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Grant Amato

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Grant Amato
Medium shot of Grant Amato for prison.
Mug shot of Amato after getting arrested for charges of first-degree murder.
Born (1989-05-20) May 20, 1989 (age 35)
Chuluota, Florida, U.S.
Criminal statusIn prison
Parent(s)Chad and Margret Amato
Conviction(s)First-degree murder
Criminal penaltyLife in prison without parole
Details
Victims3
DateJanuary 24, 2019

Grant Amato (born May 20, 1989) is an American murderer who murdered his family. On January 24, 2019,[a] Amato shot his father, mother, and brother Cody in the head as a familicide at their home in Seminole County, Florida, before fleeing and staging it as a murder-suicide committed by his brother.

After a 24-hour manhunt, police took Amato into custody for questioning in Orange County, Florida, following his disappearance. They later arrested on three charges of first-degree murder. During his trial, explicit photographs were found on his thumb drive connected to the killings, which were used as evidence. His lawyers defended him by saying investigators and analysts at the scene didn't properly consider other suspects or process other evidence that could convict another person. The judge denied the hearing and did not let Amato out on a bond motion, and later instead sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Before the murders occurred, Amato had developed an infatuation with a Bulgarian model and cam girl Silviya Ventsislavova, who went by the alias "Silvie" online. Amato used his father's and brother's money that accumulated to $200,000 to pay to speak to her, and eventually started donating. Due to this, he tried seeking therapy and treatment by going to a rehabilitation center, and after a week he returned home, where he argued with his father over continuing to contact her. This argument was later revealed to be the deciding motive for murdering his family a month later.

Background

Grant Amato was born on May 20, 1989, in Chuluota, Florida,[2] to Chad and Margaret Amato, the former a clinical pharmacist[3] and the latter a senior operations manager.[2] He was raised in Chuluota along with his brother Cody, with whom he was close, while the elder Jason lived elsewhere.[4] He went to Timber Creek High School, along with Cody, and they both joined the weightlifting team together after getting interested in health.[5] Both Cody and Grant attended the University of Central Florida, where they attended nursing school together and then proceeded into anesthesiology school.[6] Cody graduated from his anesthesiology program, while Grant dropped out, but he was able to find work at the hospital AdventHealth Orlando as a nurse.[7]

Grant was suspended from his job in June 2018 under suspicion of stealing and improperly administering medication to patients and for suicidal thoughts.[8] Although officers denied the allegations that he was suicidal, saying he didn't meet the criteria to be a danger to himself or others around him, they concluded there was evidence to the claim of improper medicine administration.[8] Hospital staff had beforehand found eight empty vials of the sedative propofol in two rooms that Grant had been foreseeing, which hadn't been ordered by any doctors. When confronted during his suspension, he said that he had "administered the drug to patients who were not being adequately relaxed".[9] the hospital then fired and subsequently arrested him for grand larceny after the investigation concluded, but the charges were later dropped.[10]

Silvie and arguments

Due to not being able to get any jobs following the charges, he attempted to become a streamer on Twitch, mostly playing video games and live streaming.[6] While not live streaming, he would frequent pornographic websites, including one called MyFreeCams, and on there Amato met a cam model named Silviya Ventsislavova, who went by the alias Silvie online.[11] He would pay tokens by the minute for her virtual company. He would spend up to four hours a night on the website, buying up to 5,000 tokens at a time costing over $600.[5] Silvie’s shows would cost 90 tokens a minute. Grant assumed a façade as a successful gamer who was rich and successful, sending her various lingerie and sex toys, as well as paying an exorbitant amount for her time.[12] He would steal credit cards from his family, claiming they were for starting up his Twitch career.[4] Within a few months, Grant had spent up to $200,000 of his family’s money on Silvie.[13]

His family sent Grant to a rehabilitation facility for porn and internet addiction, which cost them $15,000. He was allowed to return home after a couple of weeks but was given a zero-tolerance ultimatum, and Grant had to get a job and was prohibited from having any contact with Silvie.[14] However, he was able to convince his mother to let him use her phone to make contact with the webcam model. Upon learning this, Chad ordered Grant to pack up his things and leave the house.[15]

Murders

On January 24, 2019, while his mother was on the computer and sipping on a glass of white wine, Grant shot her in the back of the head[16] with an IWI Jericho 941, a type of semi-automatic handgun.[17] After, he waited for his father to arrive. Once he walked into the kitchen, Grant shot him twice. To convince Cody to come home after his nursing shift, he texted him using his father’s number. Upon entering the door, Grant shot him dead, where he lay in a fetal position.[18] Lastly, Grant staged the scene as a murder-suicide, placing the gun by his brother’s body.[19]

The next day, when Cody failed to come in for work, his coworkers became concerned and called the cops requesting a welfare check.[20] Amato was tracked down at DoubleTree Hilton Hotel at approximately 7:45 a.m. on January 26 in Orange County, Florida, after his 1996 Honda Accord was identified.[21] Police arrived at the murder scene at 9:17 a.m., wherein they raided the house after no response was found after finding out all the entrances were locked.[22] Once a deputy went in, Chad was found on his back on the kitchen floor, Cody curled on the floor in a storage room, and Margaret sprawled over the desk in their home office.[10]

He was subsequently taken in for questioning.[23] At the end of the interrogation, his adoptive brother Jason tried to talk to him, asking him to confess to what had happened, but was unwavering in his claims to innocence. When being interrogated, he had differing stories, one of which said he'd seen police and news vans outside his house following the murders, but instead of going home went to a local Panera Bread and searched up "top news stories."[24] He was subsequently arrested on charges of first-degree murder.[25] However, he was granted a $750,000 bond on April 25, 2019, after his public defender stated the court did not follow proper procedure for his case,[26] and he was allowed to prepare for his case on the condition he could not have access to electronics.[27]

