Florida man drugged wife, 3 kids with Benadryl and stabbed them to death before leaving their bodies to mummify
Anthony Todt, the 44-year-old father of three, who killed his family inside their Disney town home in Florida, allegedly drugged his wife and children with Benadryl, stabbed them, and left their bodies to mummify, according to the final autopsy.
Todt 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 reportedly lived with their bodies for at least two weeks before the news came to light.
Todt, who is likely to face the death penalty for the heinous crime, is suspected of carrying out the killings shortly after New Year's Day after holing up in his home with his family's rotting bodies for two weeks. Todt, his wife Meghan, 42, and their three children Alex, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4, were reported missing on January 6 from the gated community of 7,400 people, located on the outskirts of Disney Hollywood Studios theme park.
An autopsy conducted on the bodies of the victims has now revealed that the suspect's wife and three children were killed by "unspecified violence" combined with overdoses of Benadryl, also known as diphenhydramine, according to the Daily Mail. The autopsy results, released on Tuesday, April 7, stated that the official cause of the death of the four victims was "homicidal violence of unspecified means in association with diphenhydramine toxicity."
The report stated that Meghan was stabbed twice in the stomach either before or during her death based on the amount of blood in the abdomen. While Alek and Tyler both had single stab wounds to the stomach but did not have any blood inside their abdomens. The autopsy, in all the three cases, did not point to stabbings as the clear cause of their deaths. There was no evidence of trauma on Zoe's body, however, homicidal violence and a Benadryl overdose was still listed as the cause of death for the four-year-old.
Reports state that the victims had to be identified using dental records because their bodies were heavily decomposed when they were found. Their blood could also not be used for toxicology testing. The motive of the brutal murders is not yet clear.
The family's relatives reported not seeing them since January 6, while their neighbors said that they had not spotted the family in the area since mid-December. However, authorities said that Todt, a physical therapist, was replying to the relatives' text messages while he was living with their dead bodies. It was also revealed that he owed creditors $100,000.
A statement released by the Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson in January stated: "I can tell you on December 29, 2019, our office received a request by a family member of Anthony Todt who resides outside of the State of Florida to check the well-being of the Todt family because she had been told they had the flu, and she had not heard from them for two days."
The sheriff said that authorities went to the home on Reserve Place, however, they could not establish a contact with anyone inside. They did not think it to be a cause of concern as Todt, who owns a practice in Connecticut, was known to travel during the week and fly back to Florida during the weekends. Authorities, during the visit, reportedly "did not observe anything suspicious."
However, a concerned neighbor called the authorities later that week, and they returned to the family's home on Monday. This time the officials obtained a warrant to enter the property and found the family had been "inside the home the entire time." Gibson said: "Deputies discovered four deceased individuals inside." Authorities arrested Todt at gunpoint from their home in front of shocked neighbors. The 44-year-old then allegedly confessed to murdering his family and their dog to sheriffs.
Todt was charged and indicted with four counts of first-degree capital murder and an animal cruelty charge for killing the family's dog, Breezy. It is not yet clear exactly how he murdered Breezy. Prosecutors are now seeking a death penalty for the brutal murders.