The Raven Knocks
True Crime/Missing Persons/Cold Cases- I decided to begin a podcast regarding true crime because I feel like some of the victim's story never gets told due to it being to graphic or not admissible in court. I also think that Justice is lost in some of these cases and it's not right. I hope I can be a voice for the ones who lost theirs and perhaps make this world a slightly better place, and have you thinking more cautiously.
The Raven Knocks
Death at Disney's Door
What drives a seemingly rational and educated family to engage in an unfathomable act? We're unraveling a chilling story of deception and tragedy in Celebration, Florida, where a perfect exterior masked a harrowing reality. Join Amy and Jamie as we explore the case of Anthony, a physical therapist with a double life who became the subject of a shocking discovery. Law enforcement, acting on a welfare check, uncovered the decomposed bodies of Anthony's wife and children, revealing a facade that concealed deep-rooted turmoil and a chilling truth.
How does one rationalize a plan to leave this world alongside their children? We grapple with the haunting details of a family suicide pact, where educated parents meticulously plotted an incomprehensible end. The narrative unfolds with harrowing attempts to overdose the children and the morbidly methodical actions of the parents. As we dissect their motivations and emotions, or the lack thereof, we are left questioning the psychological void that permitted such plans and the desperate need for mental health support in these grave situations.
As the story reaches the courtroom, we scrutinize the unsettling testimony of the accused. His narration, fraught with inconsistencies and bizarre recounts, challenges our perception of truth and deception. With each twist, we question his motives and the sincerity of his claims, feeling frustration at his narcissism and dubious memory lapses. This episode is a chilling reminder of the complexity of human behavior, as we navigate the tangled web of this tragic narrative in search of understanding and justice.
We've all looked at the person across the street in the nice house driving the nice car, with the nice family, with the perfect kids, and thought, man, they have it all. But it's what you don't see. Once that door is closed and those blinds are pulled, join us as we take a peek behind the perfect front door. Please note that the content of this recording may contain graphic material, including torture, and explicit language may be used. The opinions are of my own and may be offensive to some listeners. They are my opinions, everyone has them, and if you do not agree, then ignore them like an adult and move on. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Hey guys, welcome to the Raven's Knock. I'm your host, amy, and I'm Jamie, the co-host. So today I have a long story for you, but I'm telling you this is one that you're going to want to listen to, especially at the very, very end. I've got a nice twist for you at the very end. Oh, I like twists, yeah, and let me tell you, uh, this story was like you, like pulling out my fingernails. I know I heard you complaining. Yes, I mean, I have a lot of patience for people, oh god, but this was almost like torture for me, this guy, I'm telling you, so I'll go ahead and get into it, since it's a long one. Several non-one-one calls were placed to the celebration florida dispatch in regards to a welfare check. Family members in connecticut have been trying to get in touch with the family since Christmas and have not been able to reach them, and they were panicking. Law enforcement had already been out to the residence a couple of times but had gotten no luck. Some heat was put on this after police in Florida was notified by the FBI that they had a warrant out for the homeowner for fraud and he was about to be arrested. It seems he was being investigated for health care fraud. He was a physical therapist and ran his own clinic in Connecticut, but he was accused of charging patients for care they didn't receive and he was using that money to go to Disney World and to pay for his house there in Florida. Okay, so let me get this straight. This guy lives in Celebration, florida, which is part of the Disney community. Right, right, disney no longer owns it. But yeah, right, yeah, but that's what it was developed for. Yes, yeah, longer owns it. But yeah, right, yeah, but that's what it was developed for. Yes, yeah, and he would fly every week back to Connecticut, you know, to his clinic and work, and then he would fly back down to Florida. You really had to come from prestige, you know, to be able to buy into that property to begin with, to be a homeowner or or even probably a renter in that area. I'm sure you had to go through a lot of stuff. Now here's the kicker not only did I'm assuming they had a place in connecticut, but they also had a condo there in celebration and then they rented like right beside of it. Weird, I know, I don't know why. Okay, so prestigious family. Yes, now they have a key from the landlord.
Speaker 1:So when the cops are driving up, they spot the subject on the porch. But the closer they get, he goes inside. They park and approach the residence and they see an eviction notice posted on the front door. Eviction and celebration. Yeah, wow, packages are on the porch untouched, the blinds are closed and all is quiet. They knock and announce their presence. Of course they get nothing. They know he's in there. Yeah, they just watched him go inside. Yeah, all five of them line up outside the door and they unlock the door and they go inside. Yeah, all five of them line up outside the door and they unlock the door and they go inside.
Speaker 1:Now, as soon as the door opens, they are greeted with the very unwelcome stench. Yes, the unmistakable stench. They yelled his name and he answered. He was almost at the top of the stairs as some of the officers were clearing the first floor. They asked where Megan and the kids were. He stated that the kids were at a sleepover and Megan was upstairs asleep, and he even shouted her name. They had him come downstairs and sit while the officers proceeded upstairs. Did they have a search warrant? No, oh.
