Did Disney dad Anthony Todt attempt suicide after 'killing' his family? Cops say he bought gun days after massacre
CELEBRATION, FLORIDA: The 44-year-old Florida man, who is accused of murdering his family inside their Disney townhome and living with their mummified bodies for days, reportedly might have been planning a murder-suicide as he bought a gun just days after his family went missing.
Anthony Todt is currently facing the death penalty after being charged with the murders of wife Megan, 42, and their three children Alex, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing after he was apprehended on January 14, days after he allegedly brutally slaughtered his family at their home in Celebration, Florida, a community developed by Disney. He is suspected of carrying out the killings shortly after New Year's Day and reportedly lived with their bodies for at least two weeks before the news came to light.
According to The Sun, a receipt recovered from his home as part of the investigation into the alleged killings showed that he had purchased a handgun on December 19, five days after his entire family was last seen alive at a holiday concert. Although authorities believe that the evidence of the firearm points to a premeditated murder-suicide, Todt only ended up buying a pellet gun. His entire purchase consisted of the gun which cost him $49.99, a box of pellets for $9.99, a Gatorade, some M&Ms at Academy, and a local sports and outdoor retailer.
Although the exact reason behind such a purchase is unclear, it was possible that he could only afford the less powerful and rarely fatal weapon or the fact that he did not pass a background check. One of the reasons also could be because Todt wanted to avoid a search of his name as he was already being investigated for fraudulent billing practices that he was accused of conducting at the time.
Photos released by the police of Todt shows two bruises - very similar in size and depth to a pellet wound - on his torso. There were no pellet wounds noticed on any of the corpses of the family members. There was also a dead dog recovered from his house, which could have been killed by a pellet gun, according to investigators. Details of how the dog died have not been released in the case.
Todt is a former physical therapist who confessed to the murders immediately after his arrest but following his arraignment entered a plea of not guilty. We previously reported that when agents from the Department of Health and Human Services first laid their eyes on Todt inside the house on January 14, he was wearing just a shirt and underwear. The agents wasted no time in confronting Todt about the whereabouts of his wife and children who were nowhere to be found inside the house.
“He said Megan was upstairs sleeping and he also called for her like she was alive,” Melissa O’Neal, the lead agent on the case, said. “We asked where are the children, and he said: ‘I don’t know, I can’t remember if they went to a sleepover last night.'"
When they went upstairs, they found corpses in such a badly decomposed state that their preliminary cause of death could not be determined. “So, the bodies are black, like, as black as this [points to leather],” explained O’Neal. “It looked like there was deformation but he didn’t know if it was overdose cause there was vomit or stabbing because the bodies are so far gone. The boys’ bodies are black as leather.”