EL PORTAL, Fla. — Newly released surveillance video obtained by Local 10 News on Friday shows the final days of 4-year-old Aria Talathi’s life, capturing ordinary moments with her mother at a short-term rental in El Portal before authorities say she was found dead in the backyard pool.
The video shows Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, a pediatrician from Oklahoma, carrying suitcases, walking with Aria around the home, and even changing the girl’s diaper in the driveway.
Investigators say these were the last moments Aria would be seen alive.
Authorities allege Gupta smothered her daughter and staged the death as a drowning. She has maintained her innocence, claiming Aria accidentally slipped into the pool after a late dinner.
But the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office found no food in the child’s stomach and no water in her lungs, evidence inconsistent with drowning, according to an arrest report.
Prosecutors said the June 27 incident at a rental home near the 150 block of Northwest 90th Street began as what appeared to be a mother-daughter vacation.
On June 25, the surveillance shows Gupta and Aria walking into the short-term rental and settling in, with a food delivery arriving over the next two days. At one point, Gupta is seen carrying a tired Aria inside the home.
Two days later, police and fire rescue responded to reports of an unresponsive child in the pool.
The video shows first responders entering the home and eventually removing Aria on a stretcher. She was eventually pronounced dead at the hospital.
Gupta was later located hiding in a laundry room at her Oklahoma City home and arrested by U.S. Marshals and local police, according to investigators.
Body camera footage obtained by Local 10 back in July shows officers ordering Gupta to surrender: “Neha Gupta, come to the front door. Do it now,” one Marshal commands.
Jail records show Gupta is facing a first-degree murder charge in Miami-Dade County. She remains at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on no bond.
Prosecutors previously downgraded the original first-degree murder charge to aggravated manslaughter on Aug. 6 but reinstated a murder charge on Aug. 14, abandoning the manslaughter case.
Gupta’s attorneys have repeatedly called Aria’s death a “tragic accident” and criticized authorities for a “rush to judgment,” asserting that she is a grieving mother who did not harm her daughter.
Authorities say Aria’s father, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, was unaware Gupta had taken their daughter out of state.
Court records obtained by Local 10 News show he had been seeking full custody and had previously raised concerns over Gupta’s mental health.
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