Speaker 1:When they entered the master bedroom, they found the body of 13-year-old Alec, 10-year-old Tyler laying on a mattress on the floor and they were covered On the bed. They found the body of Megan, also covered. All three bodies were badly decomposed. They were informed that there were two adults and three children in this house. So where was the other child? They began searching the rest of the house, but they couldn't find her. So they went back to the master bedroom and they began removing piles of blankets that were laying at the foot of the bed, and then they discovered four-year-old Zoe. She was also badly decomposed. They were all very discolored and some flesh had begun to fall off. That tells you how long they'd been there. Oh, my God. Now Anthony was downstairs. He was shaking. He was not really coherent. He seemed to be somewhat out of it.
Speaker 1:The medical examiner stated that the decomposition of the bodies hindered her examination. Now, zoe was the most decomposed and this was due because she was so covered up, which held in most of the heat. Yeah, zoe was 3 foot 4 inches tall and weighed 30 pounds. She had no evidence of any outside injuries. They had to use samples from her liver and her brain and any chest fluid that remained to do a toxicology due to the decomposition. Yeah, she didn't have any blood left.
Speaker 1:Her cause of death was ruled as homicidal violence by unspecified means in association with diphenhydramine toxicity. Manner of death is homicide. Basically that is a Benadryl overdose. Now, she could not rule out smothering, but because of the decomposition, when somebody is strangled or smothered, they have what is called petechia, which is little tiny red dots, and it's usually in the whites of the eyes, yeah, or like around in the skin where it like breaks blood vessels. Yes, okay, but because of the decomposition you can see that. Uh-huh, you know, and obviously there's no evidence of strangulation, like you would find that in a high-oiled bone.
Speaker 1:Now, alec, 13 years old, was 5'1", 88 pounds. He had a single stab wound to the abdomen that was approximately 4 1⁄2 inches deep. It did not hit any major organs and it did not show any hemorrhage, which indicates that his stab wound was post-mortem. Now I've also learned that if there's no blood, it's usually considered post-mortem, but I have learned that if it was caused right at the time of death, it could also not cause very much blood because of lack of blood flow. Yes, like if they were already dying. Yeah, they were dying. Yeah, um, so and then you've got all that decomp. Now, regardless, that stab wound was not a fatal wound and the cause of death was exactly the same as Zoe's. So, benadryl, yes, yeah, okay, tyler ages he was 10, but at the time of his autopsy he turned 11, was performed and he was 4 foot, 9, 84 pounds. He also had a single stab wound to his abdomen. It did cut his intestines, but again, no blood was found in his abdominal cavity. This stab wound was again not fatal and his cause of death was also the same as the others.
Speaker 1:Megan she is 42 years old, 5 foot, 3, 103 pounds. She had two stab wounds to the abdomen. Again, hers did not hit any organs, neither were fatal. Now, she could have stabbed herself, or someone could have stabbed her. How do they not know? Well, the angle of the way that the wounds were were on an angle as such, she could have done it or somebody could have done it. There's no way to tell who done what. Yeah, um, her stab wounds were at least eight inches deep. Neither one was fatal, but hemorrhage was found. So she was alive when these occurred. Now, her cause of death was the same as the others.
Speaker 1:She had diphenhydramine in her system too. Um, she also had alcohol in her system as well. Now, alec, megan and Tyler also had encinamediphen, which is Tylenol, in their system. But according to the toxicologist now this is something I didn't know if you overdose on that, you might get like stomach upset at first, but you won't die from that immediately, apparently, and acetaminophen is delayed. It takes approximately three days and you'll have necrosis of the liver. I watched or listened to, I can't remember about an amish guy that did that slowly to his wife and it killed her, and they like to have never found it. Like to have never found it. Yeah, it causes a necrosis of the liver and, of course, uh, this was not found in any of them. Also, in Megan, the medical examiner stated that her heart, liver and lungs were also normal. There were no defects. So keep that in your back pocket, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Now the police did not test any pillows for saliva to kind of help prove smothering. There were no defensive wounds on any of them and no internal injuries of the mouth, which is common in smothering cases. Yeah, in smothering cases, yeah, you can imagine if somebody's smothering you a lot of times you have bite marks or something you know, or injuries where your teeth cut your lips or you have fibers inside of your mouth from whatever was over. Yeah, they had been deceased for at least two weeks. My God, yeah God, can you imagine the stench that would? Yeah, god, can you imagine the stench that stank up in there? Yeah, just wait.
Speaker 1:They were unable to get a dna profile from zoe, just a partial, a swabs from the green knife tested positive for blood and dna. The handle had a mixture of more than three donors, which was anthony tyler, alec, zoe and megan. On the blade, it was just anthony fingernail clippings. The only thing that were found was on zoe's right hand and it had male dna, but not enough to say who's now.
