FL - Megan Todt 42, Alek 13, Tyler 11, Zoe 4, & dog Breezy, Celebration, 6 Jan 2020 *ARREST*

[Angels27]

Finally got around to reading this. Interesting and sad case. You hit the nail on head when you mentioned "He was going to lose all the material stuff which seems is where his sense of self was located." I'd say the same is true of AT, and would add that AT also lived to be a pleaser and needed everyone around him to think of him as this perfect dad, husband and provider. Rather be dead and take out his family (really just extensions of himself) than face anything other than adoration.

What I find most compelling in the article, is the guy the author interviews. Admits thinking of suicide himself before, and was brutally honest about his understanding and identifying with Foster.

I think there will be people that will reflect similarly about AT, but I doubt it will be voiced.

I have a feeling we will learn (if this goes to trial) that AT attempted suicide multiple times over the course of those weeks his family was deceased.

Thanks for post. I highly doubt TT tried to commit suicide tho as his vehicle was packed to gills, unless that was wife trying to leave him with kids. And he saw his murderous father serve only 2 YEARS for putting a bullet in his mother’s head and blinding her after 2 other attempts to murder her by blowing up her car and poisoning her. He told cops he tried to commit suicide to be brought to hospital instead of jail. He’s a wimp. He will no doubt claim insanity and try to get put in a safer jail or elicit sympathy from uneducated bleeding hearts. No way will they vote to put him to death. Imo

 

[wyome]

Thanks for post. I highly doubt TT tried to commit suicide tho as his vehicle was packed to gills, unless that was wife trying to leave him with kids. And he saw his murderous father serve only 2 YEARS for putting a bullet in his mother’s head and blinding her after 2 other attempts to murder her by blowing up her car and poisoning her. He told cops he tried to commit suicide to be brought to hospital instead of jail. He’s a wimp. He will no doubt claim insanity and try to get put in a safer jail or elicit sympathy from uneducated bleeding hearts. No way will they vote to put him to death. Imo

I totally hear you on this one. I do believe he was sane at the time, purely selfish and egotistical. I do think, though, he knew the walls were closing in. He may have flown to CT, hoping someone would find the bodies in the home. Days went by and he knew he was screwed. Returned...maybe half-heartedly tried to place a bag over his head - couldn't do it. Maybe took some pills (whatever he had in the house), felt like crap but still breathing. Drove to Sarasota? Was he planning to drive down the wrong way on a highway and get in a head-on collision but chicken out? Whatever he planned, it didn't work and he returned home to the house of horrors he created. He keeps placing himself back with them and he kept the front door unlocked (as it was January 13 per LE). I think he was hoping he'd be dead at some point.

 

[Angels27]

I totally hear you on this one. I do believe he was sane at the time, purely selfish and egotistical. I do think, though, he knew the walls were closing in. He may have flown to CT, hoping someone would find the bodies in the home. Days went by and he knew he was screwed. Returned...maybe half-heartedly tried to place a bag over his head - couldn't do it. Maybe took some pills (whatever he had in the house), felt like crap but still breathing. Drove to Sarasota? Was he planning to drive down the wrong way on a highway and get in a head-on collision but chicken out? Whatever he planned, it didn't work and he returned home to the house of horrors he created. He keeps placing himself back with them and he kept the front door unlocked (as it was January 13 per LE). I think he was hoping he'd be dead at some point.

Yeah the unlocked door is interesting, but anyone can google weight benedryl suicide n he was free to go to Cvs n get a few bottles at any time. I think he thought a jury would go easy on him bc of his history. Maybe also said he tried to commit suicide to implant the insanity defense in the minds of jurors.

 

[Angiebla]

In my opinion he’s a narcissistic sociopath. The narcissist part of him prevented him from killing himself. It takes a lot of benedryl to kill a person, and he probably knew that. I don’t think it was a real attempt.

I agree with the above poster that he wanted everyone to think he was perfect. He had so much (the Medicaid fraud, evictions,) and his narc supply got cut off. So he lashed out.

 

[Trebor5591]

Physical therapists normally make a lot of money. I wonder why they were so broke. Living way beyond their means?

