True Crime All The Time - Grant Amato

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Grant Amato’s life took a downward spiral after he was fired from his nursing job for suspected theft. He then began chatting online with a cam model and stole thousands of dollars from his family to maintain contact with her. When the family gave him an ultimatum, a confrontation ensued that ended with Grant murdering his parents and brother. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Grant Amato and the murders of his family. What went so wrong in Grant's life that he felt he needed to murder his family? This is a family that had tried to support him and get him help every step of the way. They went to extreme lengths to help him get back on a good path, but he only cared about one thing.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 408 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing okay. How about you? I'm doing pretty good. Good. You kind of waffled as we were doing our weekly Patreon thing.

You said, I'm doing great. Well, you know, I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing okay. It kind of went down. It constantly evolves. You're evaluating it every second. Second. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts.

We had Lori Carlson. Hey, Lori. Brett Richards. What's going on, Brett? Claire Bradbury. Well, thank you, Claire. Kaylee Marie. Ah, good old Kelly.

Kay Kat. What's going on? Ket Katz. Hey, Kitsune. Hey, K-Mose. Amber. Good old Amber. Gabriel, Callender.

You sure you're saying that right? I think so. Okay. Hey, Gabriel. Jennifer Davis. What's going on, Jennifer? And last but not least, Candice, Candice, Cotton is back with us at our highest level.

Man, I love that. Thank you. Yeah, we've missed her. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Jamie Jay. Thanks, JJ. Yeah. So we appreciate the Patreon support. And we also had a great PayPal donation from Sarah Futea.

Futea. It's a fun name to say. It is. Gibbs, we have a brand new episode out on True Crime All the Time Unsolved, where we're talking about the 1993 abduction and murder. of 10-year-old Holly Peranian. Pretty infamous case, well-known case. And it's going on a little over three decades now unsolved.

Yeah, it's unbelievable that it's still unsolved. But we're covering it. Yes, we will. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Grant Amato. Gran Amato's life took a downward spiral after he was fired from his nursing job for suspected theft.

He then began chatting online with a cam model. And he stole thousands of dollars from his family to kind of maintain contact with her. And once they found out, tragedy ensued. Sounds like maybe there was some obsession there. Well, yeah, we're going to get into a lot of different things and probably talk extensively about this world of online modeling. cam models type stuff. And I know you're going to be able to provide a lot of insight.

So I'm looking forward to that. Grant Amato grew up in Florida with his parents, Margaret and Chad and his brother Cody. Grant also had a half brother named Jason who didn't live with the family at the time of the murders. Grant and Cody were inseparable. They joined their high school weightlifting team together, attended nursing school together, and later decided to attend nurse. Aastatist school together. That is a hard word to say.

But an impressive feel to go into. Yeah. And I think you can make quite a bit of money in that. Yeah. Now, from my understanding, there's a great deal of liability there. Because the anesthesia part, there's a lot of things that can go wrong. And that is why I always have done it on the side for people that need it. More of a side gig.

Yeah. Behind the shop. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Grant and Cody wanted to buy matching BMWs and live in their parents' home after Chad and Margaret moved to their retirement home in Tennessee. Matching BMWs. I know you've been trying to get me to go in with you and buy matching something or others. And I've kind of poo-pooed that idea.

Well, I mean, I enjoy my truck. Which does match my truck. Yeah, you went out and got the same truck. You just bought yours after I bought mine. We didn't go. matchies, you just copied me. Wasn't it you that copied me? No. Because you got yours first. It means I'm the one of copy me? Yes, that's kind of how that works.

Cody graduated from the nurse anesthetist program, but Grant failed out, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Grant worked as a nurse at Advent Health Orlando, but was suspected of stealing medication from the hospital and improperly administering medications to patients. Well, that's a problem. It's a huge problem. We've done a lot of cases about bad nurses, right? Not just bad, but evil, kind of using medication, angels of death, killing their patients. Right. Now, I'm sure there are a lot of nurses who maybe just aren't great at their job. I mean,

you have that in every field. Oh, of course, you too. We love nurses. I'm always talking up nurses. Oh, I know. My mom was a nurse. My daughter's in nursing school. So I love nurses, but you can pick any field. Some people are going to be great. Some percentage are going to be outstanding. And some people aren't going to cut it. And unfortunately, when you're in a field where it can be life and death, not cutting it is the worst thing imaginable. Of course. Yeah. Dangerous. If you're working at an office and you screw up the TPS report, well, okay, you're going to get yelled at or whatever it is. I'm going to have to work a Saturday or something. But yeah. Yeah. They might move you down to the basement, take your stapler, stuff like that. But no one's going to die. Right. As a result of your negligence. But that's not the same, you know, in the health care industry. Street. People could die. Absolutely. On June 21st, 2018, hospital staff discovered eight empty vials of Propheaval, a powerful sedative in two rooms Grant was overseen. No doctors had ordered the drugs, and records indicated Grant took them from a storage machine. Wow, eight empty vials. And we just talked about Propheaval not that long ago in an episode. We have also talked about the storage

machines, right? Storing medications, you have to put in a code that identifies you as the person that took out whatever amount of medication. It's a really good system that they have nowadays. Oh, yeah. Better than the old lock cabinet. More of an honor system type of deal. When asked, Grant told hospital authorities, he administered the drugs to patients who were not being adequately relaxed per the Florida Times Union. Now, nurses have a lot of responsibility. They do. But I don't believe taking it upon yourself to prescribe medication above and beyond what the doctor has prescribed is part of those duties. Yeah, I think you need the doctor to instruct you. Well, especially with something like this, right? A powerful sedative. It sounds like he was just making the call on his own that these people need more of this propofoil.

