ST. AUGUSTINE — A jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts, finding that Luis Toledo killed his wife and her two children, and tampered with evidence by disposing of their bodies.

Toledo then said he wanted to waive his right to argue why he should not be sentenced to death.

The deliberations began at about 9:25 a.m. Friday in the case against the Deltona man. Toledo, 35, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Yessenia Suarez, 28, and two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children Thalia Otto, 9, and Michael Elijah Otto, 8.

It took the jury of nine women and three men about eight hours to reach the verdicts.

Family members of Suarez and the children hugged and shed tears in the courtroom after the verdicts. But four years worth of grief welled over in a hallway just outside the courtroom as they embraced in a circle and sobbed.

Toledo did not appear to react as he heard the verdicts read. After the jury had left the room, Toledo told the judge he wanted to say something.

"I don’t want to waste anymore of the court's time, so I’m going to do it right now," Toledo said in an even voice. "I’m going to waive mitigation against my attorneys' wishes, no matter what they tell me, I’m not going to change my position to waive mitigation no matter what my attorney's tell me."

Since prosecutors are seeking death against Toledo for the killings of the children, the trial will enter a penalty phase on Wednesday in which Toledo's attorneys would present mitigating reasons why he should not be put to death.

Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano told him he wanted him to talk to his lawyers and address the issue next week. Zambrano said he did not want Toledo to make the decision at such an emotional time.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza said Toledo's position did not change the prosecution's position.

"We are seeking the death penalty and we plan to move forward," Larizza said.

Larizza said it was a tragic case.

"There's no happy endings in this case. The good news is that the jury has held the defendant accountable for the murders," Larizza said.

Under a new law this year, jurors would have to unanimously recommend death for the judge to have the option of sending Toledo to death row.

The families of the victims endured Toledo's grisly descriptions of the deaths again on Friday when his video statement to investigators was replayed for the jury. Michael Otto, the children's father, sat in the courtroom, his head in his hand, looking down at the floor. Their kids' grandmother, Felicita Perez, Suarez's mother, was flanked by relatives and a victim's advocate who gave her a hug afterward.

Zambrano sent the panel to begin deliberations about 9:25 a.m. Friday. Toledo patted one of his attorneys, Jeff Deen, on the back before he returned to a holding area at the Richard O. Watson Judicial Center. Toledo's other attorneys are Michael Nielsen and Michael Nappi.

Toledo also faces up to five years in prison if he is convicted of tampering with evidence. Toledo has been held at the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail for four years, since he was arrested on Oct. 23, 2013, the day the mother and her two children vanished from their home at 317 Covent Gardens Place in Deltona.

The day before the family vanished, Toledo had angrily confronted his wife at work about an affair she was having with a coworker at American K9. That affair "lit the fuse" to the murders, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors Mark Johnson and Ryan Will emphasized during the trial that there has been no trace of the family since then. Suarez’s large and close family have not heard from her or her children since then. Suarez’s bank account was untouched. The children had perfect attendance at school until Oct. 23, 2013.

Investigators found 14 spots of Thalia Otto’s blood in the master bathroom and a closet door. They found her blood on one of Toledo’s boots that was fished out of a dumpster. They found her blood on the trunk mat of her mother’s Honda Accord.

Toledo told detectives on Oct. 23, 2013, that he had slept in his car and then walked into the house to find his family gone, the kids’ backpacks still in the house. He said he did not know where they were.

But someone else was talking to investigators: Toledo’s neighbor, Tyshawn Jackson. He told them that Toledo had woken him up at 6:11 a.m. that day asking for help in moving Suarez’s car. Jackson said he thought it was a short trip, perhaps to Suarez’s mother’s house, Felicita Perez, who lived in the neighborhood. But instead, Toledo drove about 30 minutes into Lake Mary where he left Suarez’s Accord in a Publix Shopping Center. Jackson said Toledo wiped the car down.

Toledo then got in his Saturn with Jackson and drove to a dumpster behind some apartments where he dumped the trunk mat from the Accord, a bottle of Mean Green, some of his clothes and his boots. Then he drove back to Deltona.

But along the way, Jackson said a frantic-acting Toledo turned to him and said, “I snapped."

After he was confronted with some of the information from Jackson, Toledo changed his story. He told investigators he had invited Jackson into the house to play video games at 3 a.m. Suarez was angered by that.

He said Suarez attacked him, grabbing him from behind, punching him in the chest and hitting him in the face. Toledo said he struck out hitting her in the throat. Toledo said she died looking at him gasping for air. He said the kids came out asking what was wrong with mommy.

Toledo said Jackson then took the kids into a bathroom and killed them by hitting each one in the head with an ax.

He said Jackson, who was on probation, wanted to eliminate the kids as witnesses.

Investigators said Toledo said something else but it was not recorded.

It is this: "I'll never tell you where the bodies are."