My guess is that the husband was living a secret life. Money, women, gambling, etc.

 

[Trebor5591]

I had a police officer friend tell me once many years ago, when there is money "missing" from a family, or when there is good income reported but nothing really to show for it, the answer is almost always habit/vices. i.e., addictions (drugs or booze or both), sex (men or women, online or in person), and gambling are always the top 3. As it turns out, I find this is true almost all of the time.

When I was studying for a financial fraud investigation certification, the motivation for 95% of frauds was summarized in what was called the "3 B's"--booze, broads, and bookies.

 

[Trebor5591]

snip from article:
“The family had been evicted from their rental home after being one-month delinquent with their rent but remained in the home, despite owning a home tat was just 500 feet down the street.”

Sorry if I missed an earlier discussion about this, but ***WHY*** were they renting a place when they owned a condo so nearby? I’m perplexed by so much about this case, but I feel sure that all of the pieces will come together before too long. What a horrific thing this man did. IMO/MOO

My guess is the father wanted a separate place where he could do his drugs, take his women, etc.,away from the family home.

 

[Trebor5591]

Could the "wanted person" be related to the fraud investigation?

Yes

 

[molly1255]

My guess is that the husband was living a secret life. Money, women, gambling, etc.

My thoughts are there was a secret life, but I don't know what it was. Not enough info yet. From what I've seen, businesses related to the medical field are thriving in today's world. It cost a LOT to have his family live in Florida and for him to commute to CT each week. Doesn't make any sense to do that if your business in CT is failing, and you are having to take out multiple high finance loans and then commit fraud to make ends meet. The only way that makes "sense" to me is if someone is hiding something from his wife and it is necessary to keep her at a distance. MOO.

 

[molly1255]

Thanks for post. I highly doubt TT tried to commit suicide tho as his vehicle was packed to gills, unless that was wife trying to leave him with kids. And he saw his murderous father serve only 2 YEARS for putting a bullet in his mother’s head and blinding her after 2 other attempts to murder her by blowing up her car and poisoning her. He told cops he tried to commit suicide to be brought to hospital instead of jail. He’s a wimp. He will no doubt claim insanity and try to get put in a safer jail or elicit sympathy from uneducated bleeding hearts. No way will they vote to put him to death. Imo

If the current prosecutor on this case remains on it - she will not seek the death penalty. The prior Florida governor pulled dozens of cases she was assigned and gave them to another state attorney because of her stance on the death penalty. The current Florida governor has just shown he's willing to do the same thing and he just pulled a murder case from her and assigned it to another state attorney.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My understanding is that in Florida, in order to charge for first-degree murder, a grand jury must indict and the death penalty is only on the table for first-degree murder. Second degree murder is not a death penalty case. His plea for second degree is not guilty.

JMO

 

[Angels27]

Booze wouldn’t sink him over a million $ in debt. But gambling would n possibly in a very short time n he was drowning slowly for years. My guess is he was a middle tiered gambler/aka loser who just pissed it all away slowly over time. That $279,000 judgement he settled was originally for almost $500,000 plus he owed a lot more to others. He did take out business loans tho for hundreds of thousands n was thinking about opening a third CT office. Also had weekly travel expenses to Fl n a mortgage n a $5000/ month rental in Fl, plus kids expenses which if accounts of $10000 per year per kid is true, could easily have sunk him esp if he was a bad business manager. The fact that he did his own books is bad business, odd, n very telling. Also the fact that he didn’t tell anyone he was sinking tells me he was involved in something more than just bad accounting skills. N ‘women’ n booze wouldn’t account for these kinds of numbers. Drugs might, no idea how much they are. But I know for sure that a gambler can easily piss that kind of money away in a week or less at $1000-$5000 a bet or spin. I’ve seen it happen many times. I’ve seen people piss away 500 G’s in one night at casino. At that rate he’d be toast in 2 days. My guess is he wasn’t a real high roller. This took years. Imo

 

[PezCandy]

Was he a drug user? Seriously wondering. And yes you can be larger and still be hooked on meth and stuff.

