Law&Crime Sidebar - Ghost Hunter’s Wife Plotted His Murder with Famous Inmate: Cops

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Victoria Goodwin, the wife of “Ghost Adventures” star Aaron Goodwin, allegedly communicated with an inmate on the other side of the country about killing her husband. That inmate, Grant Amato, gained notoriety after spending huge amounts of money on a woman he met on a webcam site and eventually killing his entire family in a complex plot to be with her. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses the latest with Det. Eric Barnes.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get Relief Today! Visit https://dermazen.co/sidebar for an extra 10% off and free shipping.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. It's a haunted house. She's definitely afraid of haunted houses, but at least it's not real ghost. Well, there are real ghosts in here, actually. Ah, no. Send help. What seemed like a fairy tale romance for ghost adventure. star Aaron Goodwin has turned into a chilling nightmare. His wife, Victoria, is now accused of plotting his murder with a convicted killer from a Florida prison.

Somebody you may recognize. Behind their picture perfect social media post lies an alleged twisted scheme that has left the paranormal community in shock. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, this is just a bizarre one, to say the least. to say the least. What began with a seemingly fairy tale beginning has turned into a real life

nightmare for Ghost Adventures star Aaron Goodwin because his wife, Victoria, now stands accused of plotting his murder in such a chilling scheme that honestly, it kind of reads like a script from one of his own paranormal investigations. The wife of the Ghost Adventures host has been arrested and accused of conspiring to murder her husband in a scheme involving an inmate in a Florida prison. I mean, this is shocking because you have this alleged dark and twisted plot and that couldn't contrast more with the couple's seemingly happy public persona, particularly online. Now here's what we know. The story takes us back to October of last year when authorities say Victoria Goodwin initiated contact with an inmate in a Florida prison.

And TMZ says that they have identified this inmate as Grant Amato, who is a convicted killer himself. Now, when I read the story and I heard Gran Amato, my ears perked up. Why? I've been at long crime since 2017. If you have been following long crime for a while, you might remember this guy because as a matter of fact, we covered his trial. He is serving a life sentence for a shocking triple murder. A former nurse, he was convicted in 2019 for the brutal killings of his father, his mother, and his brother in their Florida home. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of first degree premeditated murder. Further finding, we further find beyond a reasonable doubt that during the commission of the offense, the defendant personally carried, displayed, used, threatened to use, or attempted to use a firearm or a weapon.

Further finding, we further find that during the commission of the crime, the defendant actually possessed a firearm. Further finding, two, we further find that during the commission of the crime, the definite discharged a firearm. Further finding three, we further find that during the commission of the crime, the defendant discharged a firearm and caused the death of Margaret Amato. Verdict, count two, Chad Amato. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. Further finding, we further find beyond a reasonable doubt that during the commission of the offense, the defendant personally carried, displayed, used, threatened to use, or attempted to use a firearm or a weapon. further findings one we further find that during the commission of the crime the defendant actually possessed a firearm further finding two we further find that during the commission of the crime the defendant discharged a firearm further findings three we further find that during the commission of the crime the defendant discharged a firearm and caused the death of chattamato verdict count three cody a motto we the jury find the defendant guilty of first degree premeditated murder further finding we further find beyond a reasonable doubt that during the commission of the offense, the defendant personally

carried, displayed, used, threatened to use, or attempted to use a firearm. And his crimes were later featured in the Paramount documentary, Control Alt Desire, which delved into the disturbing details of his actions. And according to police documents that were obtained by TMZ, Victoria allegedly discussed plans with a motto to have Aaron killed while he was on location filming his popular Discovery Plus show. And by the way, just a and aside here in case you're not familiar, Ghost Adventures follows paranormal investigators Zach Baggins and his team, which includes Aaron Goodwin as they explore haunted locations all over the world.

