A Man In Florida Confessed To Killing His Wife, Kids, & Dog

A Connecticut man has been charged with four counts of homicide and felony animal cruelty after confessing to killing his wife Megan, their three children, Alek, Tyler, and Zoe, and their family dog while staying in a rental home near Walt Disney World in Celebration, FL. 

While conducting an unrelated investigation into his physical therapy businesses, deputies from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office went to Anthony Todt’s home to arrest him. When officers detained Todt, they found four bodies in his house.

Upon his arrest, Todt revealed he had ingested Benadryl and said he may potentially harm himself, so he was taken to the hospital and released on Wednesday. “He is cooperating with the investigation, I can tell you that much,” Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said to The Daily Beast. Now, police are trying to piece together what happened between Todt and the four victims after he confessed.

Officials believe it is possible that Todt killed his family at the end of December — the timeline of events is still unknown and quite complicated. On December 29, a family relative contacted Florida police. No one had heard from any of them for two days and the relative requested that someone go and check on them. Deputies responded that day, but were unable to reach Todt or any of his family and reported no suspicious activity at his home.

Seeing as how no one had heard from them for about two weeks, the family's extended relatives formed a Facebook Group titled “Looking for the Todt Family” to piece together any information they could find. No missing person report was ever filed for the family, and it wasn't until January 9 when federal agents contacted the local Sheriff's office regarding a Connecticut investigation into Todt that law enforcement attempted to reach someone at his home, eventually finding him and the four bodies there.

Although law enforcement is still awaiting official confirmation of the identification of the bodies, given Todt’s confession, they are confident the bodies are those of Todt’s family. 

But, the driving force behind this discovery was actually the separate investigation into Todt. According to Connecticut’s Office of the Attorney General, the investigation that somehow drove officers to his door involves a False Claims Act regarding Todt and his businesses. The act specifically targets fraudulent insurance claims made by medical providers.

According to Connecticut state records, Todt’s physical therapy license lapsed in September 2019. Court records across three states show that he had been facing mounting financial pressure. The records paint a picture of a financial situation that would have likely lead to personal and professional bankruptcy for Todt, who worked out of Connecticut during the week and traveled down to Florida to be with his family on weekends.

The family signed a one year lease in May 2019 for their Florida home, but missed a December payment of more than $4,000 and faced eviction. Between this, and Todd's professional blunders, it seems that Todt owed nearly $6,300. Separate court records in New York show that he also owed more than $100,000 for his two New York-based businesses.

Now, family and friends are grieving the loss as detectives investigate the situation further. “It’s a tragedy and we are mourning the losses in our close-knit community,” their neighbor Lori Leighton said to The Daily Beast.

“We grieve along with the victims’ family and friends, along with the community for this tragic loss of innocent lives,” said Gibson.