 

[Angels27]

Neighbors say the last time anyone saw family was Dec 15. Kids were always outside playing etc. After that, nothing. My guess is they were killed on 15th or very shortly after. Any texts from their phones were most likely his doing. imo.

 

[Angels27]

Was he a drug user? Seriously wondering. And yes you can be larger and still be hooked on meth and stuff.

No reports of that that I’ve heard. It seems someone would have noticed. I’ve never been around anyone on drugs that I know of tho so who knows how they act or if co-workers or friends could even tell. Anyone know?

 

[PezCandy]

No reports of that that I’ve heard. It seems someone would have noticed. I’ve never been around anyone on drugs that I know of tho so who knows how they act or if co-workers or friends could even tell. Anyone know?

that’s why I was asking if he was doing drugs. Drug use has similar effects as someone with a gambling issue. My MIL has a drug problem and she acts very similar. Blows money she don’t have, fraud, grandiose attitude, her kids dad/ex husband was a trucker and when he divorced her she lied and said he made more than what he did so she could get a larger amount of money, neglected her kids, gone all the time, mood swings, and the money that’s supposed to go to bills disappears, she had children for the money alone. Like I said similar characteristics. Which made me think maybe he started using or something??

 

[Jamie737]

Bankrolling a practice with several employees and expensive leased equipment will sink you if the business doesn’t come through the door. Perhaps that was his gamble. That and multi state residences

 

[CSIDreamer]

Bankrolling a practice with several employees and expensive leased equipment will sink you if the business doesn’t come through the door. Perhaps that was his gamble. That and multi state residences

This is the one I'm going with. Operating at a net loss month after month. Jmo.

 

[Angels27]

that’s why I was asking if he was doing drugs. Drug use has similar effects as someone with a gambling issue. My MIL has a drug problem and she acts very similar. Blows money she don’t have, fraud, grandiose attitude, her kids dad/ex husband was a trucker and when he divorced her she lied and said he made more than what he did so she could get a larger amount of money, neglected her kids, gone all the time, mood swings, and the money that’s supposed to go to bills disappears, she had children for the money alone. Like I said similar characteristics. Which made me think maybe he started using or something??

Would the people around him like coworkers, family, friends, clients, etc be able to tell he was using, if so?

 

[Angels27]

My guess is the father wanted a separate place where he could do his drugs, take his women, etc.,away from the family home.

He spent most of his time in CT, over 1300 miles away from them. It might have been because they needed a bigger house after having the Zoe and they may not have been able to rent the condo. A lot of condos down there are owner occupied only, at least in South Florida. So maybe they couldn’t rent it out but it was just too small to live in. What I don’t get is why didn’t they sell it and pay off some debt if they had any equity left. Maybe he mortgaged it to the max without the wife’s knowledge and couldn’t sell it without her finding out. Some companies will let you go to 95% especially if you own businesses.

 

[Angels27]

Bankrolling a practice with several employees and expensive leased equipment will sink you if the business doesn’t come through the door. Perhaps that was his gamble. That and multi state residences

This alone could very well do it especially since we now know this happened over years, not overnight. Then you throw in expensive homeschooling tuition costs (which I don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would pay $10,000 per kid per year just to quit their job and homeschool them.) Integration with other kids is the single most important part of learning and being able to survive in the real world. Without it all sorts of psychopathologies can develop. The thing that makes me think it was more than just poor managerial skills is all of the secrecy. From working in a separate state from where he houses his family for years, to doing his own accounting/books himself, to not informing wife or tax attorney or anyone else that we know of of his impending financial doom, to driving east 2 hours after he slaughters his entire family, right by the state’s largest casino Hard Rock, and leaving his phone there in a Starbucks. All of this really suggests something else was afoot. And the one thing that ALL gamblers have in common is they ALL lie. Whether it be to others, themselves or both, about how much they lose, whether it be $100 a night or $100,000. They all lie. It becomes part of their DNA. They lie about how often they go, or if they even go, they lie about how much they spend, how much they bet, how much they lose, everything. I’ve had people lie right to my face. They’ll bet $130,000 and say they only bet $50,000. Of course you learn to say nothing in these places. You don’t call their bluffs. It’s part of the chess game. And if this guy was anything, it was a liar. imo