Affair Led to Doctor’s Killing, Prosecutor Says

A Pasadena neonatologist accused of strangling a colleague and pushing her body off a cliff may have suspected she was pregnant with his child and worried that knowledge of their affair would destroy his family and career, a prosecutor told the grand jury hearing the case.

According to testimony unsealed this week, evidence of their relationship surfaced in two love notes written by Dr. Kevin Paul Anderson and found near the body of Dr. Deepti Gupta at the bottom of a rocky ravine.

“But the truth is while I write this letter . . . with all emotions aside, I can’t help but know I am still in love with you,” Anderson reportedly wrote in one letter, which was stuffed in the victim’s day-planner.

“I am determined not to let that interfere in what must be said or done however, and I have learned to be very good at burying my feelings and so I will from this day onward,” the note continued.

Sheriff’s detectives initially said an argument over a souring business deal appeared to be the prime motive in the Nov. 11 slaying.

But over two days in January, Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian Thompson submitted evidence and called witnesses to the grand jury, arguing the murder was inspired by Gupta’s threats to tell Anderson’s wife about the affair and pregnancy. The district attorney’s office decided to present evidence to the panel because it would be faster than going through a preliminary hearing.

The grand jury indicted Anderson on one count of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to be in court April 7 to discuss motions.

The transcript was unsealed Thursday afternoon after a local newspaper urged a judge to do so.

While Gupta was indeed pregnant, no evidence was presented to grand jurors proving the 41-year-old defendant was the father, transcripts show. As evidence of the affair, prosecutors presented the two letters, as well as testimony from a detective who traced cellular phone records placing them together at a Pasadena motel the day before the murder. Gupta’s spiritual advisor, a Hindu priest, also testified he believed she was having an affair but was too modest to tell him directly.

Anderson’s attorney, Michael D. Abzug, said Friday he would not discuss the 341-page transcript. “The grand jury meets in secret and they are presented only what the prosecution wants them to hear,” he said. “There was no opportunity for my client or I to appear and question anyone.”

Portions of the grand jury transcript were redacted, and Abzug said it was done at his request because he plans to argue that certain evidence--such as Anderson’s confession--was not valid.

The two doctors, who worked together at Huntington Memorial Hospital, had planned to start a practice together, but Anderson had backed out after his wife grew jealous and upset over the deal, according to some grand jury testimony.

Gupta’s husband, a professor at UCLA, told the grand jury that he and their daughter visited Anderson’s wife to tell her “that in India the marriage is sacred and we have a beautiful relationship and she should not feel threatened by my wife working with him.”

While Deepti Gupta decided not to continue with the partnership anyway, Thompson argued that it was their personal relationship that led to the murder. She said it did not occur in the heat of passion, but was a cold, premeditated attack.

Thompson told jurors that Anderson had to discuss business with Gupta, but calculatingly ignored phone calls from her earlier that day so the couple would have a reason to meet that night. Then, possibly to create an alibi, he paid a visit to his hospital just hours before the murder, telling nurses he would be making rounds, the prosecutors said.

Eventually, the two drove separately up Angeles Crest Highway to a turnout overlooking the city lights. There, she reportedly got into his car.

Anderson is accused of striking Gupta, then strangling her with his hands and a necktie.

“As a physician he knows exactly where to place his hands, what type of pressure to exert,” Thompson said. “I suggest to you he utilized her carotid to render her unconscious, he hit her to stun her and then took the tie to finish her off.”

But Anderson’s plans then veered off course, Thompson said.

According to her, the defendant put Gupta in her Mercedes SUV and doused it with gasoline, preparing to conceal the evidence. As he prepared to drive the car to the edge of the cliff, he apparently misjudged the distance and the vehicle started rolling down the hill, Thompson said. The blunder forced him to jump out of the vehicle before he could light it.

A passing motorist saw the car go over the cliff and followed Anderson into the forest. He reported the incident to the Forest Service, and sheriff’s deputies subsequently arrested Anderson, whose vehicle had gotten stuck on a mountain road.