Doctor orders. Who needs doctor orders? I can just go ahead and give it to you now. The hospital believed he had improperly administered propofol in the past during the confrontation. Grant expressed suicidal thoughts and the police were called. He was arrested. and the hospital planned to press charges for grand theft, but those charges were later dropped. So I, you know, I set it up front, right? This is a guy who experiences a downward spiral. Well, here's the start of it. And this can happen to many people, you know, for some, your job is your identity.

Yeah. And so when things go really bad at work to the point where, you know, you lose your job. Here he's not only losing his job. They want to press charges. That can be catastrophic for some people, for many people, actually. Grant became depressed and isolated.

After losing his job, he spent hours live streaming on Twitch and visiting pornographic websites. You ever go on Twitch? No, I haven't, but I know my son used to because it's a gaming... Mm-hmm. We watch gamers play.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I go on Twitch quite a bit. A lot of the people that I play with stream on Twitch. So if I'm not playing the game and they're playing, I can actually watch them. Grant discovered Bulgarian model Sylvia Ventis Lavova, which is not an easy name to say. And I don't know if I said it correctly. So that's a difficult one.

Luckily, she went by the nickname Sylvie on an adult website called Camgirls. They began communicating in the summer of 2018. And this is where I think your expertise comes in. You know, this, this whole CAM model thing is a little foreign to me. But I know you have extensive experience with CAM modeling. What is that one thing you have? OnlyFans.

I mean, you got a lot going on. Well, it's, it's like only fans. Mm-hmm. It's just called maybe a fan. dot com please be a fan.com you know 99 cents for the first minute one cent after that but let's face

it there are a lot of these sites out there oh yeah right where people for very little investment can model themselves i'm saying that euphemistically to people who want to watch them and we'll pay for that privilege. Obviously, it's profitable. Otherwise, you wouldn't see all these different sites advertised all the time. Yeah, I don't see all these different sites advertised. So whatever you're on where you're getting these advertisements, you might want to stay off of those sites. Well, you know, as a site provider. Oh, I see how you are. Yeah. So it was reported that Grant spent thousands of dollars for videos, photos, and messages from Sylvie. He also sent her gifts, such as sex toys and lingerie. Now, you and I get a lot of gifts. We do. Not those kind.

No. Of gifts, though. No. Thankfully. Yes. And please don't start sending those types, but. Just stick with the poker chips and Twizzler, you know, all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No sex toys needed. But you use the word obsession. And I think you're seeing that play out, right? He meets this girl, not in real life, virtually through this cam girl site. But he's talking with her. He's seeing her. He's getting pictures, videos, but he's paying a lot of money to continue that contact.

The relationship that I think he's in. And you're using your air quotes. and I get it. Right. This is not a real relationship. This woman is offering a service for money. Now, she may act like you're the greatest thing in the world. But at the end of the day, do any of these CAM models really care about these men? No. No. Maybe it happens every now and them, but by and large, they may act like that, but they don't want anything to do with them in real life. I mean, it's, it's their job to sell themselves really, kind of.

Just like, if you go to a strip club, the guy will sell himself to the women that are there, so that they tip better, the women will sell themselves better. You know, they act like they really, really like you when they probably really don't care that much about you. Yeah. Yeah, you seem to have a lot of experience and on both sides, apparently. You know, I had my own strip routine. I know you do. I know you do. The nursing home, they, you know. But this is a lot of money for a guy who no longer has a job. Yeah. So he began stealing money from his family to fund this secret obsession. Grant later told investigators is quoted by people. It wasn't my intention to keep talking to this woman, but it just sort of happened.

Grant believed, as he said, he and Sylvie had an emotional connection. Now, did he really believe that? Probably yes. Did she feel the same way? My thought is no. But it was reported Gibbs that Grant eventually stole over $200,000 from his family. How does that even happen? Yeah, it's hard to imagine siphoning, and I'll use that word, that much money from your family.

According to an arrest affidavit, Grant stole $150,000 from his mother and father, including a $60,000 loan. He took out on their house and another $60,000 from his brother, Cody. He also stole and sold his brother's guns. He asked for money under the guy. of wanting to promote his Twitch channel. Well, that's a lot of money to promote a Twitch channel that you may or may not. Make money on it. I think by and large, most people don't make money on Twitch.

You have probably a small population of people who make quite a bit of money, but they have millions of subscribers or however Twitch monetizes it, I don't know. You might say here, here's $1,000. See what you can do. Yeah, 60,000. Yeah. When Grant's family found out about the theft and what the money was being used for, they were worried about his mental health.

And I could see that. You know, hey, what are you doing? Why would you steal all this money and then give it to this woman who you believe you have an emotional connection? Right. In December 2018, Grant, Cody, and a close friend went on a trip to Japan. the brother shared an interest in anime and Japanese culture. I know you're a big fan of anime.

I am not, but there are a lot of people who are into that. According to the friend who went with them, Grant was battling depression throughout the trip. On the day they were supposed to leave, Grant went missing for a few hours because he didn't want to go home. Grant briefly stayed with his aunt Donna Amato and her husband in December, after a blow up with his father.

They hid their weapons while Grant was in their home at his parents urging. They feared Grant was suicidal and would harm himself. So pretty serious. Yeah, it sounds like a serious thing. You know, if you're worried to the point where, you know, you're hiding guns, weapons. Now, they said they thought, okay, he might want to harm himself. I might have a little concern that he might want to harm me as well. Donna Amato noticed that Grant slept during the day and stayed awake all night.

She also found strange charges on her bank statements and thought she'd been hacked. She later learned Grant stole her credit card information. His parents asked her not to press charges and Cody promised to pay her back. So they really did kind of protect him. Yeah. Yeah. And I get it, you know, if it's, you know, your child or your child or your. sibling? Do you want them to get in trouble? No. But are you also potentially enabling further bad

behavior, criminal behavior? And I think the answer is yes. Chad Amato broke down during a phone call with Donna. It was the first time. She heard him cry in the 27 years she knew him. He told her that Grant took out a line of credit in his name without permission. He allowed it to proceed. because he didn't want Grant to get in trouble for fraud and wish to protect him. And I get it. You don't want your son to get in trouble, but you're going to allow this line of credit to continue? I mean, look, I know parents love their kids. You know, I know we love our kids.