Pretty crazy story, right? Look, but we wanted to bring this one to you. We definitely wanted to shed a light on this and dedicate an episode to that. And let me just quickly call out and thank our sponsor for helping make this episode happen, and that is Dermazin. Now look, there is a big issue that is affecting a lot of people out there. It is Dandruff. Most people assume that this is just from a dry,

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circulation. So experience flake-free confidence every day. Go to dermazin.com slash sidebar for an extra 10% off and free shipping or tap the link below to get yours today. Now, back to the case. What makes this all really, really strange is that the couple, as I mentioned, seem to be living this fairy tale life. Social media posts from both Aaron and Victoria paint a happy picture of the two. They even tied the knot in a whimsical ceremony at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in August of 2022. But apparently behind the scenes, their marriage might have been in some trouble. And as I mentioned earlier, this alleged plot supposedly involved this inmate Grant Amato.

And according to police, Victoria told investigators that she first learned about Amato through the documentary that I mentioned before and began corresponding with him as pen pals while he was incarcerated. And despite his alleged role in this scheme, though, Gran Amato has not yet been charged by Nevada prosecutors in connection with this alleged attempted contract killing. Now, before we go any further into this, I want to bring back onto the show, Detective Eric Barnes, who always helps us out when it comes to these very strange investigations. Detective, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate you taking the time. Just your overall thoughts on this? I mean, what part do you want to hit first? Do you want to hit the fact that, you know, they got this television star whose wife is now accused of trying to plot

his murder or the fact that you have somebody on the outside who allegedly has been contacting an inmate to carry out a murder for hire plot. We're going to get through all the details, but this is unique. Yeah, there is, Jesse. It's a lot to unpack here. Anytime you hear about someone plotting to kill, someone they're married to, you know, that in itself is just full of questions. But then when you start adding in the fact that, You have a reality TV stars contacting inmates. I mean, this is just unbelievable. How common are murder for hire plots?

Murder for hire is one of those things that doesn't. It's not a common occurrence. Like you don't, you don't come across those too often. A detective may investigate maybe one their whole career. You know, this is a big question that I don't ask enough. If this is true, taking these allegations is true. Why would somebody resort to this as opposed to a divorce if she was truly unhappy. I mean, we could talk about that generally, how many times spouses are accused or

end up killing, you know, accused of killing or convicted of killing their significant other. Why go that route as opposed to a divorce? Well, you know, I was reading the article, you know, I'm not investigating the case, so I haven't had time to kind of dig into the evidence and once more gets released, I think we'll definitely be able to tell. But, you know, one of the first indicators in situations like this when marriage seems to be going down and the fact that he, He's a television star. You know, sometimes people are worth more dead than they are alive. And so I always tend to think that financial matters are a huge motivator in these situations.

Now, I'm going to get a little bit more into the grant motto connection to this. But why do you think he hasn't been charged yet, criminally charged in connection with this plot? Prosecutors are very, very careful on cases like this. You also have to take into account that his past history has a, inmate and his credibility may be something that they don't want to rush the judgment with just using his statements. Also, he may be cooperating. It just depends on what strategy the prosecutors are using. And I think that is going to heavily rely upon the type of evidence that they've already secured on the case. So that's interesting because let's talk about what the

evidence is. How did they find this out? Well, while Amato is not yet facing charges, police say it was through him that they were able to actually uncover this alleged scheme. Because according to the complaint that TMZ reviewed, Florida prison officials discovered and seized a contraband phone that he was apparently using. And what they reportedly discovered on there was chilling. Text messages, exchange between Victoria and the inmate, if verified as evidence, they are quite damning. Because according to the Daily Mail in one message, Victoria allegedly appears to have written, am I a bad person? Because I chose to end his existence, not divorce. Now, how exactly was Victoria supposedly working with this inmate? So in October, again, this is according to the

