Twisted Dad Stayed with Dead Family for Weeks in ‘Perfect’ Disney Town

With brightly colored houses and white picket fences, the town of Celebration in Florida looks like a picture-perfect film set. This is unsurprising since Celebration was built by Disney. Just a short drive from Disney World, Orlando, the area was once swampland until The Walt Disney Company developed the suburban utopia. With carefully planned green spaces and friendly neighborhoods, it became popular with families in the United States.

Even when it was sold to a private company in 2004, the rules and the Disney magic remained. The Todt family moved to Celebration in 2017 to be part of the dream. Anthony Todt and his wife Megan had been living in Connecticut, but they sold their home and started renting in Celebration.

They also bought a condo nearby. The couple had three children, Alek, Tyler, and Zoe, as well as a family dog named Breezy. Todt, who was a physical therapist, worked in Connecticut and flew back during the week. On weekends, he coached local children in soccer and was a hands-on father, according to the Mirror.

Megan home-schooled her children. Zoe was curious and energetic, while her brothers played the piano and loved books. The family appeared well-dressed, took vacations, and enjoyed an affluent lifestyle. However, in November 2019, Todt’s business was investigated for fraud. He was accused of billing insurers for patients he had not treated.

Todt also had high-interest loans, amounting to around two hundred thousand dollars, to sustain the family’s lifestyle. When questioned, he insisted that Megan had no knowledge of his financial troubles. He was allowed to return to Celebration, where he was struggling to pay rent. An eviction notice was filed on their home.

Despite these issues, he told Megan’s family they would be on vacation and out of contact. They also received messages saying the family was unwell. By mid-December, Megan’s loved ones grew worried.

Christmas passed without any word from Megan. Neighbors messaged her about the eviction notice, and she responded with only a few words. Concerned, Megan’s family called the police, and on January 13, 2020, officers went to the Todt home. Todt answered the door, shaking, and mumbled that his children were on a sleepover while his wife was asleep. He even called out to her. Police entered the home and found a crime scene.

Megan and the children were dead in the master bedroom. Their decomposing bodies were wrapped in blankets, indicating they had been dead for weeks. The family dog was also deceased. Apart from Zoe, the victims had stab wounds and all had dangerously high levels of Benadryl in their systems. Bottles of the medicine were found in the house. Todt had been living among their bodies.

During questioning, Todt claimed Megan had become obsessed with reincarnation and believed an apocalypse was coming. He said they made a suicide pact, believing that if they died, they would be rewarded with a better life. Todt stated they explained this to the children, who allegedly said, “We want to die with you.” However, if that were true, why was Todt still alive?

He described smothering Zoe with a pillow, then stabbing and suffocating his sons. Megan allegedly stabbed herself and drank more medicine but, when she did not die, begged him to help her join the children. He claimed he suffocated her, placed their bodies in the bedroom, but did not follow through with his own death.

Despite having Benadryl in his system, Todt admitted he had been unable to stab himself. He went out for alcohol, checked the mail, and even got fast food “once or twice.” He was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty. His story changed suddenly. He then claimed Megan had killed the children by spiking their pudding with Benadryl and stabbing them. He said that when he confronted her, she stabbed herself and died in front of him.

The case of the killer Disney Dad made headlines across America. Todt’s lawyers tried to suppress his earlier confessions, his alleged fraud, and any reference to the German translation of Todt meaning “dead.” The confessions were allowed as evidence and played for the jury during his trial, where he pleaded not guilty.

On the stand, Todt insisted Megan was the real killer. He said his initial confession was a lie to protect her. “I was covering for my wife,” he told the court. He spoke about Megan’s health struggles and depression after a miscarriage.

The defense argued that Todt confessed while drugged and traumatized. He often cried dramatically in court. However, the prosecution said he sought control over his family’s lives and deaths. His first confession, where he described killing each child, matched the crime scene evidence.

If he found his wife had killed the children, why did he not call the police? How could a man of his size be unable to overpower his wife if she was stabbing herself? The defense argued the bodies were too decomposed to confirm how they died, but the prosecution stated Todt had let them rot for three weeks to complicate the case.

In April, after six hours of deliberation, Todt was found guilty on all counts. He shook his head in disbelief. “I loved my wife. I loved my kids,” he said. “They were first and foremost in my life. I did not do this.” Megan’s aunt, Cynthia Copco, described Megan as having a “giving heart.” She shared how Alek wanted to learn the violin, Tyler wanted to play folk guitar, and Zoe was their princess.

The judge sentenced Todt to four consecutive life terms without parole and added a year for animal cruelty. “You, Anthony John Todt, are the destroyer of worlds,” the judge said. Todt tried to hide behind a story about an impending apocalypse, but he was the true darkness that brought death to his innocent family.

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