But I think you have to. At some point, step in and say, hey, you're going to have to learn and work yourself through this one. I'm not going to keep bailing you out. this is too much money. Yeah, I mean, I get not wanting charges pressed against them, but to not shut down this line of credit to just keep it open, that didn't make any sense at all. Chad said he took care of $150,000 of grants debt by remorgeting the house.

He and Margaret wanted to retire soon, but he was going to have to work for a few more years. but he would do it for Grant because he didn't want his son to go to jail. Chad's coworkers at CVS Health told the investigators he worked two jobs and was proud of his sons, but Chad was tired and stressed from working so much and dealing with Grant's issues. It would be emotionally draining, you know, dealing with your son and his issues, dealing with the financial issues as well on top of that. Well, in thinking you're going to retire in a few years,

and realizing that you're going to have to work longer just because of this. Grant got into another argument with his family. On December 19th and walked out of the house, Cody and Margaret reported him missing on the 20th. They said, Grant was depressed and possibly suicidal and had recently gone to a counselor and admitted to being severely depressed. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Margaret said she got a text from Grant, saying he was really tired of it.

everything and just going to handle it his own way. And Grant had access to firearms, which added to their work. I think I'd be concerned, too, if I got, you know, those type of texts. Yeah, you'd have to be. I'm really tired of everything. I'm just going to handle it my own way. You can definitely read into that that something could go very, very wrong. Yeah, as a parent, you're going to be absolutely concerned. Grant was found at his grandmother's house the following day. At the time, he didn't indicate a need for a psychiatric evaluation. Grant briefly returned to his Aunt Donna's house. On December 22nd, 2018, the family took shifts outside her home to prevent Grant from leaving.

They held an intervention, and Grant agreed to go to a voluntary rehab facility for pornography and internet addiction. It was a 60-day program, but Grant left on January 4th, 2019. So he wasn't there all that long, not even two weeks. Yeah, pretty short visit. Yes, for what was supposed to be a 60-day program. But, you know, we talk about addiction a lot. Right. Normally, we're talking about drugs, alcohol, things like that.

But internet. And I think especially pornography. many more people are addicted to that than we probably realize. I mean, I go back to Ted Bundy talking about pornography. Now, I don't know if he was being completely honest, but pornography can have some nasty consequences, especially an addiction to pornography, or at least that's what you've told me. but how has that world change it's changed a lot right from back when bundy was it had his addiction to today it's so much more well if he even had an addiction i'm not even right 100% sure but

yeah you're talking about stag films and magazines back back then look at today's world at the click of a button yeah you can access just about anything you want and it's pretty scary what's out there I'm sure I could grab your phone right now pull that one app one app up please do not please do not do anything on my phone so you know he leaves this program early and what does that do well obviously you're not going to get the full benefit or maybe even any benefit after that short of period of time I mean as a parent I think you're disappointed, right? Yeah. We're paying this money for you to be there. We want you to get better. And we don't feel like you're taking it serious. Well, you're not if you just leave. When he returned

home, he was confronted by Chad, Margaret, and his two brothers. He was given a two-page list of demands and an ultimatum. If he didn't follow the rules, he would not be able to live in his parents' home. So, you know, I think it sounds like at one point, they were almost enabling him a little bit. I don't want to put anything on the parents or the siblings, but obviously they're drawing a line in the sand now at this point. Hey, this cannot continue. If it does, you can't live here. You're on your own. And as tough as that may be, you know, sometimes that is exactly what has to happen.

And they used to say that. And you ever watch those addiction shows? No, not really. They would have the meeting with the family and the person that needed help. And they would tell the family, hey, the only way you're going to fix this is you've got to stop doing what you've been doing. Which is enabling. Yeah. Yeah, I've always heard that.

That's like one of the worst things that you can do. But it's hard not to as a parent. Yeah. You're going to struggle with that, right? Yeah. I don't want to see your kids suffer. You don't want to cut them off completely. But it's almost what has to happen.

So this list demanded that Grant get a job, go to therapy, pay his own cell phone bill, and pay his debts. Most importantly, he was prohibited from contacting the model Sylvie online. According to the Orlando Sentinel, part of the list said, this is critical. As Grant through his past transgressions has relied on the knowledge. the family would not report him and would cover him. Family relationship abuse beyond tolerance. This is a promise. You better heed the warning.

It's real. You chose a stranger physically non-existence over family. And they're not wrong. Pretty strong words. Pretty strong words. But again, I think they've had enough, right, by this point. And Grant agreed to this list of demands. However, it seems like they were concerned about his response to the confrontation at an unspecified date.

Cody Amato told his girlfriend that he feared Grant would kill everybody. That's kind of scary to fill that. Yeah, about your brother, your half-brother, your sibling, whatever. Yeah, but obviously something happened in Grant's response to make Cody feel that way. Margaret Amato enjoyed working with horses at a local barn. In January 2019, she told barn owner Sherry Barbinet that the past few months had been difficult because her youngest son, Grant, stole money from them. Days later, she was murdered.

On January 24, 2019, Chad Amato discovered that Grant was using his mother's cell phone to message Sylvie. A heated argument ensued, and they asked Grant to leave their home. Cody Amato didn't show up to work. On January 25, 2019, his girlfriend and a coworker called the police for a welfare check. Cody was with his girlfriend on the night of the 24th, but his father called and asked him to come home for a family emergency. According to the Florida Times Union, Cody's girlfriend asked what was going on. Cody replied that it was stupid family. nonsense. She later texted him asking for an update. He replied, all okay. Not a lot of details there. No, but you get the all okay. You're thinking nothing to worry about, right?