Speaker 1:The toxicology stated that diphenhydramine was in all their systems in large amounts and n-cinnamidophene was in Megan Tyler and Alec's system. But the toxicology would state that it is impossible to say the sole cause of death was the diphenhydramine, because decomposition messes with the levels. It can cause an increase or a decrease. But he stated that those levels would cause a person to either be sleepy, incoherent or possibly in a coma. But he did agree with the medical examiner's findings. He just couldn't outright scientifically say that. But it was remarkable and significant, which is important.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, the vet did an autopsy because he also killed the dog. Are you kidding me? No, the family dog. Yes, now some people call this an autopsy, if I said that, right, but it's basically an autopsy of the dog and they found no natural causes as to why the dog would have passed, but stated it was impossible to determine to determine if the dog had been smothered. The dog was also badly decomposed. Apparently they didn't do a talk screen on the dog. Um, now the vet. There was a puncture wound to dog, but the vet said that this could also be due just to the way, like the positioning of the way the dog was positioned, and then the decomp. Yeah, the pressure spot yes, he said, as he was actually doing the autopsy. He was just falling apart. I would have hated to been that guy.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine having to do the autopsy on all those? That gives me the huts. You're in the huts. It's not funny, it's not. We're not. It's not laughing at the dog. No, it's not. You just gotta enter. There's a backstory with the huts and her job. So that's why we're laughing, because you just got to know that back story. My day job involves the nursing field and you know, yeah, she gets a hut, a hut, she's in the wrong field. No, I don't actually get them a lot, just occasionally Depending. Yeah, I don't actually get them a lot, just occasionally depending. Yeah, I think I actually would have got them on that. Yeah, yeah, see the one time. But the toxicologist said that Benadryl overdoses are a lot more common than you think.
Speaker 1:Now, in Anthony's interview with police in the interrogation room now this is when this first started I seen him in the interrogation room. I couldn't really see his face that much, I could just hear his voice. He states that Megan's health had been failing and she had begun to watch videos on the afterlife and she presented them to him and the more he watched, the more he understood that there is more to life out there, there's a higher world of consciousness. They started doing a lot of researching and finding out more about the apocalyptic end of the world and that the family would end up being separated and enslaved. And to avoid this, it's better if you all go together, as in die together. Since his wife had been chronically ill for a while, this really appealed to her, and it appealed to him as well, because she wouldn't be in any more pain and the family wouldn't be separated. There'd be no more sorrow, no more heartbreak, no more, anything but salvation and everlasting life. Wow, extremist break. No more, anything but salvation and everlasting life. Wow, yeah, extremist. You could say that. Yeah. So they continued to research, read and meditate. Now this started in april. I read she was a yoga instructor or something. Okay, okay, that makes sense. She was also a physical therapist, yeah.
Speaker 1:So they continued to research, read, meditate and decided that that was what they needed to do. They sat down and talked with the boys about death and what would happen if they died and how they would feel if one of them died versus all of them dying together. Now is this his tale? Yeah, this is his. Okay, well, I'm sitting on mine so, but anyway, this talk happened before Thanksgiving and Megan showed him the videos in April. She was watching the videos on her laptop.
Speaker 1:The kids say it. The kids said that they didn't want to live without their parents, that they didn't want to live without their parents and they didn't want to live without their kids. So they decide they were going to die together. If this, oh my gosh, okay, so this is like it's a suicide pact, right, but you bring your children into this conversation, like, okay, let's all get zen together, and and it influenced the children too if that really happened, that's some sinister shit. Oh, I know, I mean, you're talking kids.
Speaker 1:They're not old enough to comprehend no suicide. So all they hear is you mean, we're going to be separated? No, I don't want to be separated. Who wants to be separated from their parents at that age? No one. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now you ask somebody at 15, 16, it's like yeah, go on, do your own thing. I got a lot to live. Yeah, I don't want to be next to my mom. Are you kidding? So that's what they, you know. They decide that they're going to die together. So, you know, do what you want with your life. But if my spouse came at me with that, I mean I'd try to get them some serious help. Yeah, it's like we need to go to a therapist. Yeah, something, let's do something. We need to get you on some meds. Yeah, I mean, this dude is educated, he isn't stupid. Well, not yet. Anyway, I'm telling you you can't fix stupid. No, I question this later. There's also they're also not members of like a cult, you know, and I kind of wonder at this point what the police are going to find on their computers. But anyway, they're trying to come up with different ways to accomplish this. He says we're not violent people.
Speaker 1:So at first they thought about overdosing the kids on cough medicine. So she made this pudding laced with diphenhydramine. They began to research this before Halloween. This didn't work as planned, so apparently I guess they was giving it a test run. Lovely, yeah. So they kept thinking and talking and researching and they looked at where the best place would be to stab the kids in combination with the Benadryl. And this is how everything led up to him. He said him and Megan did this together and he said he was having trouble remembering when the children actually died, but they died before Christmas. He said Did he have Benadryl in his system? Um, when Ever? Oh, yeah, yeah, and this is kind of written, kind of janky because I I wrote it like the way he was speaking it.
Speaker 1:So on the day of the murders of the boys, anthony stated that he woke up at 11 30 pm. They set an alarm, so I don't know what time they went to bed. Yeah, they got out of the bed. Jamie's looking at me like I got four eyes. She's like what? Yeah, they set an alarm at 11 30 pm. They got out of bed and zoe was first. Megan walked into the room. They hugged and kissed and Megan went back into the room and told him to come back in the room when he was done. So he entered Zoe's room. He said he sat there for two to three hours, you know, because it was tough, but the thought of everlasting salvation was there and he needed to save her soul or she wouldn't be with him. And that was more important.