Daily Mail, Aaron was in California filming Ghost Adventures with his longtime co-star, Paranormal Investigators, Zach Baggins. And police say Victoria provided this inmate with his filming schedule and his hotel location so that this would be carried out while he was out of state. The couple actually reside in Nevada. And the criminal complaint revealed more of these texts as reported by the Daily Mail where the inmate, Gran Amato, allegedly messaged the purported hitman saying he's asleep right now in the hotel room. I need to know what's going on. Can I get an update? Was it done? So this suggests that there might be more to this because we don't really know how far Victoria allegedly took this plot. If she did plot this, what happened to the

hitman? We know Aaron was never actually confronted by any sort of hitman. So what happened to that person? How did Amato get in contact with that person? Are police still searching for him? As of right now, it's all uncertain. That's what makes us also quite bizarre. But what we do know is that authorities claim Victoria agreed to pay the hitman a total of $11,515, very specific amount there, with an upfront payment of $2,500. And after months of investigating, police arrested her on March 6th and Clark County Nevada on charges of solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy murder. She was held on a $100,000 bail made her first court appearance yesterday for an arraignment. And she has denied these allegations. Her defense is that this was all just a fantasy.

that she was never intending to do anything to Aaron. And regarding the text messages, as reported by TMZ, she claimed that she was just, quote, daydreaming or fantasizing about being without her husband. And as for the money that she allegedly sent to the inmate, she claims that was just for the inmate to have a cell phone, not for a murder-for-hire plot. Problem is, and this is key,

she apparently did admit to authorities that her marriage with Aaron was in some kind of trouble, or at the very least admitted to police that she told a motto that her marriage was in trouble. But there are two things that make this difficult to understand. For one, as I mentioned earlier, you really wouldn't see the signs of distress by the looks of the couple's online persona. And second, Aaron apparently didn't think anything was wrong in their marriage. Sources close to Aaron, who, by the way, has over 660,000 Instagram followers and is a beloved figure in the paranormal community,

reportedly told TMZ that he was, quote, blindsided and devastated at this turn of events. And the sources also told TMZ that he believed he was in a happy marriage and had no idea about his wife's alleged scheming. Back to Detective Barnes. Detective, how do investigators determine whether text messages like the ones I read? Like, for example, am I a bad person because I chose to end his existence, not divorce? How do they know that's a genuine threat or a genuine step towards trying to carry out this plot? You know, I think the first step, Jesse, is just determining the validity of those texts was, was Aaron actually out of town at the location?

she was providing. I think determining his schedule and seeing if he was actually where the text said he was, I think that is going to tell you right there. And, you know, good luck to having somebody believed that this was just some fantasy. When you start discussing large sums of money and cash being exchanged and you're on a legal cell phone inside a prison with someone that's already associated with committing a murder, it's just very hard for an average person to delve into that. Well, that specific amount is weird too, right? That specific amount of the money? Yes, and I would be interested as to why that number was that number. And, you know, those things are going to all be cooperated by the interviews that they do

the law enforcement does with the alleged hitman and also the middleman that helps set this up. By the way, how does an inmate have a cell phone? Sometimes, you know, in these facilities, there are ways that inmates get things that they want. You know, sometimes when visitors may smuggle it in, and sometimes, you know, there's guards that bring in contraband. And it's just a problem that we deal with because, you know, money talks. And sometimes people's values are questioned. Have you seen cases before? Maybe not necessarily where somebody sees a story of a convicted killer and then decides to contact them and then orchestrated murder for hire plot. But have you seen cases before where

somebody who is behind bars is able to orchestrate a crime on the outside? Again, assuming these allegations are true? You know, those sort of things are pretty common because, you you know, if you look at the wife, she probably doesn't associate with these type of individuals that are willing to do murder for hires. So she doesn't know where to go to do something like that and that's not the world that she lives in. So when she reaches out to someone, she's taking a very big risk. Even with an inmate, like that's his way, essentially, if he's able to drum up this conversation enough, that may be something that he can get to his attorney and take to a prosecutor and help get out of jail a little bit sooner because he's helped unravel this murder for hire

apply. And so you just never can be trusting of individuals in this situation. And the more people you get involved in these type situations, the greater risk there is that someone else is going to make a mistake. No, that's a great point. That's a great point. I am curious though, like whether it's not even a type of crime like this or whatever it is, but is it possible? Do you see it common that people who are locked up are able to communicate to someone on the outside like a purported hitman who they can't find, carry out attack X, Y, and Z? Do you? this. I mean, I imagine he's not the only person who, again, assuming the allegations are true, who are able to do this and coordinate activity on the outside of prison.