Yeah. Deputies arrived at the Amato house at 9.17 a.m. on January 25th, no one responded to their calls, knocks, or even the police cruiser's air horn. So deputies picked the backdoor deadbolt and entered the house. They discovered a family massacre. Margaret was slumped over her computer. Cody was found on the floor of a storage room. Still in his nursing scrubs, Chad was on the kitchen floor. All three of them had been shot execution style.

A nine millimeter handgun was found five feet from Cody's body, but a medical examiner ruled that his wounds could not have been self-inflicted. So that's an interesting ruling, right? one that they would have to determine because there had to have been a thought that maybe this was a murder suicide and that Chad ended his life after he shot his wife and son, but they made the determination. That's not what happened. But set up that way to try to make it look like that's how it happened. Maybe. Possibly. Chad had a handgun holstered on his right hit. It was a cross-draw holster. So a right-handed person would need to wear it on their left side to draw the gun.

Family members said Chad was right-handed and normally didn't carry the gun around the house. So, you know, that is very strange. I don't know if you've ever had a cross-draw holster. You kind of see them a lot of times in the Old West movies. Right. But if you're right-handed and you have a cross-draw holster on your right hip, you're not drawing that gun out easily. You almost would have to draw it out backwards. Making it tough on

yourself. Oh, very tough. Or you'd have to draw it with your left hand, which is not your dominant hand. Yeah. So that doesn't make a lot of sense. Grand Amato and his vehicle were missing. He was wanted as a person of interest in the murders. The police put out a bulletin for his 1996 Honda court. And it would make sense, right? Hey, they're going to want to talk to him. He would be a person of interest. Everyone else in the family is dead. Where's Grant? He was found on January 26th at a hotel in Orlando.

Grant agreed to speak to police, but claimed he didn't know what happened to his family. He explained that they had an argument. And he was kicked out of the house. When he left, everyone was a lot. So that's going to be a tough conversation with the police. And I would think kind of a tough sell. I was just thinking the same thing.

a tough sell that would have to be. Almost like, could it happen? Yes. But would that be just an unbelievable coincidence? That you were kicked out of the house and then someone came in and killed your entire family. Grant spoke about the list of demands given to him earlier that month and acknowledged the tension of his online relationship with Sylvie. During his interview, Grant said his father was a very angry, violent,

type of person and a harsh disciplinarian. Grant claimed he had a crooked nose because his father once elbowed him while he and his brother tried to stop him from hurting their mother. Okay. So he's bad-mouthing his father here pretty badly, right? He's basically saying he was an abuser. Yeah. Maybe he got what he deserved the way it comes across. Grant also talked more about Sylvie and said their relationship. relationship was embarrassing. Grant explained that she charged 90 tokens per minute. He spent $600 for 5,000 tokens and spent four hours a night watching Sylvie. The money came from his father and brother, but he told them the money was for ads to promote his Twitch channel.

Okay. So four hours a night watching this woman. If that's not an addiction, I, I don't know what it. Obsession. An obsession. But if you're grant and you're explaining all this to the police or investigators, what must they be thinking? It seems even stranger now that you're saying when you left, the family was alive because all these things you're telling me were kind of like,

you guys were having major problem. Yeah, some red flags in there. Grant admitted per the Orlando Sentinel, spending that amount of money, it's idiotic, especially when you're not making it. Yes, I would say that is idiotic, stupid. Not in disagreement. Well, I appreciate that. And I think it's the last part that, you know, really grabbed me, especially when you're not making it. You know, we all have our indulgences. We, you know, maybe spend a little more on something or some things than we, we, we, want to, but it's something that we really enjoy or whatever it is.

If you can afford it, pour it on. That's one thing. That's one thing. But when you're spending a bunch of money that you don't have and you're not making any money because you don't have a job and you're spending it to watch a woman four hours a night, that seems ludicrous to me. Really, nothing even tangible there. No, it's not even like you're buying a watch or you're buying a nice,

pair of shoes that you're going to be able to use. You're buying the privilege of sitting on your computer and watching this woman for four hours a night. While Grant was at rehab, his father found his conversations with Sylvie on his computer and got angry. When Grant returned, Chad changed the password to his computer and made a list of demands for Grant. I can see why everybody's going to get upset, right? We sent you to rehab. We gave you this list. One of the demands we made was no more conversations or contact with this Sylvie person. Well, we find out you're still doing it. According to an arrest affidavit, Grant told the police, he didn't think the rules were fair because he felt that the Bulgarian female was his girlfriend

and they had a relationship. Wow. His girlfriend. She's my girlfriend. We're in a relationship. Sure, I pay money to watch her on video for hours and hours, but we're in love. That's just part of the relationship. Yeah.

By this point, Cody had paid $8,000 for Grant's attorney, $10,000 for the trip to Japan, and was going to pay $15,000 for a rehab stay. Wow. That's a lot of brotherly love. It really is. I mean, I think it shows you how much Cody really cared about Grant and wanted him to get better. Grant admitted that he said he would try to find a job and stop talking to Sylvie, but it was too hard to quit chatting with her cold turkey.

He explained, I don't know how he found out, but apparently he found out. Chad told him to pack up and get out of the house. on January 24. Grant told the police, it was just a lot of yelling. It was everything that he had been telling me for the past months and months and months about just how I had ruined his retirement,

how I had pushed him back, and now he'd never be able to do the things that he wanted to do because I saddled him with a lot more expenses. Well, it's the truth. It is the truth. And how can you blame Chad for being upset about that? Here's a guy who had worked his whole life towards retirement.