Speaker 1:The initial plan was to stab right up above the umbilicus. What's that? The navel? Oh duh so he could hit the abdominal aorta, so she would bleed out in no time whatsoever. But he missed it. Well, he said he tried, but he wasn't sure if he hit it or not. How do you, how do you not know if you stab somebody? Okay, she weighed 30 pounds, I know. But he said he tried, he wasn't sure if he hit it or not. But she rolled and started screaming. So he put his hand over her mouth and he put a pillow over top of her head and he laid on her stomach until she began to fade away and he held it until there was no motion left. He said he didn't know if he actually stabbed her or not, but he didn't see anything. He said it took 10 to 15 minutes, but but when she started kicking and screaming, that only lasted a few minutes.
Speaker 1:That poor little girl, I swear I hope she was so drugged up on Benadryl that she had no idea that her father, the man who was supposed to protect her from men like him, was the man that was taking her life. That poor little girl. I really hope that her response was like the body's natural response and she was just out of it. God bless, little Zoe. I know. I mean because you know how the body has a natural response to fight. Yeah, it's fight or flight. Yeah, you can want to commit suicide all day long and go to hang yourself, but still your body's going to fight. Yeah, so I'm hoping, I'm just believing that's what it was. That's probably best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now he's telling officers this Like immediately, like like me and you were talking like what we're planning to do next week, like I, I show more emotion with me telling you what I wanted to eat. Yeah, like when we decided on catfish today, we're like, yeah, yeah, like we had more emotion in that conversation than he is this wow, yeah, he flat nothing, absolutely nothing. Um, he said Megan would open the door to check and see what was going on. Then she would close it and walk back to their bedroom. He said he left Zoe with the pillow behind her head, then he covered her up to keep her warm and then he went back to the master bedroom where he and Megan consoled each other. Then they go into Alec's room.
Speaker 1:Megan holds Alec's feet while Anthony stabs him. Then Alec begins kicking and trying to get up, so he ends up putting a pillow on the back of his head and reaches around to hold his nose and his mouth. He said he kept trying to roll and kick and roll and kick and he eventually stopped. He said Megan left halfway through that. He said he didn't know how long it took, but it went pretty quick. He said he did see blood on his bed. He stabbed him in the stomach, in the umbilicus. He researched that off of Coracom. Oh, I don't know why he had to research it because later on you'll see, he's very medically educated, even though he. But yet this stab wound shows post-mortem. Yeah, it didn't hit nothing.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point in the questioning, I'm sorry. I'm sorry this guy in his interrogation he didn't even know the word diphenhydramine. Okay, yeah, like it took me a minute, but I'm not a physical therapist. I'm not either. I mean, the only medical training I've had is, you know, just the EMT stuff and the CCMA stuff. I mean that's basically it. So this guy's a physical therapist and he was like you know the cough medicine, the allergy medicine, the stuff that makes you sleep, the dipha, the dipha, and the cop was like the Benadryl. Didn't you go to medical school? And he was like, yeah, but physical therapy, not the chemical side of it. Yeah, and I was like diphenhydramine.
Speaker 1:But here's the kicker later on on the stand he gets so offended when the prosecutor calls him out for you know, that's not his training when he tries to interpret this ekg and he gets pissed. All four guys, ego got squashed, yeah. And he rolls his chair around and he looks at the judge like, and then you know, the defense says, well, can you tell us your medical training? He was like I appreciate the fact that you asked me that. And so he goes and rolls off all his stuff. Oh, he really likes to go on about himself. Then, oh, yeah, yeah. And then he explains that he has extensive medical knowledge but didn't know a diaphragm hydramine and he couldn't seem to hit the artery he went for oh, I know, and he researched, had to research it off coracom.
Speaker 1:The average citizen usually knows that if you get stabbed in the abdominal area it's not a fast death. If you want to find the most agonizing, let me tell you, if I was going to really commit suicide by stabbing myself, I would either stab myself in the heart, but really, before I done my heart, I would go for my neck you're jugular, because that bitch is gonna bleed like crazy. Like how many places can you miss? Like? I can miss several places in my heart, because I know about where it's at. But not re, but my neck, I mean, come on, my neck's only so big, yeah, all right, here we are off on a tangent. We ain't even nowhere near through this. So, yeah, I've given some of this away already, sorry. So anyway, at this point, before I know anything else, I was giving him a benefit of doubt and I was trying my best here, but then he blows it. Now he's still in this, you know interrogation.
Speaker 1:Next he states that Tyler was downstairs sleeping in the library. Why is he sleeping downstairs in the library? You ask why is he sleeping downstairs in the library? You ask Well, it's because he's sick and they wanted to keep the boys separated so they wouldn't get each other sick, but they were going to die. So if you plan to kill them, what was the point in keeping them separated? Because they were sick, they're going to die. Remember Exactly. That makes no sense to me. You'd like for that to help it along. You would think, yeah, so that didn't make any sense to me. Does it make any sense to you? A hell, no, no, yeah, no sense. So that tells me she wasn't planning on killing anybody. No, she was being a mom and separating her kids so that they didn't infect one another. Yes, because she didn't want it to spread.
