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Family Annihilator Anthony Todt Appeals Conviction And Life Sentence
Anthony Todt has appealed his recent murder conviction for killing his wife Megan, and their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4.
Anthony Todt has appealed his conviction and life sentence for killing his family.
Earlier this month, a jury found Anthony, 46, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty for the murders of his wife Megan, 42, and their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4, along with their family dog, Breezy. Circuit Judge Keith Carsten then gave the former physical therapist four life sentences without the possibility of parole, while also calling him a “destroyer of worlds” for the 2019 murders inside the family’s home Celebration, Florida home.
Todt has now appealed that conviction and sentence to the Fifth District Court, Fox 35 in Orlando reports. The appeal was filed on April 22, just a little over a week after the former physical therapist’s conviction and sentence, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“This was a personal catastrophe in everybody’s life in my family, including myself,” Todt said in court following victim impact statements. He emphasized, “I maintain my innocence.”
While court records show that the appeal has been filed, the details of the appeal are not clear. Todt’s attorney, Alesha Smith, has not immediately responded to Oxygen.com’s request for comment.
“This definitely feels a little frightening,” Christina Gerrity, whose 12-year-old son was friends with Alek and Tyler Todt, told the Sentinel. She said her child has struggled to process the killings and that there was some relief when Anthony Todt was convicted.
Kirsten Lewis, a childhood friend of Megan Todt, told the Orlando Sentinel that she wasn’t surprised to hear that Anthony Todt is appealing.
“It made me angry that he was turning everything on Megan and she couldn’t stand up for herself,” she reflected on the trial. “Also I was frustrated with the prosecution because they didn’t call any character witnesses. I felt like her voice was completely strangled.”
During the trial, jurors heard how Anthony Todt told investigators that he'd made a death pact with his wife over fears of an apocalypse. The jurors first watched videotaped confessions taken after the murders, when he told investigators that he killed his whole family with his wife’s support. But then, he took the stand and tried to shift the blame, saying it was his wife who killed their children.
Dawn Barden, whose daughter was a patient at Anthony and Megan Todt’s Family Physical Therapy office in Colchester, Connecticut told the Sentinel that she was glad he was appealing his conviction. She believes he didn’t receive a fair trial and that the prosecutor “didn’t let Tony answer or finish a sentence.”
Family Physical Therapy was raided a month before the murders and Anthony Todt allegedly admitted to falsely billing Medicaid, CNN reported. An eviction notice had also recently been filed in a Florida court for the home where the bodies were found, according to NBC Connecticut. He was already under investigation by the FBI and agents with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for health care fraud when his family was found dead.