We all do. And to think that you're X amount of years away from it and then all of a sudden to find out that, well, I can't retire because I don't have near the money that I did. Yeah. Now I've got to keep working. That would be very upsetting to anyone. And especially when you found out that it was as a result of something that your kid did. Grant admitted he returned.

to the house on January 25th, but fled after seeing police cars and reporters. So, you know, he's putting himself at the house on the 24th and the 25th, but also saying that when he left, the family was alive. Grant was shown photos of his family's bodies and denied any involvement. He was asked if he had any remorse. He replied per people, his family had been blaming him for months for, for ruining their lives, stealing and not following the rules of the home. So he might as well be blamed for this too.

Okay, I didn't do it, but everybody's been blaming me for all of this stuff. You might as well just blame me for the murders as well. Kind of like how a spoiled kid talk. Yeah, it just sounds very strange. Inside Grant's car, a crime scene analyst found a handwritten note. Allegedly from Cody that said, Grant, I'll take care of all your problems. I just need you back. I can't live without you, brother.

I said I'd take care of all your problems at the house and I have. No one will bother you again regarding this. Just please come home. Now, what does that note make it seem like? Well, it makes it sound like he killed the family. Yeah, either that or he had talked to the family and they gotten them to agree that Grant could come back or, you know, something along those lines. But Grant later admitted that he wrote the note, but it was his recollection of the last conversation he had with Cody.

But I'm kind of with you Gibbs. It's almost as if, you know, he wrote this note to try to cast the blame on his brother, Cody, who up to this point had done everything in the world to try to help him. Yeah. He'd gone above and beyond what most people I think would do. I think he exceeded his role as a brother. Yeah, absolutely. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Grant was arrested on January 26 but was released.

His brother Jason said he wouldn't take Grant into his home. And he was arrested on January 27th. Grant was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. After his first court appearance, Grant's attorney Jeffrey Dowdy told the press, I think we have some mental health. issues. Dowdy told people there just didn't seem to be that much emotion there, nor did there seem to be too much emotion about the loss of his family. That was concerning to us, especially for being in jail facing those types of charges. And it would be strange, right,

for a guy to not show any emotion. His mother, father, brother, all killed, shot. No emotion. prosecutors accuse Grant of staging the crime scene to make it look like his brother killed his parents and then killed himself. And again, go back to the, you know, this 9mm handgun being found just a few feet away from Cody. And then this note, right, that's found in Grant's car, it does make it seem that way. This is just another level of his obsession with this woman that he's willing to, one, not only wipe out his family, but two, try to blame his brother for it. Financial records indicated that after the murders, one of the family credit cards was used to purchase $600 of tokens for access to Sylvia. Prosecutors also alleged that after killing Chad, Grant used his father's fingerprint to access his online. line banking act. And you just talked about it gives his obsession with Sylvie. Well, now we're getting

more details, right? Right after the murders. What are Grant's first thoughts about? Sylvie. Sylvie. How can I get access to my dad's banking app? Where can I get one of my family members credit cards? I've got to buy some of these tokens. Yeah, I need to talk to her. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Grant also attempted to access his parents' life insurance policy but was denied due to his suspected connection to their deaths. You know, and we've talked many times about the fact that insurance companies don't like to pay out, right? It's kind of how they make their money. You pay your premiums and eventually they may have to pay out, but if there's a way around it, they'll find it. You know who they don't want to pay out to? Someone who has murdered their entire family.

Yeah. Or his thought to have. It's kind of like rewarding him. Well, let's, yeah, they might say, let's see how this thing plays out before we just go giving, you know, a bunch of money to him. In February, prosecutors announced they intended to seek the death penalty against Grant. At a bond hearing in March, Jason Amato testified three days after the murders, he asked Grant if he did it. Grant said no. Jason told him per the Orlando Sentinel, I want to believe you, Grant, but you're the last person. I can put in that house. And I know what happened over the last six months. I can understand that trouble that you've gone through, but it's hard for me to think that you would break to this point. I don't think anybody wants to think, you know, one of their relatives could break to this point. But I also thought it was telling Gibbs that, you know, when, you know, Grant was originally released, Jason wouldn't take him into his home. I think that tells you a lot.

That says everything. He didn't trust him. And he probably had a very high suspicion that Grant had something to do with the murder. This recorded conversation took place in an interview room at the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. The video was played at the hearing. Jason also told Grant that what hurt the most, was not being home when the murders happened. He said,

I may not have been able to stop you. You probably may have hurt me too. But at least I would have known what happened. There were several instances in the video where Jason accused Grant of committing the murders. At one point, Jason said he had to coordinate with the more to decide what to do with the bodies. And Grant would not have any say in it. Jason told him, you already made the decision on whether or not. not, they're going to live or not. And apparently Grant didn't deny committing the murders. However, his defense noted that he never admitted to them either. So he didn't say, yes, I did do it, but he didn't say, no, I didn't do it. So let's paint a scenario here. You and I are brothers,

and I'm arrested for the murder of our parents and our other brother. You come to me and say, I know you did it. Or you're basically accused. me of doing it, if I didn't have anything to do with it, wouldn't I protest my innocence from the mountaintop? Absolutely. You would think most people would. Yeah, why wouldn't you? Now, it's not an admission of guilt, but it does seem very strange.

Not to say, hey, you got this all wrong. I didn't have anything to do with this. Well, such a simple thing to do, right? It's pretty easy. Prosecutors released several hundred pages of documents and hours of audio. and hours of audio and video interviews on April 15, 2019, in a typed letter. Grant admitted to six friends from an online porn group that he had been lying.

He didn't drive a BMW. He lived at home with his parents, and he was not a professional gamer. He felt anger towards his family after they forced him to get treatment for sex and internet addiction. The letter wasn't dated, but it was typed after Grant was released from clinic in January 2019. The first thing that really jumped out of me is that he's sending this to six friends

from an online porn group. Maybe that, maybe find your friends from a different place. I'm just trying to figure out, whoa, it's a porn group. I don't know. But apparently that's where he met his friends or where they congregated.

