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A verdict and sentencing have been handed down in a case that rocked the usually quiet town of Celebration, Florida, near the Resort.
Twelve found Anthony Todt, 46, guilty of killing his , his three young children, and the dog.
Credit: The Orlando Sentinel
After four days of testimony and six hours of jury deliberation inside the , the found 46-year-old , a from Connecticut who had moved to the Disney-founded town of Celebration, Florida, guilty of first-degree in the deaths of his , , and his children, Alek Todt, , and , ages 13, 11, and 4, respectively, according to The .
Todt was also found guilty on a charge of for killing the dog, Breezy.
The bodies of ‘s , children, and the pet were discovered on January 13, 2020, after and arrived at the ‘s home in Celebration to serve a warrant for Todt’s arrest on charges of related to his physical therapy business in Connecticut.
Credit: FOX News
Todt initially confessed to the murders, but later changed his story.
‘s began on Monday with the defense saying they would delay opening statements until after the State rested. On Wednesday, Todt’s defense team was surprised when the State rested sooner than expected. After adjourning for lunch, the defense put on the stand to testify in the case against him.
Credit: News 6 Orlando
From the stand, Todt talked about his Megan’s medical problems, saying that she suffered from Lyme disease among other ailments and that she used holistic and spiritual practices to treat them. further testified that his had suffered multiple miscarriages, which had changed her “big time.”
Todt then laid the responsibility for the murders of his children at the feet of his deceased , saying he came home and found his children dead. Todt said his had blood on her shirt and had given the children overdoses of Benadryl–a story that contradicted his confession to early on in the investigation.
“My testimony today is the fact that Megan killed her kids and killed herself,” he said from the stand.
Closing arguments were heard in on Thursday morning, and shortly thereafter, were excused so they could reconvene and deliberate over ‘s innocence or guilt. The jury’s first message to Circuit was one about the group having found itself deadlocked on some of the charges, but it wasn’t clear which charges were in question.
Credit: News 6 Orlando
At Judge Carsten’s direction, the jury returned to continue deliberations and hours later returned the verdict to the : guilty on all counts. When the verdict was read aloud, shook his head in disbelief.
When he handed down sentencing to Todt, called the convicted murderer a “destroyer of worlds.” For his crimes, received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
“Not one of those lives was less valuable than the other,” Judge Carsten said. The judge added one year to his sentence for the killing of the pet.
Despite the jury’s verdict, maintained his innocence, saying he wasn’t home the night his children were killed.
“I loved my . I loved my kids,” he told the judge. “They were first and foremost in my life. I did not do this. I provided for my . I provided for kids. I did everything I could.”
Stewart Peil, the uncle of , says the jury’s verdict offered some justice in the deaths of his niece and her children.
“It’s good to know that [] will be held accountable for the rest of his life,” said Peil.
“For the rest of his life, he’ll know that he wiped out his because his business failed and he couldn’t handle telling them that his business failed, that they would have to start over,” Peil added.
