KISSIMMEE, Fla. — State attorneys will seek the death penalty against Anthony Todt, the man accused of killing his wife, three children, and dog in their Celebration home.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala made the announcement during a news conference in front of the Osceola County Courthouse in Kissimmee on Tuesday. She said a grand jury recommended capital murder charges.

Todt has been indicted on murder charges in the slayings of Megan Todt, 13-year-old Alek, 11-year-old Tyler, and 4-year-old Zoey. He’s also accused of killing their dog, Breezy.

Their bodies were found January 13 on the 200 block of Reserve Place in the Disney-designed community of Celebration. A medical examiner later determined that three of the four bodies had stab wounds; the youngest didn't have any obvious signs of trauma. An official cause of death hasn't been released pending toxicology test results.

Todt is a physical therapist who ran two businesses in Connecticut. He split his time between work up north and time with his family in Celebration, investigators say. Todt was under investigation by federal agents for health-care fraud.

Ayala said Tuesday she is standing alongside Todt’s family, who is in Colchester, Connecticut. 

"I can’t imagine the pain and the agony that they’re going through. But we are going to absolutely do all that we can to see that justice is served. And as we go through this process, it's my hope that they are able to find some semblance of peace in this process," she said.

When Ayala first took office in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, she made waves by publicly denouncing the death penalty. She later created a death penalty review board that works independently on assessing these cases, including the Todt case. 

Florida law requires all first-degree charges to be issued by a grand jury. So a grand jury convened Tuesday and unanimously charged Todt with premeditated murder.

The development in the Todt case comes on the heels of Ayala being removed from another high-profile murder case. Prosecution of the persons charged in the Nicole Montalvo case was handed to State Attorney Brad King after a public dispute between Osceola Sheriff Russ Gibson and Gov. Ron DeSantis over the lack of murder charges in that case.