I mean, I know you play video games. Yeah, Xbox. Xbox. And you have people. that play with you. Yeah, I have friends on there.

This seems like a whole different kind of scenario here. Yeah, I don't think they're the same. But again, he's also lying to them. He's pumping himself up as much more than what he really is. Yes. You know, I'm successful. I drive a BMW. I'm a professional gamer.

Meanwhile, you're not. You live at home. You got fired from your job. As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Grant wrote that his father was controlling and abusive and his mother was simply around for security. I don't even know what that means. You're simply around for security. He wrote that Cody was also controlling and doesn't understand how I could care for someone as much as I cared for Sylvie. I don't think any of us understand.

That's what I was going to say. I mean, she's a cam model. And I'm not putting those people down. No. How you want to make your living is how you want to make your living. But to think that you have a connection with this person that you're paying to chat with. In the same way, you know, as a real life boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, that is, that's out there, man. Yeah, just because she says, hey, honey, how'd your day go today?

doesn't mean she wants to be with you. But I don't think there's any doubt. He obviously viewed it in a much deeper relationship type of way. Well, I'm sure he loved the attention that he got, that he paid to get. He was depressed about his loss of contact with Sylvie. Grant also wrote, I hate myself for what I did. And I hate the thought of never getting to be with her again. after everything that I gave and everything that I tried to do with her.

I just can't comprehend being without her. You were never with her in the beginning. To begin with, to start with. He wrote that while he was at the clinic, his family hacked his computer and gained access to his phone records and personal things related to Sylvie. The letter continued, seeing her be able to be so happy without me. And her life is something I hope you guys never have to live.

through it's a feeling that rips your heart out and makes you realize how pointless everything is without her it makes you give up on life as i have without her well she was happy without you because that's how she was every day you were just another number another client that paid her yeah but in his mind he can imagine her being happy without him you know when she was to when she turned the little cam off, went to the bank, and seen how much money that was in there. That's when she was the happiest, not why she was on the cam with you or any other guy. On May 31st, prosecutors released more files containing dozens of pornographic images and videos from a flash drive seized by the police. The files also contained text between Grant and Sylvie and a handwritten note she sent Grant in December 2018.

In June 2019, the state attorney released emails between Grant and a filmmaker. He wrote that he hoped to find money for bail. In one email, he wrote, If you happen to know any millionaires who would like to post my bond, I'd be eternally grateful and I'd give exclusive rights to you for my story. Grant also referenced Sylvie writing, she had nothing to do with anything that has happened. She was just a service provider.

Yeah, well, she certainly didn't kill his family. family. At a hearing on June 19th, Grant got on the stand and discussed anime and Japanese culture with the prosecution. The hearing concerned the admissibility of several pieces of evidence. The prosecution wanted to present a trial. The defense wanted to toss all evidence collected by deputies from the family home. Prosecutors wanted to use Grant's email password hint against him. The hint word was Shunagami, a Japanese deity that invites humans to their deaths. I'm assuming

that has something to do with anime. Again, I don't know that much about anime. Kind of morbid though. Yeah, a little morbid, but Grant testified that he'd been using this as a password hint for seven years. He was familiar with the deity because it was featured in the anime death note, which he and Cody liked. He didn't know its cultural equivalence to the Grim Reaper until the prosecution mentioned it in a court motion. But it would be a hard name the guess.

It would be. And also, I don't know what that means, you know, as it relates to him killing his family. The fact that he liked anime and that he used that word or that for his password hint. Jury selection for Grant's trial started on July 15th, 2019. Prosecutors argued that Grant's obsession with the webcam model led him to stealing over $200,000 from his family. He killed them when they tried to cut him off and then staged it to look like a murder suicide. The defense argued that there was a lack of evidence against Grant and suggested the presence of marijuana and growing equipment found in the home might have led to the murders.

The state countered that any marijuana in the home appeared to be for. for personal use. So the defense is almost making it seem like they, they have a whole marijuana grow operation there and that they might have been killed because of it. I mean, the defense is going to try to put their best scenario forward, try to protect him, but.

Any scenario. Yeah. Right? That the jury might latch on to. The defense also noted that certain evidence was not collected or tested inside the home. And investigators never, considered alternative suspects. Okay. Was there an alternative suspect? Or did Grant a motto just

leap off the page, you know, as the most viable suspect? Yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with them not pursuing anybody else if they believe that Grant was the prime suspect. Well, if you had evidence that it could potentially be someone else, then sure, that would be a problem. But if, you know, all signs and everything is pointing towards Grant, then it's pretty hard to check out or investigate someone else if you don't have anything that leads to someone else. Jason Amato testified that on the day the bodies were found, investigators came to his workplace and told him a woman and two men were found in the

house, Jason was quickly ruled out as a suspect. A month before the murders, he attended a family intervention for Grant and took Grant to a clinic for treatment. This was the last time. He saw Chad, Cody, and Margaret a lot. So we had talked about how much Cody had done for Grant. Sounds like Jason did, you know, some things for him as well. The whole family had tried to help him. Yeah, it seemed like they were all involved at some level. Jurors heard from FBI agent George Bynerth, who testified about Cody and Chad's cell phone usage before their deaths. January 24th, there were several calls from Cody to his father and the Holmes landline. One call was 23 minutes long, but it's not known who he was talking to.

Cody's phone was last turned on at 205 a.m. on, on January. January 25th. After this, there were no more network events or interactions with the phone. Two of Grant's friends testified outside of the jury's presence. One friend testified that his card information was stolen and used for payments on a webcam site. The other testified that his gun was stolen. And prosecutors believed the murder weapon was in IWI, Jericho 941 handgun, owned by Blake Turpin, who was Cody and Grant's best friend. IWI Jericho. I've never heard of that.

