This episode was originally released in June 2023, and is one of seventeen episodes from the archives we’ll be bringing you every Thursday, now through top of next year... for good reason! ;) We highly recommend you listen to each episode and follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast so you're the first to know what's coming next! When police and federal agents descended on the home of the Todt family, they never expected to discover the gruesome scene waiting for them inside. While investigators had been able to piece together bits and pieces of what may have happened, questions still remained about who instigated everything... and why. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/infamous-todt-family/ Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllc Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: What shocking crime is discussed in this episode?
Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and the story I have for you today shook you when I first shared it. And I know we say this all the time, but people literally don't believe that this type of crime could happen here. It wasn't part of the brand. Here was supposed to be the happiest place on earth. That's right. Today, we're going to Orlando, Florida. Hi, Crime Junkies.
I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And happy Monday, everyone. I'm going to ruin your day. This is the story of the Tote family. Know those places that still feel like they're straight out of the 1950s, you know, where nothing bad ever happens? That's Celebration, Florida. The manicured lawns and picture-perfect houses and condos cultivate a sense of tranquility.
It's a place where neighbors sit out on the front porch in the evening, soaking in the warm Florida sun and greeting their neighbors as they pass. But on this day, January 13th, 2020, a federal agent parked on Reserve Street isn't admiring the landscaping or enjoying the weather. He's got his eyes trained on one house, the home of Anthony Tote.
There's three agents staked outside his house because they have a warrant for Tony's arrest because of insurance fraud. He owns a physical therapy practice in Connecticut, and he had actually been billing his patients insurance companies for like, I mean, we're talking tens of thousands of dollars for appointments that they just never actually had.
So this investigation has been going on for months, and they've actually been trying to track him down for the last two of those since he vanished from Connecticut. Now, the agent watching the house doesn't see any movement inside. The blinds are drawn. It doesn't look like there are any lights on. And he's actually just about to leave when suddenly the front door opens and out walks Tony.
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Chapter 2: What led to the investigation of the Todt family?
Now, right away, the agent can tell that something's wrong because Tony does not look good. I mean, he can hardly walk. He looks sick. And his behavior is just weird. Like, he sits down in a chair just kind of looking around, and then eventually he gets up and slowly, seemingly painfully, goes back inside.
So now that he has eyes on him, he calls for backup from officers at the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. And actually, this isn't the first time that local officers have been to this house either, because they had gotten several calls from Tony's sister asking for wellness checks, one on December 29th and then one on January 10th.
And the one in December, apparently she had asked for someone to go check on them because she had been told the whole family got like super sick with the flu. She hadn't spoken to them in days. She called Tony and his wife, Megan, like one of their sons. And although she had gotten some texts like up until the 26th, the last time she actually spoke to any of them was like the 23rd or 24th.
So are they making the connection that this is the same guy they've been checking in on?
I don't think that they're making that connection, no, but I'm pretty sure that the officers are at least aware that something's been happening or that there have been wellness checks.
So I'm guessing nothing really happened at that first check, though.
No, I mean, just like now in this agent sitting there, like the blinds were closed, lights were off, no movement in the house. And, you know, in some areas or for some people that might be concerning, but Celebration specifically is full of snowbirds, basically people who only live there part time.
And the totes were known to travel, Tony especially, like he traveled regularly between Connecticut and Florida. So just because no one came to the door, they weren't all that worried.
But things had gotten a little more concerning just a few days ago when Tony's sister had called back and added that apparently Tony's wife Megan had mentioned that the world was going to be ending on the 28th, but like she didn't really know what that meant.
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Chapter 3: What did authorities discover in the Todt home?
Like snacks that have been sitting out for days and days or even unopened, untouched. Or has Tony been eating and drinking in that room this whole time?
That's the thing. They don't know what has been going on this whole time or what he was doing this whole time. But the snacks aren't even like the end of it. They also find zip ties in the room, too. There's a restraint that's tied to the bed. There's this first aid spray with bloody fingerprints on it. And then they find two BB guns.
One's just out in the open and the other is in this bag in a closet. And then outside of the bedroom, what they find that's notable is they find two cell phones, which they think possibly are Tony's and Megan's. And it's not even just like right outside the bedroom. They're actually on a table on their front porch. And then there's a letter. It's been typed and printed out.
And when investigators read it, they are stunned. And I think to understand the rest of this story, you need to hear the whole thing. So, Britt, can you read the letter for us?
