The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Todt files appeal
Robert Todt said he watched from his Massachusetts home as his son was convicted of killing his wife, three children and their family dog.
“It was difficult to take,” Robert Todt said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group.
His son, Anthony Todt, 46, a former Colchester physical therapist, was found guilty in Florida this month of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty for the deaths of his 42-yearold wife, Megan Todt; their three children, Aleksander, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4; and their family dog, Breezy.
Following the six-day trial, Todt was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He was also sentenced to one year in county jail for killing their dog.
Todt’s attorneys, who are public defenders with the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, declined to comment. The prosecutors for Todt’s case did not respond to Hearst Connecticut Media’s request for comment.
Todt filed an appeal Friday with the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Florida.
Robert Todt believes there were issues with the prosecution using his son’s confessions.
“If you look at how he was and listen to what went on, there’s a lot of things there that didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Robert Todt said. “It just didn’t seem right.”
When police took Anthony Todt into custody in January 2020, they said he was barely able to stand. He was taken to the hospital and told paramedics he took Benadryl to kill himself. He was then involuntarily committed,
known as a Baker Act, according to court documents.
Anthony Todt's defense was not allowed to present evidence or testimony “regarding any mental health issues or diminished capacity” he may have had, including his Baker Act commitment, according to court documents.
Robert Todt said the involuntary commitment was a key factor in determining the legitimacy of his son's confessions.
“You can't take someone after a tragic situation and expect to basically get the truth out of them. It's distorted, and it's not meant to be, but it is,” he continued. “Tony doesn't remember a whole lot. … It doesn't seem as if he was competent during that time.”
Robert Todt has been speaking to his son almost every day since his arrest. He said his son is “holding up surprisingly well.” He's hoping his son can be placed in a mental health facility.
Robert Todt knew his son was trying to file an appeal, but knows from firsthand experience that “it's pretty difficult to win.”
Robert Todt was arrested in July 1980 and charged with hiring one of his former students to shoot and kill his wife. The next year, he was found guilty of attempted homicide, criminal conspiracy and criminal solicitation. Robert Todt filed an appeal, which was denied, according to court records.
Robert Todt said his son, who was 4 years old at the time, witnessed the man shoot his mother.
“He saw the gun, he saw the guy, he saw everything,” he said.
The man who fired the gun told law enforcement that Robert Todt offered him $800 to kill a woman Todt described as a babysitter, according to court records.
Robert Todt said he served five years in prison and said he and his son didn't speak for many years afterward.
“I kind of gave up on the position as dad,” he said, adding that his son's stepfather stepped in and “was very much a leader.”
“I had no part in raising him, let's face it,” Robert Todt added.
Robert Todt also believes his son and thinks he's innocent. “Any father would,” he said. The Todt family was found dead in January 2020 in their home in Celebration, Fla. A family member called police, asking for them to conduct a welfare check on the Todts since “they had the flu and they had not heard from them for weeks.” Police went to the home on Dec. 29, 2019, but no one answered the door. Police made several other attempts to reach them, according to the family's autopsy report.
Authorities did not discover the family until they served Anthony Todt with an arrest warrant for health care fraud.
In a statement to police, Anthony Todt said he went into his daughter's room while she was asleep. He took time to sit with Zoe, 4, and then he rolled over on top of her until she suffocated, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell said in her opening statement.
He then suffocated and stabbed Alek, Pinnell said. He then went downstairs where Tyler was sleeping and killed him in the same manner, Pinnell told the jury.
In his statement to police, Anthony Todt claimed he and his wife had an agreement that “everybody needed to die in order to pass over to the other side together because the apocalypse is coming,” Pinnell said.
In the statement, Anthony Todt claimed his wife stabbed herself twice and then he suffocated her with a pillow, Pinnell said. He also suffocated Breezy, their dog, according to Pinnell.
The medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides through “violence of unspecified means.” The medical examiner also found toxic amounts of Benadryl in all four of them. The medical examiner found stab wounds to the abdomens on Megan Todt, Alek and Tyler, and no evidence of trauma on Zoe, the autopsy report stated.
Anthony Todt maintained his innocence after he was sentenced, saying, “I was not there the night my children died.”
Megan Todt's aunt and godmother, Cynthia Kopko, told the judge that she previously warned her niece about Anthony Todt's controlling behavior.
“We loved Megan and the kids very, very much,” Kopko said with her voice breaking. “And all I have is pictures and memories I can hold in my heart.”
“We watched them grow up,” she said. “To have this happen is a nightmare.”