Anthony Todt and children.
The father on trial for allegedly murdering his wife, children and dog and living with their corpses for more than a week inside their Celebration, Fla., home allegedly told detectives that he killed them with “salvation in mind.”
In videotaped confessions shown to the jury in court Tuesday, Anthony Todt, 46, blamed his late wife, Megan Todt, 42, for the horrific slayings, telling detectives she had been watching videos about how to achieve “salvation” because of a forthcoming apocalypse, theOrlando Sentinelreports.
Todt told detectives that he and his wife had made a pact to kill the entire family, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell said on the first day of his trial Monday at the Osceola County Courthouse in Kissimmee, theOrlando Sentinel,ClickOrlando.comandWESH2report.
“Everybody needed to die in order to pass over to the other side together,” Pinnell said Monday in court, theSentinelreports.
Megan Todt and children.
On Tuesday jurors learned from watching Todt’s videotaped confession that when it came to allegedly killing the children, they were acting out of love and wanted their kids to receive salvation, according to theSentinel.
In the videotaped confession, Todt allegedly said that when he and his wife talked to the children about dying, the kids said, “We want to die with you,” theSentinelreports.
Todt’s youngest child, 4-year-old Zoe, was the first to be killed, he told authorities.
“I needed to save her soul,” theSentinelreports. “I wanted her to be with us.”
Todt was arrested on Jan. 13, 2020, when FBI agents and Osceola County deputies came to his two-story, picture-perfect house in the pristine planned community of Celebration, in the shadow of Walt Disney World, to serve a federal warrant for health care fraud charges stemming from his physical therapy business.
While they were there, they found Todt inside the house along with the decomposing bodies of his wife, Megan; their 13-year-old son, Alek; their 11-year-old son, Tyler; their youngest child, Zoe; and their dog, Breezy.
Todt was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty.
He pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
Anthony Todt.Osceola County Sheriff
When everyone was dead, Pinnell said, Todt told detectives “he took all of their bodies and placed them all into the master bedroom,” WESH2 reports.
During his videotaped confession, Todt told detectives he wanted to join his deceased family members on “the other side,” theSentinelreports. “That’s where I want to be.”
Todt’s story changed after his arrest, say authorities. Todt initially confessed to the murders, prosecutors said. Later, he said he wasn’t home when the killings took place.
During the course of the two phone calls in March and April 2020,Todt allegedly implied to his sister that his wife had killed the children before killing herself.
“There were multiple attempts, just so you know, multiple attempts in the last … over a time frame, there’s been attempts,” Todt said,The Dayreports. “Which is why this time I was stuck down here trying to handle things.”
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He then allegedly said his wife downed a bottle of Benadryl before stabbing herself in the stomach.
Taking the stand on Wednesday, Todt again blamed his wife for killing their children.
“I came home and my kids were dead,” Todt said, The Daily Beast reports. “It was the most horrible day of my life. What made it more horrible was that my wife died in front of me also.”
In recent years, Todt and his family had moved to Celebration from Colchester, Conn., though it’s unclear how long they’d lived in the Disney-developed dream town, which Disney no longer owns. He traveled between the two states while he tried to salvage his beleaguered practice in Connecticut.
Todt was a longtime physical therapist and owner of Family Physical Therapy in Colchester. But court records show that Todt was deep in debt.
Over the years, liens had been placed on a condo the family owned in Celebration, just blocks from their rental home.
On Dec. 22, the landlord of the family’s condo filed an eviction notice, serving the family on Dec. 26.
Todt’s trial will continue this week.
The prosecution rested its case Wednesday.
source: people.com