I mean, can I? Sure. Do I want to? TBD. All of this episode. Yeah. Here we go. As 2019 comes to a close and 2020 commencing, we as a family decided this course of action of salvation for several reasons. We are seeing the end-of-world prophecy coming true and choose not to have our families suffer and be subjected to foreseen tortures, cataclysmic demise, and continued agony.
We will no longer be separated. Toni will be Willis always and forever now. Megan will no longer be subjected to constant daily pain, torture of living and breathing from her progressive liver and Lyme disease complications. We believe we made the right decision for our family to gain salvation and togetherness forever.
The continued increasing depression as a result of Al Gula's suicide anniversary, coupled with the agony of the miscarriage of Connor Michael recently and Avery eight years ago, has just fueled the overall depression our whole family suffers on a daily basis.
In conversation with the kids constantly, the focus of everlasting salvation and being together forever without pain and suffering is our ultimate goal and want. In addition, this family lives in daily, constant fear of Robert. We are very proud of what we contributed to this world, what our children have contributed, and the love we share for each other.
Our one final wish is that we are kept together. Please distribute our ashes along with our fur baby Breezy in either the ocean or at Harkness so we may be with Dad in eternal rest. We have prayed and we have meditated to this decision. Please continue to pray for our salvation and please be in peace that we are no longer suffering.
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Chapter 4: What was the content of the note found by investigators?
And maybe that was part of their... Like, they had to be in the same room to be together in the next life?
Make up whatever you want. Like, it doesn't make sense. Then he says, finally, it's his turn. So, he said he spent the next few weeks trying and failing to kill himself before police showed up at his door.
Okay. I find it a bit... Odd how he successfully sent five other souls, yes, I'm counting the dog, to the afterlife as planned, no issues, but he couldn't seem to send himself. I mean, did he have stab wounds in his stomach? Nope. Shocker.
I'm sorry if this sounds cold or callous or whatever, but in my opinion, if he really believed the end of the world was coming and they needed to get to the other side as a family so they all had to die together... I just am having a hard time believing that he would have, quote-unquote, failed so many times for weeks and weeks, you know?
And, like, weeks and weeks that he's in this house with them. Like, I absolutely agree. When you think about it, this man killed his kids. Like, I hate—this is why I hate episodes like this, the Chris Watts, like— I can take a lot, but, like, the idea of a parent who it's the one person a kid feels like should be protecting them.
This dude killed his kids, and he doesn't even seem to have much, if any, remorse about it because he's saying, like, oh, they're in a better place, but, like, you're still here. Like, it does not track.
So does he ever explain anything about that end-of-world prophecy from the note? No.
I don't know. Not all of his hospital confession is publicly available, but it doesn't seem like he mentions anything about, like, premonitions of the world, from what I can tell anyway. Over the next few days, investigators talked to the Totes family. They talked to their friends, neighbors, pretty much anyone they can to try and figure out why this happened.
Now, everyone they talked to say that they hadn't noticed any red flags up until, like, very recently. Except with the exception of Tony's sister, because she's the one who said that Megan had been talking about this end of the world doomsday stuff. But this was all news to everyone else. Yeah, which is, to me, a little weird, right?
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Chapter 5: What theories arise regarding the family's tragic fate?
He says he tries numerous methods, all of which didn't work or he chickened out of. I think the latter is probably the closest to the truth, if even true at all. And, you know, as he's talking about this, like, he makes note to mention that he's not big on guns. So he, like, didn't just go out and buy a gun, which could have been an easy way if he really was that desperate.
But apparently he read online that you can kill yourself with a pellet gun. So he went out and purchased two pellet guns. Obviously, that didn't work either. And he even considered, I guess, buying a real gun. But he didn't because there was a three-day wait list.
Okay, again, not to sound like I'm rooting for him to die, but dude, you were in that house with their bodies for weeks. Yeah, like, what's three days?
How does this make any sense? It doesn't. And here's the other thing. So, by the way, he didn't stay in that house the whole time. Apparently, at some point, he actually went to a store, I know, to get more Benadryl. Another day, he drove to Sarasota for some unknown reason. And then he lost his phone at a Starbucks. What? Yeah, dude's getting Starbucks. And then they have this condo.
So they're renting the house. They have this condo. And we know he makes another trip over to their condo to find this necklace that he says Zoe wanted. And this is all part of, again, this elaborate story he has. He says that when they all decided to die by suicide, each of them decided to have a special item when they died.
And this necklace that he was going to get from the condo was Zoe's special item.
Well, and, like, yes, he's making all these trips, but he would have had to leave to get the pellet guns at some point, too. I mean, I don't think DoorDash delivers those. Right. So you're not just, like, at home in some state of psychosis. You're getting f***ed in Starbucks. Right.
