Anthony Todt, who murdered family near Disney World, sues from prison for $9.9M over his jailhouse letters

Anthony Todt (Image via AP)

Anthony Todt, who murdered his wife and children in his house outside Disney World, is suing authorities for $9.9 million and accusing them of illegally going through his jailhouse mail then releasing it to the media.

Todt, 48, is representing himself in the federal civil lawsuit he recently filed against several Osceola County officials and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. He is currently serving a life sentence in the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution Annex in the Panhandle.

Todt wrote his estranged father a 27-page letter where he blamed his wife for trying to kill their children — Alek, 13; Tyler, 11; and Zoe, 4 — with a “Benadryl pudding pie.” Todt claimed he was innocent and asked his father to keep the letter in confidence.

The Orlando Sentinel and The Associated Press, as well as other outlets, obtained a copy of the letter through a public records request and published a story about the letter’s contents in 2020.

In a dark twist, Robert Todt, Anthony’s father, was convicted in 1981 of attempting to murder Anthony’s mother. Little Anthony, who was only 4 at the time, heard his mother scream during the attack. Anthony’s mother survived the shooting and ended up divorcing Robert Todt.

Decades later, a jury convicted Anthony Todt of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty for killing his 42-year-old wife, their children and their dog in their Celebration house.

Todt testified that he and his wife planned out the family’s deaths because they believed the apocalypse was coming.

In reality, Todt was under federal investigation for submitting fraudulent claims for his physical therapy business.

Todt was sentenced to life in prison.

“You, Anthony John Todt, are a destroyer of worlds,” Circuit Court Judge Keith Carsten told him during the sentencing in 2022.

In his federal lawsuit filed in late July, Todt complained. “In this highly publicized and sensationalized case, the relationship and family history between Plaintiff Anthony John Todt and Plaintiff Robert Todt was publicized and of ‘tabloid’ interest.”

While he was on 24-hour psychological observation watch at the Osceola County Jail, Todt wrote the “personal” letter to his father.

“FBI regulations and those of the US Postmaster General have both confirmed that once a letter is sealed and stamped, the letter is under the jurisdiction of the United States Postal Service and cannot be opened without a warrant or subpoena,” his lawsuit said.

Florida Politics reached out to the State Attorney’s Office, the Osceola County Jail and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, which are all defendants in the lawsuit, and did not receive a response Thursday.