You know, it's more typical in drug and narcotic investigations, not typically murder for hire investigations. I mean, you are basically, you're planning a murder over text messages. You know, it's just very unhurtle because people are trying to keep those, keep those playing secret. And for you to send it in texts into a phone that's inside a facility, it just doesn't make much sense. Now, by the way, I mentioned we still don't know who this purported hitman is or if there really is one. So I'm going to ask it to you two different ways. If there is one, what are police likely doing to try to track down this person? And if there isn't one, do you think that would help Victoria's defense that maybe this wasn't real? That's a touchy situation. I think that

regardless of whether there was a hitman or not, her plan is still there. It sounds like her plan was there and she was making plans. The thing that you mentioned earlier about the $2,500 deposit, I would be interested as to see how that money changed place with the middleman being locked up in prison. She couldn't physically drop off the cash to him. So I would love to know that there are bank transactions that maybe they could tie to a third individual. Why would Grant Amato be interested in being involved in this?

Any idea? If he's not getting money and he doesn't have a connection to this and this is a complete stranger. I mean, I don't know. Maybe they were having some sort of communication and he felt for her in some way. I don't know. But you tell me what you might be investigated. If you were a part of this investigation and you're trying to see what his connection is, why he would get involved in this. What can you tell us?

I don't know what his connection could be at this point. Other than there's some financial gain that would come out of it. But if you're already locked up, I mean, what is it going to provide for you? Some extra commissary, a few bags of chips, you know, extra phone calls. I don't know what he could get out of this communication. That would be enough for him to take this kind of risk. Sometimes people are lured into the fact that, you know, he's actually having a conversation with the female on the outside,

and she's a very high-profile female because of her association with her husband. So that could be interesting as well on his behalf. But it just doesn't make sense on why he would get involved in this if he's not going to have some great benefit. So I want to dive a little bit more into, what makes this case really strange other than everything I mentioned, and it's the fact that this whole, and I keep using this word, but the whole seemingly fairy tale love story that these two had going on, and then now what she's accused of doing, because at least you have to wonder,

maybe is that what Victoria allegedly wanted people to think about their lives? So before we get into the social media posts, I just got to get a little bit more background about these two. So you have Aaron Goodwin. He's this longtime investigator, cameraman for the hit paranormal series, Ghost Adventures. According to his bio on the travel channel, It says, referred to by many as a teddy bear or Zach's bait of choice. Aaron actually hates to be left alone in addicts or just about anywhere. You can also expect to hear him say dude about 20 times per episode. Always armed with a camera.

Aaron travels around the world with the team to record with the experience in each haunted location. Now, Victoria, who apparently describes herself on Instagram as an athlete and rare illness plus C-P-T-Sd warrior, has been open about her struggles with Achalasia. This is a rare condition that affects swallowing. and in her journey with chronic illness, she did an interview back in December on the motivational talks with Ash podcast, and she spoke about her diagnosis,

how it derailed her dreams of becoming a professional golfer. And she's also been an advocate for mental health and chronic illness awareness, sharing her story to inspire others. And back to you, Detective Barnes, in cases like this, where you have one person who seems blindsided by the other's actions,

how often do you see that in your experience? Do people typically show signs of being unaware that this comes out of nowhere. Typically, you know, one, there is one party this, quote-unquote, left in the dark. My heart goes out to Aaron, you know, and I can't imagine being blindsided by something like this. Not only is he losing someone that he chose to be a partner with, but to realize that, you know, she was actually plotting to have him killed.