Speaker 1:Anyway, he said Tyler was the fastest and the strongest, so Megan was standing by the door to keep it secure just in case, because they was afraid that he might get loose and escape, and if he did then they all couldn't go together. So it happened quicker with him. He was laying on his left side and he got the knife in there right away. But Tyler began to move and he kept moving and so he used a pillow to cover his face and he went really quick. He said he didn't see a lot of blood, but he did feel it on his hand. He used the green knife on all the kids. He said Megan also used the green knife he had to get a larger knife because he was much bigger than they were and the green knife on all the kids. He said Megan also used the green knife. He had to get a larger knife because he was much bigger than they were and the green knife wasn't big enough to do the damage he needed done. Wow, yeah, he said while he was killing Tyler.
Speaker 1:Megan was outside the door meditating. Really, she must have been a strong meditator. I don't think I could have meditated knowing that somebody was in there killing my kids. I just don't believe that. I'm sorry, I don't believe that at all, especially given what you just said about the, the other kid being in the library. Yeah, he said they loved their kids and they only had their salvation in mind.
Speaker 1:For some reason megan wanted this done before the sun came up, but she but he couldn't remember why. But there was a reason for it. Yeah, afterward they go to the bedroom and discuss what they're going to do next. Then they decide it was breezy's turn. Yeah, the dog, they go, hold her down. Place one of those mexican blankets, you know, like we bought in Mexico. Yeah, those thick blankets around her snout. Held it and she went peacefully. They picked her up and put her in their bed.
Speaker 1:Megan said she wanted to be next and be done, so she decided to have some wine. As she was deciding on how she was going to go, she decided on Tylenol PM and some Benadryl along with the wine. He laid next to her after she had taken this cocktail and she plunged the knife into her abdomen. He asked her if she hit the spot. She said yeah, she felt it. So they lay there for 45 minutes, but she's still alive. He said it's supposed to take 10 minutes. No, it doesn't. If you hit, if you hit the inferior vena, cava, or if you hit the umbilicus that's what you're wanting to hit, mm-hmm. Neither one of them is going to take 10 minutes. You know you're going to bleed out in three or four minutes. Those are major arteries. Yes, anyway, but you know I'm not a physical therapist.
Speaker 1:She then asks for some liquid Benadryl, thinking that it would make it quicker. She drinks another bottle. He comes and goes and at one point he thought she was gone, but nope, she sits straight up, she drinks more Benadryl and then she stabs herself in the liver. This time Again, I don't know why they didn't decide on the neck or the heart. He said she took both hands and pushed the knife in as far as it would go. He said this time he heard a little click, like it went through something. She pulled the knife out and laid it beside her and he laid there with her and held her and they waited. He got up and went to check on the kids to make sure they were okay. Wow, what you mean? You got up to make sure that they were dead and one didn't get out and get help. No shit, he done killed all the kids. She was last. I know he comes back. She's still not dead.
Speaker 1:She's sitting at the edge of the bed. Then she gets up and gets a towel, rinses it and starts to clean up. She says this is ridiculous. This has taken way too long. This has got to be done now. And he says well, how do you want it done? She said I want you to put a pillow over my head.
Speaker 1:And he says honey, I don't think I can do that Really. You just did it three times. And to the dog and to your kids. She said it three times. And to the dog and to your kids she said if you really love me, you'll do it. You're a strong man. I bet she did. You can do it. And he says okay, oh, that was easy. That didn't take much convincing. This is not funny, but it theity, the audacity of this guy, of this being his testimony. Yeah, and he's wanting the jury to believe this. I bet he is. Why? What does he think he's going to get less of Trying to get out of the death penalty. The goal, the whole goal, for the whole family to die together. Now he wants to live. I don't know. I don't know what he's thinking. It makes zero sense. He's such a narcissist, you think, oh my God. So he told her to drink more Benadryl so she wouldn't fight him and he would do it. So she did. 15 minutes later he said you still want me to do it? Oh, he's getting excited about it now. She said yep, so he did. He said all total, they had two boxes of Benadryl, two family-sized bottles of Benadryl and two Tylenol PM. That don't add up either. Mm-hmm. He stated after everyone is dead.
Speaker 1:He tried killing himself by taking Benadryl, hanging himself, zip ties around the neck, razor blades, shooting himself with a pellet gun, what? Trying to fall on a knife. And he admitted he chickened out on stabbing himself. He tried to fall on. I can't, I can't fall. I can't make myself fall. No, I can't either. It just happens. Yeah, sometimes I would be better off stabbing myself than trying to actually make myself fall, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:But he said the first day he laid in a bed with Megan. The second day he placed Zoe in the bed with Megan at the foot of the bed and put rosary beads in her hands and covered her up to keep her warm. He took the mattresses from the boys' room, placed them into the master bedroom and placed the boys on the mattresses and covered them up to keep them warm, and he also continued to try to commit suicide. He only left the house to get the pellet gun, food and morbid drill. He put rosaries or crucifixes in each of their hands. Rosaries or crucifixes in each of their hands.
