Pediatrician’s Wife Describes Night Woman Was Slain

The wife of a Pasadena pediatrician charged with first-degree murder testified Wednesday that her husband said he was going to deliver a baby on the night he strangled a pregnant colleague on a remote mountain road.

Heidi Anderson said her husband, Kevin, told her that he had to leave their La Verne home to assist in a delivery at Pasadena’s St. Luke Medical Center, where he worked. A registered nurse, she offered to accompany him, but he replied that there was no need, she said in her second day of testimony.

Kevin Anderson, 41, is accused of murdering Dr. Deepti Gupta, 33, on Nov. 11, 1999, in the Angeles National Forest.

Prosecutors allege that Anderson had planned to kill Gupta to cover up their affair and the fact that she was pregnant with his child--knowledge of which would threaten his marriage, career and financial success. Prosecutors have already presented and rested their case.

Michael Abzug, Anderson’s attorney, has conceded from the outset that his client killed Gupta. But he said it was an impulsive act that occurred during a stargazing trip after Gupta made a threat against Anderson’s daughter as the two physicians argued over their relationship and failed business partnership.

During the last two days, Abzug has questioned a number of witnesses who have generally testified that Anderson is a caring man and physician who treated some patients for free.

Heidi Anderson said her husband called her about 5:50 p.m. on his cellular phone the day of the slaying and said he was running late.

“He seemed like Kevin to me,” she added when asked about his demeanor. That call, prosecutors say, came shortly before the doctor killed Gupta--sometime between 6 and 7:30 p.m.--then doused her body with gasoline and pushed it off a cliff in her vehicle.

Wednesday’s court session featured several sharp exchanges between Heidi Anderson and Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian M.J. Thompson, who, at one point during cross-examination, said, “Well, his disgrace was your disgrace.”

Heidi Anderson, called as a defense witness, testified that the night before the slaying her husband told her, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She said he made the remark because that day he had treated a girl who had cancer.

Heidi Anderson repeatedly denied that she had been suspicious or jealous of her husband’s interactions with other women, particularly Gupta. She said she knew Gupta was romantically interested in her husband, but was not aware that the feelings were reciprocated until after he was arrested.

Jurors have already heard the defendant admit in a taped interview with the Sheriff’s Department that he choked Gupta to death with his Snoopy tie and then tried to make it look as if she had died in a traffic accident.

The doctor was arrested after a passing motorist saw Gupta’s sport utility vehicle plunge off the cliff and followed Anderson’s vehicle from the scene.

In her testimony Tuesday, Heidi Anderson said that it wasn’t unusual for her husband to go stargazing and that he regularly carried items prosecutors have called a “murder kit”--a rope, matches and a gasoline can--in his vehicle.

But under cross-examination, prosecutor Thompson whittled away at the witness’ prior statements. The doctor’s wife conceded that she couldn’t recall how long or what color the rope was in his car. She also admitted to having been unfaithful in 1998.