The savage death of the American Dream...

These days, you turn on the TV, open up social media or take a look at any front page in the USA and you’ll see violence front and center. It’s a sad fact. What’s more disturbing is our obsession with it. We love the drama, the details, and the gore. We pretend to be horrified yet don’t look away when they show vaguely blurred crime scene or autopsy photos. We’re fascinated by the horror of it all.

The more hideous the crime, the more sensational it becomes. We eat up every Dateline, 48 hours and 20/20 we watch so we can absorb every single detail. As soon as one episode is over we move on to the next like we’re binge watching our favorite episodes of Dexter or True Detective. For a society that preaches love, acceptance and tolerance, we have a disgusting love of the macabre.

Curious, I decided to google “Why do we love true crime” and the answer I got was, “Psychologists say one of the main reasons we're obsessed with true crime is because it gives us an opportunity to feel relieved that we're not the victim”. This was a pretty interesting if not disturbing revelation for me as a person. I never ever once looked at true crime from the eyes of the victim.

I had always tried viewing it from the eyes of the killer.

Before you call America’s Most Wanted let me explain. I’m not a sociopath I swear. I grew up in a law enforcement family. My dad was a Police Sgt and my mom was a 911 dispatcher. My dad’s squad was really part of the family. We grew up understanding police procedure and the basic dynamics of an investigation. This meant understanding that there was a certain amount of psychology behind every investigation.

For me, that’s where the real fascination behind true crime comes from. It’s the psychology, the behaviors, the nature of the case that drives me to try and understand the act itself. It’s awful I know. This is why the Anthony Todt case is one of the many that haunts me. There are still so many questions, so many facts that don’t make sense.

No matter how hard I try I won’t ever be able to understand what happened that day in Celebration, FL. At this point, I don’t know if I even want to understand it. Because whatever happened in that house was so evil, so heartbreakingly sad I don’t know that any sane person can ever understand it and be the same again.

The facts

Anthony (Tony) and Megan Todt were high school sweethearts and to friends that knew them, they were a perfect match. Tony and Megan did everything together. After high school they both attended Sacred Heart University where Tony was a residential advisor. Classmates and friends (who asked to remain anonymous) said they remember Tony as being “an all-around people person”. In fact, Tony and Megan both had outstanding reputations within their tight knit community of Colchester, CT.

After graduating Tony and Megan both began what would be very successful careers as Physical Therapists. Tony was also part of the Colchester Business Association and the Colchester Soccer Club. Tony and Megan started their own little family with the birth of their oldest son Alek who would later be joined by younger brother Tyler and little sister Zoe.

Friends who knew the family say Megan and the boys were all musically inclined and gifted piano players. Megan was a devoted mother who home schooled and made all of their meals from scratch. Tony was the helpful soccer dad who was always there to lend a helping hand or offer advice to anyone who might need it. Tony built a thriving practice within his community and he was well regarded as being a highly skilled therapist with a true talent for healing.

By all accounts they were the perfect, happy family. A quick look at Megan or Tony’s Facebook accounts will show you the bond they had was strong. Sweet loving messages posted back and forth, pictures and stories of the children followed by endless smiling images and videos. Even now one can’t help but smile sadly at the sweet images of those tiny smiling faces, now in evidence photos.

The Todt family moved to Celebration, FL around 2017. For many who don’t know (I didn’t) Celebration is the home of Disneyworld, Epcot Center etc. It’s literally home to one of the “Happiest Places on Earth”. Tony maintained his practice in Colchester and flew back weekly to see patients and manage his business. Megan and the kids went back to Colchester for holidays and family gatherings so they really were living the best of both worlds being able to escape the snowy days of winter and swap them out with magical days at Disney.

It. Was. Perfect.

November 2019

This would be the last time anyone saw the Todt Family. Megan, Tony and their three children 13-year-old Alek, 11-year-old Tyler and 4-year-old Zoe, went back to Colchester to visit Tony’s family for Thanksgiving. There’s little known about the events of that visit other than everyone said they had a good time. One of Tony’s sisters noted that Megan seemed just a little “off”. It was later revealed that Megan had made a comment to a family member about the world ending on Dec 28th 2019. This detail hasn’t been elaborated on much so we are left to assume a lot there. Tony and his family left Colchester on Nov 22nd 2019.

