In the video shown to jurors in his murder trial on Tuesday, Anthony Todt told detectives that he wanted to be with his family on "the other side." Detective Cole Miller asked Todt if he knew his wife and children were deceased, and he replied that is where he wanted to be, according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel.
Todt then told detectives that his wife, who was chronically ill, started watching videos that predicted an upcoming apocalypse and described how to reach "salvation." Todt said he and his wife Megan talked to their children about killing themselves.
Todt claimed his children said, "We don't want you to die. We want to die with you." He told detectives during his interrogation that he and his wife made plans to kill the family before Christmas.
Anthony Todt started his killing spree with his daughter Zoe
He said they started with their daughter Zoe. Todt said Megan was outside when he killed their daughter, but she helped him suffocate their eldest son Alek by holding the young boy's legs. Todt said he and his wife consoled each other after killing their two kids, but they decided to continue the murder plan and kill their other son Tyler.
Todt claimed his wife said, "We have to finish this. There's one more left." He told detectives that his wife was "doing meditations" as he suffocated and stabbed Tyler.
The killings were horrific. On January 13, 2020, authorities discovered the badly decomposing bodies of 42-year-old Megan Todt; 13-year-old son, Alek; 11-year-old son, Tyler; 4-year-old daughter, Zoe; and their dog, Breezy. They were found in the master bedroom of a two-story house in the planned community of Celebration, Florida.
Todt, the deceased woman's husband and the father of their three kids, was found by FBI agents and Osceola County deputies in another part of the house. People magazine reported that the officers had come to serve a federal warrant to Todt for health care fraud charges stemming from the 46-year-old's physical therapy business.
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Murder charges filed against Todt after gruesome discovery
They did not expect that they would have to file murder charges against Todt. His wife and kids' bodies were wrapped in blankets, and autopsies later found toxic amounts of Benadryl in their systems.
After Todt's arrest, he was involuntarily committed under the state of Florida's Baker Act, with authorities saying he made comments about harming himself and that he had ingested Benadryl pills.
According to the Daily Mail, detectives interrogated him three times, and he repeatedly confessed his involvement in his family's murder. However, a judge ruled to exclude Todt's first confession because detectives failed to fully inform him of his constitutional rights at the time.
