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Father's shocking excuse after he is accused of killing wife, kids and dog

A father-of-three charged with killing his wife, children and the family dog at their home in Florida told his sister in a phone call from jail that he couldn’t have stopped his family from being slain — because he wasn't around.

"I couldn’t stop this because I wasn’t there,” Anthony Todt told his sister Chrissy Caplet in recordings of one of two phone calls obtained by newspaper The Day of New London.

Authorities allege that Todt, who worked as a physical therapist in the state of Connecticut and spent weekends with his family in Florida, killed his wife and three children, as well as the family dog.

The decomposing bodies were discovered on January 13 in the family's home in Celebration, a planned community near Walt Disney World and developed with a Utopia-like vision by the Walt Disney Co.

A mugshot showing Anthony Todt alongside a Facebook photo of Megan Todt and their three children.
Anthony Todt is accused of killing his wife, Megan, and their three children. (Osceola County Sheriff's Office via AP/Facebook)

Todt, 45, claimed in a June 19 letter to his father obtained by the Orlando Sentinel that his wife, Megan, had drugged the children and then stabbed and suffocated them.

Todt wrote that his wife then drank a bottle of Benadryl and stabbed herself in the abdomen.

He made similar claims in the two phone calls to his sister in March and April, suggesting that Megan Todt had tried to kill the children before.

"There were multiple attempts, just so you know, multiple attempts in the last ... over a time frame, there’s been attempts,” Todt said.

Defence attorneys have not spoken publicly about Todt’s claim that his wife was the real killer.

Public defender Robert Wesley said on Sunday that he had no comment.

The white, two-story house where Anthony and Megan Todt lived with their three children remained a crime scene Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, the day after four bodies were found inside. Authorities have not publicly identified the deceased. (Grace Toohey/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The white, two-story house where Anthony and Megan Todt lived with their three children remained a crime scene Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, the day after four bodies were found inside. Authorities have not publicly identified the deceased. (Grace Toohey/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

FBI agents found Todt inside the home in Celebration with the bodies of his family when they arrived to arrest him on a warrant stemming from a health care fraud investigation in Connecticut.

Investigators with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said Todt confessed at the time of his arrest to killing Megan, 42; their children, Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4; and the dog, Breezy.

Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty for Todt, who has been indicted on four counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

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