December 2019

On Dec 29th one of Tony’s sister’s called the Osceola County Sheriffs to see if someone could do a welfare check. She said she hadn’t heard from her brother or anyone in his family since Dec 23rd or 24th. She said her brother’s family had all been very sick with the flu and she was concerned for their well-being. Deputies went out to their residence on Reserve Place. They knocked on the door, and tried to look in the windows but nothing was disturbed or out of place. Nothing to assume there was any reason for concern whatsoever.

It’s worth noting that it was around this same time that family also found out there was a federal investigation currently ongoing against Tony for medical billing fraud. Tony had admitted to “adding some things” to pad his billing and he did benefit to the tune of $130.000.

Tony knew he was being investigated when he was interviewed by federal agents in Nov 2019. Todt allegedly told the agents he planned to plead guilty and was working on getting an attorney, but then cut off contact with them in early December.

It was during this exact same time that family and friends were starting to become concerned for the families whereabouts, that federal agents were also looking for Tony Todt to execute an arrest warrant.

January 2020

Jan 9th - Federal agents contact the Sheriff’s office looking for help in locating Tony Todt to execute an arrest warrant.

Tony’s sister calls the Sheriff’s office later that same day asking for another welfare check. She confirms that the last communication anyone had with the Todt family was Jan 6th.

Jan 10th – Two deputies go out to the family residence and report that all of the doors are locked and the blinds around the house are all closed. There’s an eviction notice stuck to the front door dated Dec 31st. They also note that the mail in the mailbox is dated Jan 6th. One of the deputies called Tony’s sister back to report no one answered and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She confirmed all of the Todt families phones were going straight to voicemail.

Jan 11th – The same deputies went back the next day to see the families van had not moved and there was still no response at the door.

Jan 12th – The family’s landlord, Yasmin Dordoy, called the Sheriff’s office to ask for a welfare check on her renters. She said she had seen on social media that people were searching for this family and she was concerned something may have happened.

Jan 13th – A Special Agent from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called the OCSO requesting two deputies to back up federal agents so they could arrest Anthony Todt for health-care fraud.

“Our agents have eyes on our target right now,” the agent said. The agent explained that Todt had been seen entering his home.

The dispatcher asked: Are there any known threats to the kids?

“There’s concerns there,” the agent said. “I don’t know of any direct threats, but there are concerns. He does know that he is being investigated. We have executed a search warrant [at Todt’s business in Connecticut]. As far as we know, he has tapped out all of his financial resources and he has not contacted his family in over a week.”

Listening to audio via the podcast Looking for the Todt Family, the listener can then hear the Special agent clearly say that they think they have been identified by Tony. While the Special Agent was there surveilling the home, Tony Todt walked out of his front door and sat on his porch swing looking out into the yard. While the Agent is on the phone with the dispatcher from the Sheriff’s office, Tony Todt looks directly over at the van and makes eye contact with the Special Agent. The Special Agent notes that something appears to be wrong with Tony. He’s moving in jerky, slow, erratic movements. He proceeds into the home and the Special Agent waits for the deputies to arrive.

When everyone is present they convene on the home to execute the search warrant. They knock on the front door that they just saw Tony enter in through and there’s no answer, no sound coming from inside. The officers try the front door and it’s unlocked so they enter calling out Tony’s name.

I feel for the officers involved in this case. They showed up at that home on that fateful day not having any idea what they were about to walk into. They were expecting to serve an arrest warrant. None of them suspected even for one moment that they would find what they did next.

Officials said that right away they could smell a strong, foul odor and they suspected decomposition. They had absolutely no idea what they were walking into. They walked into the home calling out Tony’s name to see Tony Todt exiting one of the bedrooms upstairs and holding onto the upstairs bannister for support. He was visibly unwell. They asked Tony where Megan and the kids were. Tony attempted to carefully descend the stairs holding onto the bannister which officials said was clearly the only thing keeping him up.

Tony answered the officers questions stating he thought his kids might be at a sleep over and that Megan was upstairs sleeping.

He then called out for Megan but got no answer.

One of the officers got Tony seated on the couch while the other two went upstairs to speak to Megan. Tony admitted to trying to overdose on Benadryl as he was becoming more and more incoherent and unfocused. Officers called an ambulance to have Tony rushed to a nearby hospital under police supervision.

