KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The murder trial resumed Tuesday for a man accused of killing his family in Celebration in 2020.
Todt, 46, is charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of his 42-year-old wife, his daughter, Zoe, and his two sons Alek, 13, and Tyler, 11. The victims’ decomposing bodies were wrapped in blankets and had stab wounds and toxic amounts of Benadryl in their bodies when they were found in January 2020, according to autopsy reports. The bodies were discovered when federal agents and deputies went to the house to serve an arrest warrant for health care fraud charges in Connecticut.
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The state on Tuesday called the medical examiner to the stand and she said the victims died of homicidal violence of unspecified means and toxic amounts of Benadryl. She also said she could not rule out if they had been smothered.
Before the lunch recess, Christopher Conklin, a crime laboratory analyst in the DNA lab with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called to the stand.
Opening statements from prosecutors and testimonies were presented Monday in the trial of Anthony Todt, a physical therapist from Connecticut who is accused of killing his three children and his wife.
Jurors heard from several people who testified on the first day of court proceedings, including from an officer who found the bodies of the Todt family.
Todt initially confessed to the killings but in jailhouse writings, he has since blamed his wife for the slayings. He was arrested in January 2020, but investigators believe the family members were killed weeks earlier.
The jury did not hear from Todt’s public defenders Monday. They told the judge they wanted to wait to present their statements until after the state rests its case.
Todt told detectives that he and his wife, Megan, had an agreement to kill their family so they could “pass over” since the apocalypse was coming, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell said during opening statements.
Prosecutors called to the stand a 911 dispatcher with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy and an officer who found the victims’ bodies in the master bedroom. Jurors also saw body camera video from inside the Celebration home when officers arrived.
The judge expects the trial to last up to two weeks.