Speaker 1:He said the reason why he didn't use a real gun is because in Florida you had to wait three days on buying a gun, except you don't have to wait three days to buy a shotgun. Okay, so explain to me what he thought a pellet gun was going to do. With all his medical background I don't know. Okay, he must know something that we don't. Clearly he's the smart one. Get those pellet guns off the street now. I know they're a danger.
Speaker 1:He said he might as well have had a paint gun, paintball gun. I know those hurt. By the way, you've been hit with one of those before. Yeah, there ain't no fun. Pellet guns hurt too. I got lit up right up the back side of myself. One time I had a few bruises, but that's it. Yeah, the pellet gun. I mean they, they leave the little bruises, but that's it. Yeah, the pellet gun, I mean they leave little bruises. Freaking paint gun, they leave big old bruises, big honking bruises, not to mention a paint stain. Yeah, I know. So are you ready for this? He slept in the bed with his deceased wife and daughter. Wow, sometimes in the floor he did this for over two weeks and he didn't remember how long they'd been dead. He said he smudged the room and lit candles to help their spirits.
Speaker 1:Now the officer kind of calls him out on this. He says, for someone who had done so much research, you knew exactly what to do with the kids, but you didn't plan on exactly what you and your wife were going to do, like who was going to be next in your method and how much of what was fatal and a backup if what you'd done first didn't work. Yeah, because Y'all been planning this since April and they done some experiments. I know the science project seemed to be on the kids. Yeah, now the family had written down some questions for the officer to ask him. One was why did Megan say they were coming to Connecticut to visit for Christmas. Yeah, she had a plan for the future. He said they had no plans to go anywhere for Christmas. And then they wanted to know were the kids really that receptive to the suicide pact? And he said, well, they didn't understand to a certain point because they were kids, but they didn't want to live without their mom or dad. They wanted to be with their mom and dad. Well, don't all kids? Yeah, like how'd you put it, buddy? When they asked what he thought led Megan to begin researching all this, he stated that it was her pain and illness. He said that she had suffered a A recent miscarriage in September, and they asked if she hadn't miscarried, would they have continued With her plan? He said it was meant to be Now. He said Megan knew About their finances, but all the evidence shows that she knew nothing about it. Not only was he being investigated For fraud and they were being evicted, but he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a New York loan firm and he was being sued for that as well. Seems like he was under a lot of financial pressure now.
Speaker 1:This guy was a physical therapist. So was his wife, but she had been a stay-home mom since the children were born, but he also worked with disabled children and he was a soccer coach. The All-American family, the perfect family on the outside, but oh, the secrets behind those hidden closed doors In Celebration Florida, right there in Disney World. Yep, they asked if they were planning to notify the family of their plants and he said nope. Their families were always judging them on everything from their choices of their homes to them going organic to gluten-free, and so they kept their religion and their beliefs from them. They quit telling them things in regards to what was going on in their world. Now that I can understand. He said he was the follower and Megan was the leader in this. Now, they met in high school back in 1992. They both went to the same college, took the same courses and he was two years ahead of her. They got married after he graduated and she was in her last year of college. They opened their own practice, they started becoming traveling physical therapists and they bought a condo in Celebration Florida in July 2005.
Speaker 1:Megan was diagnosed as a teen with Lyme disease. At a middle school she was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, a heart murmur, as well as arrhythmias. All of those are heart issues. But when she was married, she was in good health because she avoided caffeine and sugar. Now, remember what I said in that autopsy, the ME said her heart was fine. Oh, you just Now correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have like mitral valve prolapse, I don't think it heals on its own. No, it's a permanent problem. So, anyway, I just thought that was interesting. Now, like I said, his tail, I'm sitting on mine. Yeah, on march 2011, she began to have health problems.
Speaker 1:Now he acts like he's going to lose it. This is what kills me. He acts like he's gonna lose it. He blinks his eyes, squints his face, sniffs, but there's no tears. I mean, he looks so fake, just so you know. Oh guys, it was pissing her off. Oh god, I mean it's so fake. I was sitting here when she's watching him on the on the stand, and she's like oh, she's mad.
Speaker 1:At a theme park, she got bit by a bug that was black and had six legs, with a red mark on its back that reminded her of Texas at times. Kind of sounds like a spider, don't it to you? But it's a bug. He sniffs and apologizes. This bite turned into a giant puscule. Did I say that right, I don't know. So they went back to the hotel. He said later that this is when she had the first miscarriage. His voice shakes and he sniffs many times, as he says.
Speaker 1:After many trips to the hospital and many trips to the ER and cardiac critical care units, she was diagnosed with a multitude of diagnoses tonsillitis, really. Yeah, that gave her drug-induced hepatitis which made her liver inflamed. What does all this have to do with why, I don't know, she's dead? I don't know. I don't know what all that's got to do with cardiac critical care either. Exactly she said that she was a yoga teacher and she went from being a very strong woman to barely 90 pounds. Her heart was going crazy and at rest it was 190 beats per minute.