Me neither. But Turpin testified that he discovered his gun was missing in June. He remembered Grant being unsupervised in his bedroom, where he kept the gun for about 10 minutes, two weeks before the murders. The defense argued that Turpin was manufacturing evidence because he knew the murder weapon had not been found. It's a pretty big claim saying that he manufactured the evidence.

Well, obviously the defense doesn't want the jury to believe that Grant stole this Blake Turpin's gun and used it to murder his family. The judge determined this testimony was admissible. And I think that's a blow to the defense. These are two of Grant's friends, one testifying that, you know, he stole his credit card information. The other one testifying. that his gun was stolen and Grant was there at his house, had access to it at the time it was stolen. Now, he can't say for certain that Grant stole it, but it's still damaging. At trial, the jury was shown photos of Sylvie and watched a video of Grant asking for

free videos from her. He said, per the daily commercial, I'm asking you if you can please, pretty please, send me one of your videos. I love it. so much when you just send it to me, I don't like buying your stuff. It makes me feel weird. Because you don't have a relationship with her. That's why she wants you to buy it. Because that's what she does for a living. But you can see how his mind is working. Honey, I don't like buying your stuff. It makes me feel weird because, you know, we're close. We have a relationship. But as you've said, multiple times. No, there was no. There was no. relationship in the way that he thought there was right there's a relationship it's just a

client and cam model relationship a business relationship it's a business relationship you know if you had to uh pay your wife every time you wanted to talk to her you know i'm glad you said talk to her i appreciate that you know um it would one you would you would you'd be like i'm just not going to pay it first of all i'd have a lot more money than i do now But, but, yeah, I mean, you just wouldn't be in that relationship. Wait, I got to pay you to talk about stuff? No, it's not a relationship. I mean, I have to pay you to do something I don't really want to do anyway.

Yeah. No, but I get what you're saying. Forensic investigator Geraldine Blett testified that a thumb drive with explicit pictures was connected to Grant's computer at 1132 p.m. on the night of the murders. seven minutes later, Cody's iPhone was connected to Grant's computer. At 1142, the phone was put into recovery mode. As quoted by the daily commercial, Blay testified, based on everything else that I had examined, I believe the person was trying to wipe the phone.

As you know, it's hard to wipe phones. I don't know that it's hard to wipe phones because every time I buy a new one, they just transfer the old stuff from my new one and they take the old one. I don't know what they do with it. But I'm not worried because I don't have anything on there that is compromising, let's say. I'd like the letter that you got in the mail said. Yeah, unlike you who won't let your phone out of your site, if I even start to pick it up, you leap across the table. Afraid I'm going to see something, I shouldn't.

Activate my destruction button on it. A crime scene manager testified that blood evidence showed the bodies were moved. Crime scene analysts testified they didn't process door handles or a, garage door keypad for prints and other evidence. And I think if you're the defense, you would harp on that. You'd really play that up. Why wouldn't you have done that? Because you had tunnel vision against my client.

You thought it was him and you didn't bother to do anything else to look for any other suspects. It's a valid response. Yeah. I think it is. And I'm sure they would have played that up. In closing arguments, the prosecution argued that Grant was obsessed with Sylvie, and she was all that mattered to him.

He stole money because he wanted to present himself as wealthy and successful. But again, why do that? If you want a relationship with her, wouldn't you want her to fall in love for the person you really are? Not something you're not? No, I'm sure in his mind, he thought she wouldn't fall in love with him for the person that he was. she might fall in love with him if she thought he was this rich, successful guy. But even then, I don't think that was going to happen. Again, the defense argued that there just wasn't enough evidence.

And the prosecution's timeline didn't add up. Assistant State Attorney Dominic Leo laid out the timeline of the murders for the jury. The last activity on the computer in the office, where Margaret was found, occurred at four 44 p.m. on January 24th. She was killed shortly after that. Chad was shot 30 minutes later. After coming home from work, Cody was shot four hours later when he arrived home from work. Wow. That's hanging out of the house for a long time. Well, and it's lying in wait for multiple people, right? As the prosecution lays it out, Grant shoots his mother. Lies in wait for about 30 minutes for his dad to come home, shoots him.

Lies in wait for another four hours. With both of his parents there dead waiting for his brother to come home and shoots him. Clearly you're not upset about what you're doing. You had plenty of time to think about what you had already done. Yeah. And contemplate what you were about to do. And it doesn't seem as. though there was any remorse that set in at that point,

detectives already said there was really no remorse after the fact when they interviewed Grant. Grant killed his father and brother because they told Sylvia about the lies and theft while he was at rehab. And he wanted to get her back. He killed his mother simply because she was in the home. Well, you're here, so I guess I'll go ahead and kill you. Well, you're not going to be able to kill your father and, and brother. brother while your mom's there.

No. And just leave her alive. It's not like she's just going to stand by and like, let it happen. And yeah. The prosecution also pointed out that three things were missing from the Amato home when the bodies were found. Cody's phone, the murder weapon, and Grant. The defense noted that two crime scene analysts didn't process critical parts of the crime scene for prints, such as door handles and windows. another analyst allegedly manufactured evidence by omitting from her reports. The fact that Chad's fingerprint was used to unlock his phone after prosecutor said he was killed.

However, the prosecution alleged that Grant used his dad's fingerprint to access his banking app. Grant Amato was convicted of three counts of first degree murder on July 31st, 2019. So the jury found him guilty. Yeah, I mean, you know, the defense sounds like they spent a lot of time saying there wasn't enough evidence. But the jury must have thought there was. And at the very least, you would say, you know, it doesn't, it didn't look good, right, for Grant. The prosecution pushed for the death penalty. During the penalty phase, the defense called on Jason Amato.

He was asked if he still loved Grant and said, yes, which might have swayed the death penalty. which might have swayed the jury. A defense psychiatrist testified that Grant would be well suited for life in prison and presented a low probability for any major form of acting out or management problems. On August 12, 2019, the jury recommended three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Well, that's what the defense wanted. And we really don't know most of the time, right? why the jury decides the way they do when it comes to the penalty phase, life versus death.

