On Dec. 14, 2019, brothers Aleksander and Tyler Todt took the stage at their school’s holiday concert.
Both boys were gifted young musicians — Aleksander, 13, excelled at piano and violin, while Tyler, 11, played piano and guitar. That night, Aleksander received a special commendation for his dual performances, and Tyler was honored for his musical talent. Smiling photos from the event show them proudly holding their certificates and trophies beside their instructor.
It would be the last time the two boys were seen alive.
Less than a month later, on Jan. 13, 2020, deputies entered the family’s vacation home in Celebration, Florida — a master-planned community built by Disney — and discovered a horrifying scene. Inside the parents’ bedroom, the mummified bodies of Aleksander and Tyler lay on a mattress. Their mother, 42-year-old Megan Todt, was found in the bed, while their 4-year-old daughter, Zoe, was discovered at her feet beneath a blanket.
Their father, 50-year-old Anthony Todt, was also there — alive.
Agents Discover a Grisly Scene
That morning, agents from the Department of Health and Human Services arrived at the home with plans to arrest Anthony on federal health-care fraud charges. They had been uncertain whether he was in Florida or Connecticut, where he operated a physical therapy practice.
After staking out the house for hours, the agents finally saw Todt step onto the porch. Before they could approach, he returned inside. One agent later recalled that Todt appeared weak and unsteady, “convulsing with each step.”
Receiving permission to enter, the agents knocked — and, after no response, opened the door. From upstairs, they heard faint mumbling. Looking up, they saw Todt standing on the landing, wearing only a shirt and underwear.
“He was mumbling and needed help getting down,” one agent said later. “He kept saying, ‘Don’t touch me or I’ll fall.’”
When Todt finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the agents — disturbed by the odor and condition of the home — asked where his family was.
“He said Megan was upstairs sleeping and even called out for her, like she was alive,” one recalled. “When we asked about the children, he said, ‘I don’t know — maybe they went to a sleepover last night.’”
While one agent stayed with Todt, the others searched upstairs. In the master bedroom, they saw what first appeared to be feet — then realized there were multiple bodies.
“Soon we could see it was Megan and the boys,” an agent said. “We didn’t find Zoe until later — she was so small, under another blanket at the foot of the bed.”
All the bodies were badly decomposed. Even the family’s dog, Breezy, had been killed.
A Family Destroyed
Todt was taken into custody, but initially remained silent. The medical examiner’s report, released two months later, revealed the shocking truth: Megan and the two boys had been drugged with Benadryl before being stabbed. The children were likely suffocated or strangled, though their decomposition made exact causes hard to determine.
Todt eventually confessed, telling investigators he had killed his family to “save them from the apocalypse.” Later, he changed his story, claiming Megan had poisoned the children with “Benadryl pudding pie” and taken her own life in a religiously driven delusion.
In a letter from jail, Todt insisted he had only confessed to protect his wife’s memory.
Financial Collapse and Fraud Allegations
Evidence pointed to another motive — financial ruin. Court filings showed Todt had just $1,500 in assets and more than $200,000 in debt.
He had been evicted from one of his Connecticut offices in 2018, and by November 2019, federal investigators accused him of submitting fraudulent insurance claims totaling $130,000. He told agents his wife knew nothing about the scheme and promised to cooperate, but stopped responding to their inquiries — prompting the visit to his Florida home in January 2020.
Just weeks before the murders, the couple had also received an eviction notice for a nearby rental property, less than a mile from Walt Disney World.
The Verdict
A Florida jury later convicted Anthony Todt of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty.
