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Anthony Todt
Anthony Todt, the Celebration man accused of killing his wife and kids earlier this year, said it was his wife who murdered the children before committing suicide, according to a letter he wrote.
The letter dated June 19 was sent to Anthony’s father, Robert. In the letter acquired from the Orange-Osceola County State Attorney’s Office, Anthony wrote that his wife, Megan Todt, poisoned their three children with Benadryl inside a pie, stabbed them and suffocated them.
“It will be the hardest thing to sit there and tell everyone that it was her that did this when I was not home and then she committed suicide in front of me,” he wrote in the letter.
He also wrote, “Long story short, she gave them the Benadryl/Tylenol PM pie, woke up at 11:30, stabbed them and then suffocated each one.”
Anthony explained in the letter that his wife then committed suicide by stabbing herself.
Anthony was charged in January with killing his wife, Megan Todt, 42, two sons, Aleksander Todt, 13, Tyler Todt, 11 and 4-year-old daughter, Zoe Todt.
“The media and the sheriff’s department here are making me out to be the next “Butcher of Baghdad,” Anthony wrote.
The Medical Examiner’s Office released final autopsy reports in April on the Todt family victims in Celebration, and all died by “homicidal violence of unspecified means in association with diphenhydramine toxicity.”
Benadryl is a brand name for diphenhydramine, an antihistamine.
On Jan. 13, the bodies of Megan and the couple’s three children were discovered decomposing inside the Reserve Place home in the Celebration’s North Village when Osceola County Sheriff’s Office deputies were conducting a well-being check.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty.
According to the Office of the Medical Office District Nine autopsy report, Megan had two stab wounds to the abdomen, each at least 8 inches deep. Two knives had been brought the Medical Examiner’s Office by law enforcement. Both had double-edged blades and were labled “BUCK USA” and had dried blood on them.
The “stab wounds most likely occurred antemortem or perimortem,” the report stated.
Antemortem injuries are those injuries a body has received before death. Perimortem is at or near the time of death.
She and her children also had fatal doses of Benadryl in their system, according to the report.
Aleksander had a stab wound to the left abdomen that was 4.5 inches deep, which injured one of his ribs.
Tyler had a stab wound to his upper abdomen that was 3.5 inches deep that injured his large intestine, according to the report.
Zoe had no trauma on her body.
“Diphenhydramine has a sedating effect on the body, especially on a young child,” wrote Jennifer Nara, associate medical examiner.
An overdose of Benadryl may cause loss of consciousness, according to www.everydayhealth.com
Anthony Todt confessed to killing his family near the end of December, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
He’s also accused of killing the family dog, Breezy. He was arrested on four charges of homicide and one charge of felony animal cruelty.
On Dec. 29, the Sheriff’s Office received a request to check on the family’s well- being from an out-of-state relative of Anthony Todt.
He said deputies did not get a response after knocking on the door, but that they checked out the outside of the home and did not see anything suspicious.
On Jan. 9, the Sheriff’s Office officials were contacted by federal agents regarding an investigation into Anthony Todt, and deputies made several more unsuccessful attempts to contact someone in the home, Gibson said.
Anthony Todt was taken into custody as a suspect the same day.
Deputies were helping federal agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has been investigating Todt for alleged health-care fraud at his physical therapy business in Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reported.
Todt was accused of fraudulently billing tens of thousands of dollars worth of bogus therapy appointments, the Connecticut newspaper reported.
Court records associated with 202 Reserve Place indicate that Anthony and Megan Todt began renting the home in May of 2019.
The property owner filed paperwork to evict the family on Dec. 22, after the $4,921 rent went unpaid on Dec. 1, according to public records on the website for the Osceola County Clerk of the Court.
The eviction complaint shows that the property owners also were seeking $9,842 in “liquidated damages” from the Todts, which is a payment charged to a party that breaches a legal contract.
Anthony Todt is currently in the Osceola County Jail on no bond.
“I am 10,000% innocent of all these preposterous charges,” he wrote.
