Four members of a Connecticut-area family found slain at their Florida home near Disney World had high levels of the allergy medication Benadryl in their system, according to news station WFTV 9 in Orlando, which cited recently released toxicology reports.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the father, 44-year-old Anthony Todt, in connection with the killings of his wife, Megan, 42, sons Alek, 13, and Tyler, 11, and daughter Zoe, 4. The family’s dog was also killed.
Initial autopsy results showed three of the four were stabbed to death inside the home valued at more than a half-million dollars in Celebration in late December.
One or more of the victims may have also been suffocated, according to reports.
Their bodies were not found until Jan. 13, when local police and federal investigators went inside the home to arrest Todt for alleged health-care fraud, according to The Associated Press, citing court documents unsealed in February in Connecticut federal court.
The medical examiner reported finding extremely high levels of diphenhydramine in all four victims, according to WFTV, but has not yet said if the drug contributed to their deaths.
Overdoses of diphenhydramine can be fatal.
In February, Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced that an Osceola County grand jury had formally charged Todt, 44, with the four murder counts, plus one count of animal cruelty, according to the AP.
Todt ran a physical therapy business of several Colchester, Connecticut-based clinics that were facing growing debts, according to reports.
Reports say he would travel during the workweek then return to Florida to be with his family on weekends.
Authorities say Todt was facing pressure to pay off personal loans, and online records in New York state court showed Todt and the clinics submitted claims to Medicaid and private insurers for physical therapy services that weren’t given to patients.
The Hartford Courant reported that Todt was 4 years old in 1980 when he witnessed the attempted murder of his mother — a crime for which his father was later convicted.
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