Trial

On July 15, 2019, Amato's trial began to investigate if he was innocent, with him still maintaining he was innocent of the crime.[28] Before people testified, crime scene analysts on behalf of Florida attempted to show things that were out of place, but Amato's attorney questioned when they realized he was the main suspect and if that could've affected the examination.[29] On August 9, people were asked to testify as part of the penalty phase, with 3 people testifying on each side's behalf, with his brother Jason testifying against him.[30] The state of Florida told the sitting judge that they intended to seek the death penalty, but the 12 juries did not unanimously agree to send him to death, so they sentenced him to life in prison.[31] On August 12, Amato was found guilty of all three counts of first-degree murder; he received a natural life sentence for each.[32] When asked if he feels remorse, Amato responded with, "My family has been blaming me for months for ruining their lives, stealing, and not following the rules of the home, so I might as well be blamed for this too."[33]

Notes

  1. ^ Time zone differences make other reports of it happening on the 25th.[1]

References

  1. ^ "FL v. Amato: The Prosecution's Case". Court TV. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Seminole County Sherrif's Office (December 20, 2018). CJIS REPORT (PDF) (Report). p. 2. Retrieved March 5, 2022. DOB: 5/20/1989
  3. ^ "About Me". chad-amato. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Vanapalli, Viswa (May 28, 2021). "Where is Grant Amato Now?". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Williams, Michael. "Obsession, money, lies tore Grant Amato's family apart. A jury will decide whether he killed them". orlandosentinel.com.
  6. ^ a b Wiseman, A. J. (December 13, 2020). "For The Love Of A Cam Girl".
  7. ^ Kuta, Sarah (October 19, 2021). "Grant Amato Murdered His Family for a Webcam Model He Never Met". A&E. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Florida man allegedly stole $200K for woman he met on adult website before killing his parents and brother". www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  9. ^ "Grant Amato Grand Theft". Scribd. February 26, 2022. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022. According to a letter of apology written 10 Florida Hospital that was submitted to evidence, Amato stated that he administered the drug to patients who were not being adequately relaxed by docto-ordered medication.
  10. ^ a b Swenson, Kyle. "He spent $200,000 on a Bulgarian 'cam girl.' Police say the obsession led to a massacre". Washington Post. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  11. ^ "Florida man obsessed with Bulgarian camgirl before allegedly killing his family, records show". Fox News. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  12. ^ "Florida nurse, 30, spared death penalty and jailed for life for murdering his family execution-style | Express Digest". August 13, 2019.
  13. ^ "Cops Say Florida Man Killed Family, Stole $210K for His Porn Site 'Girlfriend'". Investigation Discovery. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  14. ^ "Surviving brother of man accused of killing parents, brother testifies in court". WFTV. July 26, 2019.
  15. ^ Croucher, Shane (August 13, 2019). "Florida man who killed parents and brother for cutting off his relationship with webcam model avoids death penalty". Newsweek.
  16. ^ "Grant Amato Executed His Mom, Dad, And Brother For A Bulgarian Sex Cam Model". Talk Murder To Me. September 21, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  17. ^ Weiner, Jeff. "Grant Amato appeals murder convictions, life sentence for killings of parents, brother". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  18. ^ Lotan, Gal Tziperman; Williams, Michael; Jeff, Weiner (April 16, 2019). "Man accused of killing parents and brother admits to concocting false life". Pilot Online. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  19. ^ McDaniel, Dave (July 24, 2019). "State prosecutors: Grant Amato staged scene to look like murder-suicide". WESH. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  20. ^ "'I shed a lot of tears': Alabama pastor returns from Ukraine, details leaving during invasion". WVTM 13. March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  21. ^ "Grant Amato has been located" (PDF) (Press release). Seminole County, Florida: Seminole County Sherrif's Office. January 26, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  22. ^ "Affidavit for arrest warrant" (PDF). s3.documentcloud.org. p. 2. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  23. ^ WILLIAMS, MICHAEL. "Grant Amato trial: Jurors get first glimpse of Bulgarian webcam model at center of triple-homicide case". Daily Commercial.
  24. ^ Bonvillian, Crystal (January 31, 2019). "Police: Florida man killed parents, brother over $200K sent to porn site 'girlfriend'". Journal-News. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  25. ^ "Cops: FL man killed family after fight over online 'girlfriend' | Bradenton Herald". Bradenton Herald. February 7, 2019. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  26. ^ "Florida Man Grant Amato Granted Bond". Law & Crime. April 26, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  27. ^ "Judge grants bond for man accused of killing family in Seminole County". WESH. April 25, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  28. ^ Askin, Jerry (July 15, 2019). "Trial to begin for Chuluota man accused of killing his family". WKMG. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  29. ^ "Amato weeps after seeing photos of slain family". FOX 35 Orlando. July 24, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  30. ^ LePard, Clay (July 26, 2019). "Grant Amato's brother testifies for prosecution in death penalty case". WKMG. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  31. ^ Wildman, Asher (August 12, 2019). "Triple-Murderer Grant Amato Sentenced to Life Without Parole". www.mynews13.com. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  32. ^ WEINER, JEFF. "Grant Amato gets life for killing parents, brother over Bulgarian webcam model". The Ledger.
  33. ^ "A Florida man is accused of stealing $200,000 from his family and sending it to a camgirl before murdering them". Newsweek. January 29, 2019.
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