neha Gupta, who is a pediatrician, is accused of staging her daughter’s drowning. Based on her original account of what happened, the preschooler woke in the middle of the night, somehow found her way to the pool, and ended up falling in. Despite her best efforts, the mom said she couldn’t save her daughter. But a police investigation indicated the mom’s claims may be false.
According to a press release from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Neha Gupta was arrested in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She will be extradited to Miami, where she faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of her 4-year-old daughter.
The sheriff’s office claims Gupta and her daughter traveled from Oklahoma City to Miami and stayed in a short-term rental. In the middle of the night, police received a call saying that the child was drowning. When they arrived, they found the girl in the pool, unresponsive.
“Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and transported the child to an area hospital, where medical staff pronounced her deceased,” the release said.
The incident took place on June 27, 2025, according to an arrest warrant obtained by People. Gupta reportedly told police that she and her daughter were asleep when she heard a loud noise around 3:20 a.m. When she woke up, she noticed that the sliding door was open. As she walked outside, she saw her daughter in the water.
She allegedly attempted to rescue her daughter before calling for help because she can’t swim. First responders said her daughter was “submerged in the deep end of the swimming pool” when they arrived. However, the autopsy, which was performed on June 29, seems to dispute the mom’s account of what happened. No water was found in the girl’s lungs or stomach, which would indicate drowning.
Doctors did find “cuts within the mouth and bruising within the cheeks” not related to lifesaving services given to the girl. While an official cause of death hasn’t been given, the arrest warrant reported “the injuries are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering.” Additionally, the girl’s stomach was “empty” despite claims made by the mother that they ate around 9 p.m.
“Furthermore, ‘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 arrest warrant reads.
Gupta’s attorney, Richard L. Cooper, gave CBS News a statement about the case. He said he was “extremely disappointed” after reading the “flimsy arrest warrant” from the MDSO. Cooper claimed he couldn’t believe that Neha Gupta, a “grieving mother,” was charged.
“Dr. Gupta met with the police and State Attorney’s Office at our request and was 100% cooperative with the investigation,” the statement continued. “Let’s assume for a second that my client is innocent: She has had the worst tragedy imaginable occur, and then she’s locked up without bond and is missing her own daughter’s funeral. Common decency would dictate that a little more than 1 day’s worth of investigation transpire before making such a dramatic move.”
According to a statement Cooper provided to People, Gupta was “involved in a nasty divorce case.” The outlet reported that the arrest warrant showed her and her ex-husband were in the middle of a custody battle. He didn’t know that they were in Florida at the time of the girl’s death.
