OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — An Osceola County jury has returned a guilty verdict on all counts in the trial of a Celebration man accused of killing family.
It took the jury several hours and briefly being deadlocked to reach a verdict in the trial of Anthony Todt. Following the guilty verdict, the judge sentenced Todt to life in prison without parole for each member of the family, as well as another one-year sentence in county jail for the death of the family dog.
Todt was accused of killing his wife, their three children and the family’s dog in December of 2019, then living in the home with their bodies until they were discovered a month later.
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Todt could only shake his head after the verdicts were read.
“I maintain my innocence, I provided for my wife,” Todt told the court after the verdict. “She was progressively sick over the years.”
While the defense tried to claim a reasonable doubt existed, prosecutors focused on inconsistencies in what Todt told law enforcement the day he was arrested, and what he said in court when he took the stand in his defense.
Prosecutors said Todt originally confessed to the killings and said they were part of a murder-suicide pact.
On Wednesday, Todt said his wife was responsible for the deaths of his family, and that when he came home that day in 2019, his wife and children were already dead.
WATCH: Defense can’t discuss mental health of Celebration man accused of killing family, judge says
“I came home and my kids were dead,” Todt said.
Todt testified that his wife Megan had suffered from chronic pain related to a litany of medical conditions, but woke up on the last morning his children were alive, claiming she was “pain-free.”
Todt now faces life in prison.
A family friend thanked everyone for helping put Todt away.
“Our family will always remember the children ... and we love them dearly,” she said.
Jurors declined to speak to Channel 9 or say which of the accounts they struggled to agree on.
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