Death penalty sought for Todt
Fla. grand jury indicts Colchester man on capital murder charges
Todt
A Florida prosecutor said Tuesday that she will seek the death penalty for Anthony Todt, the Colchester physical therapist charged in the deaths of his wife and their three children in a rental home in Florida in late December.
State’s Attorney Aramis D. Ayala told reporters that her office convened a grand jury Tuesday and they returned an indictment charging Todt with four counts of capital murder in connection with the killings of his wife Megan Todt, 42, and their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4.
“I can’t imagine the pain and agony they are going through, but we’re going to absolutely do all that we can to ensure justice is served,” Ayala said of the victims’ family in a press conference Tuesday streamed by local media.
Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson has said that Todt confessed to killing his family and their dog. Todt’s wife and children were found dead when deputies accompanied federal agents on Jan. 13 to serve a health care fraud warrant on Todt, who operated a physical therapy practice in Colchester.
Ayala said an independent panel in her office voted that
prosecutors would seek the death penalty. She created the panel after the state Supreme Court ruled they must consider death as a sentence despite her opposition to it.
Florida prosecutors filed second-degree murder charges against Todt before impaneling a grand jury to hear the evidence of the case. Ayala said a grand jury is required to file first-degree murder charges, which carry the possibility of death.
Todt’s wife and two eldest children were found stabbed and drugged in their home in Celebration, Fla., which is located near Disney World. His youngest child was also drugged, according to medical examiner records.
Deputies found the family in bedrooms on the second floor of the home during a protective sweep, after federal agents served an arrest warrant against Todt charging him with health care fraud, arrest records show.
“Anthony could barely stand and appeared to be shaking,” detectives wrote in a five-page arrest warrant affidavit. Detectives reported that Todt said he consumed an unknown amount of Benadryl in an attempt to kill himself.
After he was treated at the hospital, Todt spoke with detectives. The county sheriff said he confessed during the interview, but that was redacted in the affidavit released to the public.
Family friends said Todt was splitting his time between Colchester and Celebration, where his wife and children had relocated, so he could continue to see patients at his physical therapy practice.
Family had not heard from or seen Todt’s wife and children since before Christmas and authorities said they believed they were killed sometime in December. The medical examiner’s office reported that the victims were found in the early stages of decomposition.
Todt’s sister had twice called the sheriff’s office in January for a well-being check on her brother and his wife and children, according to 911 calls and police reports, but deputies never made contact with the family.
An agent with the FBI working on the federal health care investigation also called the department to have them check on Todt.
In her second call to the sheriff ’s office, Todt’s sister said: “There’s an active FBI investigation up here in Connecticut and I’m concerned because of that, because of a lot of stuff that’s been happening, that there could be something happening. Hope to God I’m wrong.”
She said that Todt had flown to Florida on Dec. 22 and they were having a hard time reaching him.
“We’ve had a very, very hard time getting anything from him. And he has stopped all communications,” the sister said. “We have not spoken to Megan. No one has heard from Megan.”
When agents from the Department of Health and Human Services called the sheriff’s office on Jan. 13, they said they had spotted him at his home and requested some deputies to help in serving the arrest warrant.
When asked by emergency dispatchers if he made any threats, the agent said: “There’s concerns. I don’t know of any direct threats, but there are concerns. He does know he’s being investigated. … As far as we know he has tapped out all his finance resources and he has not contacted his family in over a week.”
By the time agents went to arrest Todt, he was already facing eviction from his family’s Florida home. Eviction proceedings were also pending against his physical therapy office, Family Physical Therapy, at 7 Park Ave. in Colchester.
Federal investigators said Todt billed for a number of appointments that never happened, using tens of thousands of dollars from the fraud to pay off short-term, high interest business loans.
Connecticut’s attorney general was also investigating his fraudulent billing practices.
When asked by federal investigators if his wife knew about his financial problems, Todt said “No. Only me,” federal arrest records show.