I can't imagine that. And I also think this is a great occasion for law enforcement that we are actually able to intervene before the act took place. Yeah. You know, it's one of those things that people that are involved in these relationships, you just never know what pushes someone else over edge. And you never know what goes on behind closed doors. People can portray that life is great to everyone on the outside. And obviously, she did a great job if her husband didn't realize there was big problems.

Yeah, it's true because you really don't know what people are capable of or what's going on. And let me put this in a different perspective. So I want to do a deep dive now into the social media posts. We analyzed multiple posts, both on Aaron's account and Victoria's account. And they paint this picture of a loving relationship. From what we can see, they've been together since at least 2018. The oldest post that we could find was from November of 2018. It reads, I'm so thankful for her.

She is there for me when I'm down and up and makes me laugh all day. She's so wonderful. I love every minute with her. The two even had, as I mentioned, their wedding at the haunted mansion in Disneyland. Aaron posted photos of the couple on that special day, writing, It finally happened. We got married. After postponing many times due to COVID, we got our day. I couldn't be happier. 2023, Aaron took Victoria to a haunted house, documented that adventure with her, as seen here. Got this, babe. I don't like it. I might throw up. It's a haunted house. She's definitely afraid of haunted houses,

but at least it's not real ghost. Well, there are real ghosts in here, actually. Ah, no. Send help. And then back in August of last year, Aaron posted in commemoration of their anniversary writing two years ago, today. I got to marry my best friend. I'm so lucky to have you in my life, hun. And then on Valentine's day this year, so that's February, about what, four months after the alleged plot and just weeks before Victoria's arrest, Victoria shared a photo of the two of them, playing mini golf, captioning it, mini golf with my Valentine. And then this Lego set, she built for Aaron, captioning it, finally finished my Valentine gift, I love you so much. And Chelsea has post-commemorating their first date in anniversaries.

and maybe get lost. The Lost and that Jurassic Park tour. This is the east side of Oahu. You're about 40 minutes from North Shore here. It's cool. You got to check it out. It's awesome. So many cool things to see.

Music videos filmed here. Lost. You love Lost. You're going to love this place. Plus, loss is filmed on other islands. So we got a lot of work to do. Lost. Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Hawaii 5-0, Jammongi.

Sorry. Not all of us. Those are a million feet tall. Okay, detective, a lot to make here. How often do investigators look at these social media posts? What are they looking at it for? And what do you think the significance of it could be in this kind of case? Jesse, the significance of social media is that any person can be whoever they want to be on social media.

And it could be the furthest person from reality. You have the ability to create images and it portrayed to the world and basically paint a picture. Use pictures and posts to kind of give people insight into what you want them to see. And it sounds like she was doing that. You know, if the allegations are true, then what she appeared to be doing was painting a picture of this perfect relationship and staying in character, you know, to give herself an alibi. That could be a very good prosecution argument. The defense's argument would be, she didn't do this. She loves her husband. Look at these posts. Look at this. How can someone fake this? How can someone orchestrate a plot?

to kill and then be, you know, love you w, you'd have to be a sociopath to be able to do this. And I think that's, I wonder if that would be a point of contention or a point of disagreement moving forward, detective. It sounds like it would. I think that there's a very key point as well in this that I think the defense would have to overcome. And that's the fact that the plot and the plan was for this to take place while he was out of town. Yeah. And I think, again, it gives her further distance away from the crime. You know, when it happens in your own backyard, the spouse is the first. person police look at. But when you're hundreds of miles away from your residence,

you know, it kind of gives the wife a little room and gives her an alibi that, you know, I was here at my house, minding my business in my daily routine, and I'm a victim of this crime. It's a really, really good point. Look, I'll tell you this, as of now, Victoria remains in custody, but Aaron Goodwin's future remains uncertain. I will tell you, though, one thing is clear. This paranormal investigator who spent years confronting ghosts and spirits, he now faces a chilling reality far closer to home detective eric barns thanks so much for coming on it was great seeing you appreciate you taking the time thanks jesse all right everybody that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on

youtube apple podcast spotify wherever you should get your podcast i'm jesse weber speak to you next time You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.