At this point, are investigators just, you know, letting him talk, getting as much out of him as possible, or are they calling him out on his BS?
Well— So I know that they confront him with the autopsy report towards the end, like after he's done confessing, but it doesn't do anything. He's still adamant that the kids and Megan were stabbed before they died. Okay, dude. So whether they know what to make of the conflicting information or not, They are still trying to get as much as possible out of him.
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Chapter 6: How did Tony explain the events to the police?
So basically, his sister tells Tony that Robert is using the influx of media attention on their family to claim that he is innocent. Duh, of course a dad's going to say his son is innocent. Oh, no, no, no. Robert is saying that Robert is innocent, not Tony.
Uh, who is saying Robert's guilty?
And of what, exactly? All right, buckle up, girlfriend, because we have to go back to March of 1980 when Tony was just four years old. So his family at the time, which consisted of him, His dad, Robert, his mom, Loretta, and his sister. They all lived in Pennsylvania. And one night while his dad was out, a man broke into their house and shot Loretta in the face. Somehow, thankfully, she survived.
But according to an article for Fox 35, in the subsequent investigation, it was discovered that Robert had been the mastermind behind the whole thing.
Oh, my God.
Not only was he having an affair with a 17-year-old, he was also engaged to another woman completely. All while he was married to Loretta. Yeah, this dude is bad news. And so basically, in order to be with the woman he was engaged to, he hired one of his former students to kill his wife. But just like Tony is doing now, Robert denied it.
And for a long time, Loretta believed him like she stood by her husband. She claimed he would never have done that. But he was still convicted anyway, and he served about 10 years for attempted homicide for criminal solicitation and criminal conspiracy. Now, eventually, Loretta did come to believe that he had been behind the whole thing, so she divorced him and took her two kids to Connecticut.
Was toddler Tony home when the attack happened? Well, here's the thing. Not only was he home, he may have seen the intruder, although that isn't, like, totally confirmed. So, yeah, he's in the house for sure. Which is why, I mean, you can see this led to a strained relationship growing up. And even now, Robert doesn't have a solid relationship with either of his kids.
But now that the Tote family is back in the headlines, Robert does an interview where he basically says he, Robert, is innocent, which kind of pisses off Tony's sister.
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Chapter 7: What psychological factors may have influenced the Todt family?
Dude, I— This guy. I don't understand. Like, I think he's just so backed into a corner that he can't make sense of it. I just—there's a truth in there somewhere, right? Like, we know you did it. What's the truth? Right, right. Okay, so the next thing he goes into, he talks about Megan's death, if you want to just read that real quick.
Mm-hmm. Upon going back into the bedroom, I heard a horrific sound of something rubbing a latex balloon. She had stabbed herself the first time. I ran to her bedside and she said, please don't leave me alone to die as I didn't leave the kids to die alone. When I pulled this knife, it will go quick. I can feel it happening now.
Before I could react, the knife was pulled and thrown on the bed someplace. There was blood, a lot of blood. I begged her to let me call. I would take all responsibility as I felt it was all my fault. After a while, nothing happened.
She had more of her drink and asked me to leave her for a few minutes as I was stressing her out with all my pleading of asking her to go for help, where phones were, etc.
So after this, he goes on to say that Megan ended up drinking a family-sized bottle of Benadryl and then stabbed herself again. But like his other version of events, she still didn't die. So that's when she asked him to suffocate her with a pillow, but he says he couldn't do it. To which, according to him, she said, quote, I finally found something you suck at. Wow.
That sounds pretty narcissistic. Yeah, so that's actually something that stuck out to me when I was suffering through all 27 pages of this letter. There's a ton of little quips like that, or he like brags about his medical knowledge. Like he just finds these moments to boost his own ego a bit.
Which is gross, but can we pause for a second? Isn't Megan supposed to be super sick? Like, practically immobile, you said. That's what he said. But yeah. How is she able to stab herself, get up, walk around, stab herself again, all while apparently chugging Benadryl? I mean, honestly, how would she supposedly be able to kill all the kids if she was so weak?
Because he's either lying about how sick she was or about how the kids died. Probably both. With this dude, probably both. Yeah, and I have such a hard time believing that she was as sick as he says because remember when... Police are talking to, like, the neighbors and stuff. They're like, yeah, we saw her. She's at yoga.
They're a totally normal family. There's nothing off. It's not adding up. Oh, my God. And just to be clear, he's still sticking to this stabbing thing, even though the ME has said that it happened after. I guess. Did first responders happen to see a lot of blood at the scene?
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