Speaker 1:When he began talking about her EKG, the prosecution stopped him and objected, stating education and narrative, and he swung his chair around and gave a look to the judge and the judge agreed with her and the defense lawyer said sir, can you state the medical training you've had? And he said I really appreciate you asking me that question. And very fast, he said I've had 20 years of medical experience working in the hospital, case, review of charts, home care, operating with a nurse at a house, but I was opening cases on my own, which means I received medical records from the hospital and from the doctors themselves to be interpreted and to be reviewed and deciphered so I can properly give the appropriated care, within medical limits, to that patient. Is that so? He then gives the prosecutor the stink eye. I love the stink eye. Then he softens with a pouty face and says that him and his wife are best friends. He would still get butterflies after 20 years of marriage. He she had the two boys before she gotten sick and sometimes she could do anything to barely walking up the stairs. And due to her illness she was introduced to hinduism and shot away from the catholic religion and began holistic treatment of her medical issues. What's funny to me is she could barely go up the stairs, but she was a yoga instructor.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, this guy can't answer a question. That's the thing. He can't answer a question. He. He goes on and on and, like the prosecution, has to object his testimony like to shut him up. I'm going to have to watch this. Yeah, you are, I'm going to make you watch it. We're going to have to sit down with popcorn. No, you are, oh me no, I'm done. You can't do it again. I'm done. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So his attorney asked about this tragic event. He says yes, and he blows, closes his eyes, acts like he's going to break again, blinks several times and says before the birth of their firstborn, her father, he pauses, her father. He pauses, hung himself. Her father and her were very close and he was his best friend. He was his friend, but still on tears. When asked about the Lyme disease, he answers with, without getting too technical, like everyone in the courtroom, is not as smart as he is, kind of like he's got to dumb it down for us or something Right?
Speaker 1:I went from trying to give this guy the benefit of the doubt to realizing he's lying, to not liking him to. Now I cannot stand the guy. And now it's absolute torture for me to continue to even look or hear this guy speak. And that took so long for me. This guy is such a narcissist. And that took so long for me. This guy is such a narcissist. Oh, by the way, this guy didn't even know the word holistic, or diphenhydramine, mind you. Oh my God, his wife was all holistic and it was a holistic belief system they were basing the whole thing off of. I forget who it was. I think it was the cops he was talking to who was trying? And the cops said holistic, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was like. I don't know if I'm going to watch it or not. I'm glad I'm not a cop.
Speaker 1:The religious meetings were conducted via Skype or by phone and he stated they talked about how your family's past transgressions follow forward multiple generations. So each afterlife there is a reincarnation and as they burned the family's karma, in the current life they reach a salvation in which they reincarnated to a better life. So she was looking forward to a better life, better health and better relationships. The attorney asked about the suicide note and he said he had no knowledge of that until that day. He said she was trying to explain to him what she had done, trying to make him understand. The whole aspect of it was. She was trying to present this as fact and he told her that he didn't believe that. He couldn't believe that and he called her some names. He had never called her in her life, but this is what she had been given in her meditations and this is what the lot had provided for her. He said when he found that out he puked.
Speaker 1:He was in total denial of what happened. He told her he wanted to get her help. He would take responsibility for it as long as she would get help. It would do anything in his life to do what he needed to, to provide for what she needed, to give her a happy life, he said. He put her on her pedestal. He said he didn't care about himself. He wanted her to have a good life and to get help.
Speaker 1:And he came home and found that his kids were dead. But he slipped up and said that was the most horrible day of my life. But what was more horrible is I watched my wife die in front of me. Also. Really the word also yes, like I thought you were not there when your wife killed your kids. But at some point he admitted to killing the kids. Oh, yeah, had he already done that? And then turned around and said this yes, yeah, so the where he admitted it all.
Speaker 1:That was the interrogation. That was like right after it happened. This is two years later when we go to court. Does he have effing amnesia? He forget what he said. Oh, yeah, he, he doesn't remember that interrogation at all. Oh, do you at least get the satisfaction in watching that when they sting him with that part. Oh, yeah, it's coming, ha-ha, yay.
Speaker 1:He said the family had dinner and he had a shake. And he went over to the condo to put a box that they had gotten Zoe for Christmas. Oh, what shake. And he went over to the condo to put a box that they had gotten Zoe for Christmas. Oh, I didn't what. I didn't think they were gonna celebrate Christmas. Yeah, they died before Christmas. So why would she have a box? And once he went over there he realized he forgot his charger. But he had one in the van, so he decided to use it, ended up falling asleep in the van. He slept all night.
Speaker 1:When the sun came up it woke him up and he went back over to his house and when he came inside he saw his wife at the top of the stairs with tears in her eyes and she said you're alive. What I know? Ben proceeded to tell him what she had done. He stated that he threw up. He went into each child's room checking for any sign of life, but there was none. All of them were found, exactly like he had told the cops. But he is saying that that's the way she left him.