Finding the family

Officers entered the master bedroom to find that a body was placed on the bed, wrapped in blankets with a visible black and blue foot protruding from one end.

They also found two smaller bodies, covered by blankets laying on a mattress on the floor of the master bedroom. It was determined the two smaller bodies were the boys 13-year old Alek and 11-year old Tyler. The body on the bed was female and was determined to be 42-year old Megan Todt. All three had been deceased for “a fair amount of time”. Upon discovering the three bodies’ authorities began searching for young 4-year old Zoe Todt. They found her, also wrapped in a blanket at the foot of her mommy and daddy’s bed also deceased.

After being treated at a local hospital for trying to overdose on Benadryl, Tony Todt initially confessed to killing his family, including Breezy, the family dog, and remains in custody on murder charges without bail. Tony later recanted his confession stating that he needed to be honest about what happened.

So what happened?

Todt claims that the night of the killings he left to go handle some maintenance work that needed done on a condo they owned a few miles away. Todt claims he left right after dinner, the boys were outside playing basketball while Megan and Zoe were inside watching TV. He said he went to the condo they owned and completed the maintenance work needed, then went back to the family’s minivan and took a nap.

When he awoke and realized he had accidentally fallen asleep in the van, he knew Megan would be worried so he headed home. Tony said he walked in and that’s when Megan told him she had “released the children’s souls”. According to Tony, Megan baked the kids a Benadryl/Tylenol PM pie which they all ate. Once they were asleep, she then suffocated and stabbed them. Tony claims that Megan then drank a large bottle of Benadryl and stabbed herself in the abdomen right in front of him.

Police have not revealed a possible motive for the killings, but reporters, podcasters and your average everyday sleuths have dug into public business and legal records verifying mounting debt and federal criminal charges against Tony Todt. The general consensus among internet sleuths and crime analysts alike, is that Tony killed his family in an attempt to escape the crushing debt that was burdening him.

The reasons that makes absolutely no sense

There are way too many questions for that very feeble attempt at a motive to stick. Tony and Megan were facing a pretty serious amount of debt, that’s true. Tony was also facing numerous felony charges including insurance fraud. Their home in Colchester had not yet sold so they were struggling to make ends meet. They were being evicted from their rental home as well as their condo and Tony’s employee’s had started complaining that their paychecks had bounced or the deposits didn’t show up at all.

Things were looking pretty bleak, that’s for sure. But was that really enough to make him murder his entire family? Your things are just, things they can be replaced. Your family? He had built a lifetime with Megan and the children. They were a family envied and adored by all who knew them. Would he really give it all up and savagely murder the love of his life and three adoring children all to get away from the financial pressures he was feeling compounded by possible jail time?

If that was the case, why was Todt attempting to work with Federal Agents? He had met with them as recently as early November, the same month his family went missing. He never at any time tried to elude the Police or Agents as they were in constant contact. They always knew where he was and which state he was in.

Another important thing to note here is that Tony was being investigated for “several years”. In that amount of time Tony Todt was estimated to have stolen approximately $130k via insurance fraud. That’s a lot of money indeed, but hardly the staggering amount I would have expected as a motive for mass murder.

So, if we are to assume that Tony murdered his family to escape his fate as a criminal, then why did he stay in the home with their bodies for weeks after their deaths?

Why did he murder the family pet?

Let’s not forget, at Thanksgiving Megan made a comment to a family member that the world was going to end on Dec 28th that year. What was that about?

There is clearly so much more to this case than anyone can understand. My hope is that the trial will bring some answers to the friends and family that suffer with the loss of their friends and loved ones every day.

One more thing you should know, as of the date of this writing I have scoured the internet like all of you other super sleuths and I have yet to see anything negative, or awful reported about Tony or Megan Todt’s characters. They were both incredible, well-loved people and absolutely no one has a single bad thing to say about either of them.

If anything, the people that knew and loved this family in both CT and FL agree that Tony Todt loved his family more than anything. He was kind, gentle, giving and compassionate and his wife and children were the same way. It was part of the reason they were all so beloved. What could possibly have happened to this All American Family at one of the happiest places on Earth? We truly might never know.

Thank you for reading and please, keep this family in your thoughts. :)