April 19, 2022
The trial of Anthony Todt began earlier this week at the Osceola County Courthouse in Kissimmee.
On January 15, 2020, he confessed to killing his wife, three children and dog at a rental home in Celebration, Florida. Celebration, located in Osceola County, Florida, is a census-designated town designed and developed by The Walt Disney Company. Celebration can be reached via World Drive, near the Magic Kingdom in the Disney World resort.
Anthony Todt was charged with four counts of homicide and felony animal cruelty in the death of Megan Todt, 44, Alek Todt, 13, Tyler Todt, 11, and Zoe Todt, 4, as well as the family dog, Breezy, whom he purportedly murdered in a Celebration apartment on the two hundred block of Reserve Place.
Todt was confronted and arrested by FBI agents and local deputies on January 13, 2020.
According to the arrest affidavit, on the morning of 13 January 2020, deputies from the Osceola Country Sheriff’s Department arrived at 202 Reserve Place to serve a warrant for health care fraud charges in connection with Anthony Todt's physical therapy business- but instead happened upon something far more disturbing.
When questioned about the whereabouts of his wife, Megan, Todt said that she was upstairs sleeping. Officers attempted to alert her by calling out her name, but Megan failed to respond. The deputies began to perform a search of the property and when they reached the second floor, they made a shocking discovery. In one of the bedrooms, they found four bodies covered in blankets as well as the body of a small dog.
It appeared that Todt had been living with the corpses of his family, whom he had allegedly murdered.
Todt was sent to a nearby hospital for testing as he seemed to be having issues standing and displayed concerning symptoms, including shaking. On the way there he admitted that he had attempted to overdose on excessive amounts of Benadryl in the hope that he would die.
The bodies of Antony Todt's wife and children were transported to the District Nine Medical Examiner’s office at around 19:00 that evening.
Documents reveal that on 29 December 2019, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office performed a welfare check on the Todt family home after concerned relatives in Connecticut contacted them explaining that they had not heard from them in weeks. When deputies showed up to the property the blinds were closed, and they received no answer when they knocked on the doors. The Todts travelled a lot and when asked by deputies, neighbors said they had not noticed anything suspicious, and nothing seemed to be amiss.
Detectives from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Anthony Todt while he was receiving treatment at Advent Health Hospital. Todt told them that he and his wife had been planning to kill the children and themselves so they could all be together in the next life. He admitted that he killed Alek, Tyler and Zoe and said that he had stabbed Alek and Tyler in the abdomen. Evidence of injuries to the boy’s abdomen were present. Todt said he suffocated his daughter, Zoe, adding that he could not recall if he stabbed her too. He then killed the family dog.
After the children had died, Todt claimed that his wife stabbed herself in the abdomen two times and after surviving for several hours, Todt suffocated her too.
After waiting for the bodies of his wife and children to exit rigor mortis, Anthony Todt described carrying them one by one to the master bedroom and laying them out on the bed. He said he planned to take is own life but got cold feet and could not go through with his own suicide.
The deaths are believed to have taken place in December 2019.
On 14 January 2020, District Nine Medical Examiner Jennifer Nara, M.D completed an autopsy of Zoe Todt. The autopsy examination revealed the cause of death to be Homicidal Violence of Unspecified Means in Association with Diphenhydramine Toxicity. Tyler Tod's cause of death was also determined to be Homicidal Violence of Unspecified Means in Association with Diphenhydramine Toxicity with a stab wound to the abdomen resulting in injury to the large intestine. Aleksander Todt's cause of death was, again, Homicidal Violence of Unspecified Means in Association with Diphenhydramine Toxicity, this time with a stab wound to the abdomen, including an Injury to the left eighth rib.
Megan Todt's cause of death was Homicidal Violence of Unspecified Means in Association with Diphenhydramine Toxicity with stab wounds to the abdomen, hemoperitoneum, 100-200 ml b (also known as intra-abdominal haemorrhage, a type of internal bleeding) and sharp force injury of mesenteric fat (the mesenteric fat is directly connected with the intestinal serosa and muscularis propria and is found along the majority of the bowels.)
Despite his initial recorded confession to police, when Todt took the stand this week he instead blamed his wife for the death of their children. He took the stand and told the court that it was, in fact, Megan Todt who killed all three of their children by having them eat a pudding pie she had poisoned.
The original recording of his confession was played for the court. Included in these initial recorded confessions were details of Megan, whom he said had been deteriorating in health before her death, had been watching online videos that claimed the apocalypse was on the horizon and salvation must be reached. Todt also claimed that Megan had recently joined a religious group that fuelled these beliefs, implying that one of these beliefs was that the family would be better off in the next life.
In a letter to his father after his arrest, Todt again blamed Megan for his children’s deaths, referencing a poisoned pudding once again.
Todt told police that he attempted to commit suicide around ten times and failed. He said he was too afraid to attempt suicide by knife.
Anthony Todt pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The jury reached a guilty verdict in the murder trial, and he was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty.
Circuit Court Judge Keith Carsten, who sentenced Todt, said of his crimes: "You, Anthony John Todt, are a destroyer of worlds."
Sources: [X][X][X][X][X][X][X]
November 19, 2024