Speaker 1:He stated he didn't remember that confession at all. Ah, he stated he didn't remember that confession at all. He remembered falling down the stairs, hitting his head, fracturing his neck, and waking up in jail thinking that he was in purgatory. He remembers taking over 200 Benadryl tablets, drinking two family-sized bottles of Benadryl and taking an entire bottle of metformin so 200 Benadryl and taking an entire bottle of Metformin so 200 Benadryl tablets. Each tablet is 25 milligrams, that's 5,000 milligrams of Benadryl.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not a doctor and I'm definitely not a physical therapist, but I think that alone would probably kill you like DEA dead, not to mention the two family-sized bottles of Benadryl and an entire bottle of metformin. But you know any physical therapist out there. If y'all want to correct me, please do, or you know anybody else. Correct me if I'm wrong. Met. Former for diabetes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, he said that megan had hid the phones and went to tell him where they were. He said after she stabbed herself, he begged her to tell him where the phones were and she would not. She asked him not to leave her. She didn't leave, leave the boys. And he didn't leave her. When she stabbed herself a second time, he again didn't leave her. He did not go for help because he wanted to do what she wanted, and that was to stay by her side.
Speaker 1:The prosecution asked him another question and then asked him if he ever looks for the phones. He says yes, in between stabs he looks in the master bathroom for the phones and that's when he hears what sounds like a balloon. But it was her stabbing herself the second time. What? Yeah, so he lies. How does that sound like a balloon? I don't know, but he lies, he does leave her. Yeah, I don't know, but he lies, he does leave her. Yeah, she is laying on her back on the bed with both hands, um, which are on the knob, he said.
Speaker 1:He stood there in shock and then said what the hell are you doing? She said I'm doing what I done to the boys I'm trying to hit my inferior vinicava. Okay, so she's, she's stabbing herself and she's got enough. She can even have this conversation, this logical conversation. Oh, I'm just trying to stab myself in the right spot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he went over again and pleaded with her to tell him where the phones were. How about run outside and get someone? You think? He said he yelled out the window after she was dead for help. He said he did CPR because she had stuff coming out of her mouth but she was breathing. Um, you do CPR when someone is not breathing or if they're gasping, kind of like agonal breaths. Shouldn't he know this?
Speaker 1:He then goes on to say that he has extensive medical knowledge and he knows that if she hit her inferior vena cava, that she would have bled out and died if he had left her and she would have been alone. Well, now, that part's true, because if she did hit it, you know, in less than five minutes she would have been gone. And then he said that their neighbors were snowbirds. But then he turns right around and says that he yells out the window after she dies for help. How does that make sense? None of it makes sense. He's all over the place. Yeah, if they're snowbirds, that means they're not there, because you know it's december, right? So why would they would be there? Because when it's wintertime they come to the south, oh well. So why would you say they're snowbirds? What was the point in that then? That don't make sense.
Speaker 1:So after that he goes and buys a pellet gun, benadryl and some food, and at some point he states he's so drunk on benadryl that he urinated on himself and the suicide note was in his pocket and so it got wet with urine and he drank motor oil, thinking it was coffee. Why was the motor oil in the house? He said he had to retype the suicide note. When I asked if he was the actual author of that note, he said no, I just edited that note. Why so? Why didn't he just say he retyped it? Usually if you edit something, don't you change something. Obviously, we edit all the time. Yes, they died on the 18th of December. He was in the house and slept in the same bed or was in the same room with their bodies for over two weeks. Same bed or was in the same room with their bodies for over two weeks.
Speaker 1:Now. He was found guilty on four accounts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to four life sentences without the possibility of parole, all to be served consecutively. It was also found guilty for one count of animal cruelty and sentenced to the maximum of one year, also also consecutive. Want to know the twist? What?
Speaker 1:When Anthony was four years old, his father, robert, who was a special education teacher and a very smooth talker, approached a former student who was 19 years old and had him go to his home, gave him a key and had him shoot his wife, and he did so, but he was drunk when he went. He went inside, bumped into something making a noise. He awoke Loretta, which was Anthony's mom, and when she sat up in the bed the kids shot her in the left eye. She survived without a left eye and a bullet still lodged in her brain, but she lived Now. She was in denial about this in her brain, but she lived now. She was in denial about this, but her husband was having not one, but two affairs, one with a 17 year old, and he also had a fiancee. Now this was his dad. Yep, well, the apple don't fall far from the tree, does it? No, he was tried and Loretta finally saw the light. No pun intended, I saw the light and divorced him and moved with the kids and eventually remarried. Then, years later, this happens.
Speaker 1:And do you want your hair to stand up? The judge remembers this case and said that the name Tote in German means death. Ooh, wow. So that, my friends, is the disgusting story of Anthony Tote Death. Yeah, I don't even want to say his name. And that wraps up this episode. If you liked what you hear, please like and subscribe. Don't forget to invite all your friends. We are on all platforms. This has been a Southern Sass production and until next time, you guys, y'all be safe and avoid rest stops. Yes.