You know, I just wonder if it ever comes down to the fact that they felt as though they were guilty, but maybe this wasn't as slam dunkish as it could have been. Maybe a lot of the evidence was circumstantial. Yeah. And so they were okay with the guilty verdict, but maybe not with the death penalty. Maybe it was his brother. saying that, you know, he still loved him. Maybe it was some of the testimony by maybe a defense psychiatrist. You just never know. Grant's defense attorney Jeffrey Luchel said about the verdict per people,

I've never been around the defendant with such a lack of emotion when so much is on the line and it's your life. There was no breakdown crying. There was no turning or hugging me because I say, saved his life. It was just standing there, straight-faced, no emotion. And that's one of the things we keep hearing about grand Amato. Yeah. No emotion to finding out that his parents were dead, right? He's, he's being notified at one point by the police, no emotion. Well, is that because he killed them? He already knew they were dead. And then afterwards, when he's talking to detectives, no emotion as to the fact that three of his family members are dead. Now it's a life or death situation for him.

And he gets life versus death, no emotion. Just how he must be. Grand appeal days after he was sentenced to life in prison, which was denied on May 4th, 2021. So Gibbs, as we wrap up this case, I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that Gran Amato was struggling with some type of mental health issues.

Maybe they had been there for a while. Maybe they started after he lost his job. I don't know. But it does sound like he had some stuff going on that he needed help with. But instead of getting help, he became obsessed with an online model who, as you've pointed out, obviously didn't share his feelings. You know, he had it built up in his mind that the two of them had this real relationship

when, in fact, he was paying gobs of money so that this woman would talk to him or send him a message or send him a video or allow him to watch her videos. And that's probably why he thought she loved him, you know, because she would do those things for him. But she did those things because he gave her money. That's how she made her living.

Yeah. And, but again, that warped a way of thinking. Was that due to, you know, some mental health issues that he had? You know, that's one of the questions that I have in this case. And, you know, obviously this obsession set him down a really bad path of stealing from his family, you know, almost like being addicted to drugs or pretty much like being addicted to drugs, you got to get that next fix. Yeah.

And his next fix was being able to see her, talk to her, message her, whatever it was. But he had to pay for that fix. And he wasn't working. Look, if you're paying a cam model hundreds of thousands of dollars, guess what? she's going to love you and love you and love you right as long as the money keeps coming yeah yeah and i don't want to make it sound like we're speaking bad about this woman at all she's just doing her job that is how she is making her living yeah nothing wrong with that it's the fact that he didn't realize that it was just a business transaction that that's the way it was yeah i mean i

to me i equated to you know if i'm a waiter at a swanky restaurant and you come in you know, you're a fat catch. You got a lot of money and you're a great tipper. Yeah. Which none of these things are true because I've been to eat out to eat with you many times. So none of this is true. But let's say in a dream scenario, you were a good tipper. I am. And I was a waiter. I would lavish service on you because I know that you're going to at the end of this meal, leave me a great tip. Yeah. You know, so I'm going to pour it on. Sure.

Maybe above and beyond what I would normally do. I don't think that's out of the ordinary in the service industry. I don't think so either. But, you know, for Grant, he snapped when his family finally cut him off. And he killed the people who loved him. And he killed the people who were trying to help him. Yeah. And I think they bent over backwards trying to help him.

And some would argue they went too far. far or allowed it to go too far. Yeah, I think he can make that claim. Not to speak ill of the dead, but no, you know, I do think at a certain point, they enabled him. They cleaned up his messes. And in the end, he killed them. Yeah. It's just a sad story, but, you know, obsession of any kind or addiction or, you know, these things, they lead to people sometimes doing really terrible things. lead down some bad roads yeah yeah absolutely but that's it for our episode on grand amato we've got some voicemails you want to check those out let's hear them hi mike hi gibby this is ginger davis from delano minnesota i was just listening to the podcast about tea eugene thompson and i grew up in

minneapolis and although i was just a baby when the murder happened i was old enough to hear some things when he was released from prison and things that his son had said in interviews. And I really appreciate the flushing out of this story and the bringing back of memories. I remember my parents talking about him around the dinner table made for some very interesting conversations. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Oh, appreciate that voicemail very much. And I think it's so fascinating when, you know, people hear stories that they're either familiar with or they were familiar with or the story takes place in a town they're familiar with.

It does something to you. Oh, I agree. Differently than a story with which you have no connection. And for her, it brought back some memories. Yeah. Hey, Mike and Giddy. I am just now starting episode of 50. I recently found you all about three weeks ago, and I am absolutely fucked.

I absolutely love it. The first book I read in high school was interestingly enough, the Zodiac Killer. So, True Cry has been a thing for me for many years. I love what you guys are doing. I love the commentary and the humor that you sometimes bring to things that aren't quite humor. But you guys are amazing, and I love listening to you by you. Well, thank you for the voicemail, the kind words, always appreciated. Very nice.

Yep. I just happened to be wearing a Zodiac watch. You are. Right now. And I happen to have a bag over my head. You do not. Although I wouldn't be opposed to it. Oh, wow.

You walked into that one. You walked into that. Well, you know, if you're fascinated with the Zodiac, you might want to check out the first season of my other podcast called Criminology. Yeah. We do a really deep dive into Zodiac. Episode 50, she's got a long way to go. Oh, yeah. Yeah, she's got a long way to go.

A lot of stuff to binge. But she's only been binging for three weeks. So that's pretty good to get through 50 episodes. Yeah. And by then we had unsolved out. So she can jump over there too. Yeah. Yeah.

Hearing all that stuff. All right, buddy. We had no mailbag. So that is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike. And give me. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.