Fla. grand jury indicts Colchester man on capital murder charges
- Hartford Courant
- 26 Feb 2020
- By Nicholas Rondinone
Todt
A Florida prosecutor said Tuesday that she will seek the death penalty for Anthony Todt, the Colchester physical therapist charged in the deaths of his wife and their three children in a rental home in Florida in late December.
State’s Attorney Aramis D. Ayala told reporters that her office convened a grand jury Tuesday and they returned an indictment charging Todt with four counts of capital murder in connection with the killings of his wife Megan Todt, 42, and their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4.
“I can’t imagine the pain and agony they are going through, but we’re going to absolutely do all that we can to ensure justice is served,” Ayala said of the victims’ family in a press conference Tuesday streamed by local media.
Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson has said that Todt confessed to killing his family and their dog. Todt’s wife and children were found dead when deputies accompanied federal agents on Jan. 13 to serve a health care fraud warrant on Todt, who operated a physical therapy practice in Colchester.
Ayala said an independent panel in her office voted that
prosecutors would seek the death penalty. She created the panel after the state Supreme Court ruled they must consider death as a sentence despite her opposition to it.
Florida prosecutors filed second-degree murder charges against Todt before impaneling a grand jury to hear the evidence of the case. Ayala said a grand jury is required to file first-degree murder charges, which carry the possibility of death.
Todt’s wife and two eldest children were found stabbed and drugged in their home in Celebration, Fla., which is located near Disney World. His youngest child was also drugged, according to medical examiner records.
Deputies found the family in bedrooms on the second floor of the home during a protective sweep, after federal agents served an arrest warrant against Todt charging him with health care fraud, arrest records show.
“Anthony could barely stand and appeared to be shaking,” detectives wrote in a five-page arrest warrant affidavit. Detectives reported that Todt said he consumed an unknown amount of Benadryl in an attempt to kill himself.
After he was treated at the hospital, Todt spoke with detectives. The county sheriff said he confessed during the interview, but that was redacted in the affidavit released to the public.
Family friends said Todt was splitting his time between Colchester and Celebration, where his wife and children had relocated, so he could continue to see patients at his physical therapy practice.
Family had not heard from or seen Todt’s wife and children since before Christmas and authorities said they believed they were killed sometime in December. The medical examiner’s office reported that the victims were found in the early stages of decomposition.
Todt’s sister had twice called the sheriff’s office in January for a well-being check on her brother and his wife and children, according to 911 calls and police reports, but deputies never made contact with the family.
An agent with the FBI working on the federal health care investigation also called the department to have them check on Todt.
In her second call to the sheriff ’s office, Todt’s sister said: “There’s an active FBI investigation up here in Connecticut and I’m concerned because of that, because of a lot of stuff that’s been happening, that there could be something happening. Hope to God I’m wrong.”
She said that Todt had flown to Florida on Dec. 22 and they were having a hard time reaching him.
“We’ve had a very, very hard time getting anything from him. And he has stopped all communications,” the sister said. “We have not spoken to Megan. No one has heard from Megan.”
When agents from the Department of Health and Human Services called the sheriff’s office on Jan. 13, they said they had spotted him at his home and requested some deputies to help in serving the arrest warrant.
When asked by emergency dispatchers if he made any threats, the agent said: “There’s concerns. I don’t know of any direct threats, but there are concerns. He does know he’s being investigated. … As far as we know he has tapped out all his finance resources and he has not contacted his family in over a week.”
By the time agents went to arrest Todt, he was already facing eviction from his family’s Florida home. Eviction proceedings were also pending against his physical therapy office, Family Physical Therapy, at 7 Park Ave. in Colchester.
Federal investigators said Todt billed for a number of appointments that never happened, using tens of thousands of dollars from the fraud to pay off short-term, high interest business loans.
Connecticut’s attorney general was also investigating his fraudulent billing practices.
When asked by federal investigators if his wife knew about his financial problems, Todt said “No. Only me,” federal arrest records show.
