Alleged Killer Of Family Near Disney Lied To Cops 'Children Were At A Sleepover'
Jan. 25 2020, Published 5:43 p.m. ET
Florida dad Anthony Todt -- whom cops claim ultimately admitted he'd killed his wife, three young kids, and the family dog in their home near Disney World -- first lied about it to police, according to the Daily Mail.
Todt, 44, initially claimed that everyone was sick with the flu and gave no indication that his family had been killed, according to cops.
In shocking new details, the publication said Todt then allegedly claimed to Florida police that his children -- Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4 -- were at a sleepover.
Relatives were concerned about the children and Anthony's wife Megan, 42, going missing.
When Osceola County Sheriff's deputies entered the Todt family's home in Celebration -- a gated community designed and developed by Disney -- on January 13, they said he told them the children were sleeping over at a friend's house and his wife was asleep upstairs.
But cops instead found the bodies of his wife and kids wrapped in blankets inside the master bedroom.
Todt then confessed to the murders, the cops claimed.
He had allegedly stabbed them in the stomach (except for Zoe) repeatedly before trying to commit suicide.
He is charged with four counts of murder, as well as animal cruelty for also killing the family dog, named Breezy.
The reports note the bodies were decomposing and each had stab wounds, the MailOnline.com reported.
Police said they noticed , the publication reported.
An officer said that "sticking out of the blankets was a foot that was black and blue in color."
Todt is believed to have lived with the rotting bodies for at least two weeks.
Megan had small stab wounds, 3.2 X 1.1 centimeters and Alex had a 5.9 X 3 centimeter stab wound, according to the reports. Alex’s body was decomposing with a brown-green color and his feet were mummified.
Zoe had no obvious sign or injury, and it's not clear how she died, the report noted.
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
However, all of the bodies were found together in a bedroom on the second floor of the home, the autopsy reports revealed.
Police believe Todt was in debt and the family was being evicted from their Celebration, Florida home.
Also, an FBI agent was reportedly investigating him for fraud in Connecticut.
A relative said that Megan made a remark that "the world was ending on the 28th."
“He is cooperating with the investigation, I can tell you that much,” Sheriff Russ Gibson said of Todt's “despicable” crime.
When police arrested Todt, the report indicated he was shaking and barely able to stand after taking Benadryl in an attempt to kill himself.
Todt has a history of tragedy, as RadarOnline.com exclusively revealed his father went to prison for a similar crime 40 years ago.
In 1980, when Anthony was 4 years old, he witnessed a stranger try to kill his mother, Loretta Todt, inside their home. According to a Philadelphia Inquirer article from 1981, he heard his mother scream in the middle of the night before seeing her “wrestling” with a man — later identified as John Chairmonte — in bed. Chairmonte eventually shot Loretta in the eye and ran off.
Anthony’s mother survived the shooting, though she lost an eye and was left with a bullet lodged in her skull. It was later discovered that Anthony’s father, Robert Todt, was responsible for the attack.
The man — who admitted to having an affair at the time — was convicted of hiring Chairmonte, a former special education student at the school where he worked, to murder Loretta.
Robert Todt was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for attempted murder, criminal solicitation and conspiracy. Loretta eventually divorced him and moved away.