Morbid - Episode 455: The Amato Family Murders

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

On the morning of January 25, 2019, Seminole County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a home in Chuluota, Florida to conduct a well-being check on thirty-one-year-old Cody Amato, who failed to show up for work that day. Upon entering the home, officers discovered the bodies of Cody, Chad, and Margaret Amato, all dead from apparent gunshot wounds—there were no signs of a break-in and nothing was missing. The crime scene looked as though it had been staged to look like a murder-suicide and suspicion quickly fell on the Amato’s youngest son, Grant, who was missing from the home.Thank you so much to the lovely David White for research assistanceReferencesDukes, Amanda. 2019. Grant Amato, man found guilty of killing family members, sentenced to life in prison. August 13. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://www.wesh.com/article/penalty-phase-for-grant-amato-to-begin-monday/28670352#.Seminole County Sheriff's Office. 2018. CJIS Report. Missing Person; Well-Being, Chuluota, FL: Seminole County Sheriff's Office.State of Florida vs. Grant Tiernan Amato. 2019. 20190000740 (Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Seminole County, Florida, January 28).Swenson, Kyle. 2019. "He spent $200,000 on a Bulgarian 'cam girl.'." Washington Post, January 29.Williams, Michael. 2019. "Accused killer seeks millonaire for help with jail bond, emails reveal." Orlando Sentinel, May 15: A1.—. 2019. "Amato's lawyers ask judge to sequester jruy." Orlando Sentinel, June 12: B2.—. 2019. "Grant Amato verdict: Guilty of first-degree murder in killings of family." Orlando Sentinel, July 31.—. 2019. "'I have become somewhat of a celebrity,' accused killer Grant Amato says in letter." Orlando Sentinel, April 27: B2.—. 2019. "'I want to believe you,' surviving sibling says." Orlando Sentinel, March 28: A1.—. 2019. "Judge grants $750k bond for suspect in family murders." Orlando Sentinel, April 26: B1.—. 2019. "Obsession, money, lies tore this family apart." Orlando Sentinel, July 14: A1.—. 2019. "Records give glimpse into Chulota man's relationship with model." Orlando Sentinel, May 30: B1.Williams, Michael, Jeff Weiner, and Gal Lotan. 2019. "'I hate myself for what I did"." Orlando Sentinel, April 16: A1.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I don't know. I was trying to think of something else to say and that's all that came out. I was also trying to think of something to say in the intro, like, and this. It is. And then I was just like morbid. Just go with it. It's just morbid. Oh, no.

I don't know. We're tired. It's gloomy day here. Yeah, I had a yucky tummy yesterday. It still feels yucky. Which, what's up with everyone's GI issues, suddenly? Everyone's just dealing, we're living in a land of GI issues.

I mean, welcome to my actual life. But I was going strong on my IBS journey for a minute there. I was like living regular life and it was fine. Sorry, my phone just turned off. I swear. You would think five years into this. I would have figured that out by now, but near we all have a pair.

It's just like, oh my gosh, where's the ding? I don't know. No, yeah, your journey was going pretty solid there. I know. I think I got like a little tummy bug. I don't think it's m-m-m-bus. It is. It is. It is.

Everybody's got weird. I was that tick tocker beach gem my girl my girl our pediatric emergency room doctor who everybody should go follow because she's awesome fantastic amazing world renowned. I'm just gonna keep giving you tick tock recommendations you're good on is it. I find some good ones. Yeah, absolutely. But she was saying that it's like GI bugs this year are like everywhere and also like weird.

Like there's like a million different ones. It's not just straight up neurovirus now, which like I like that shit. I thought yeah, don't even say that. But these things are like different. Like they're all like the little branches off of neurovirus. Yeah. So I think it's just like maybe,

I think the pandemic like, you cheated things. Everyone's immune system's got a little fuck during that. Yeah. So I think we're just gonna see some weird viruses for a little while, but hopefully it'll settle down. Yeah, I was just like run down and run into the bonno. To the bonno.

I was going girl. I'm sorry for that. Sorry for your ass. Now that you know all my GI business, my GI business, if you will. Business-nasty, do we have any business-nasty? You do. We do, oh, there's a couple of things.

We did a collab with Red Handed. And it was so much fun. They're so awesome. And they're accents of the best. Like so soothing. Yeah guys, Hannah's name is not Hannah. of the best. Like so soothing. Yeah, guys, Hana's name is not Hannah. It's Hana. It's Hana.

And I will fight anyone who calls her Hannah. Hana. Hana. And it's so fun to say. It is. Hana and Saruti. They're just really sweet in their hilarious, with the kindest girlies. I would do collabs with them all day every day.

Up the wazoo. You know? But you just got one, so don't worry, we're not going to bombard you. But it was a lot of fun. We're glad we did it, check it out because we did kind of like a handoff, so there's one on their feed, one on our feed, and they're really cool, like old, timey fun stories. But other than that, go by your pre-order of the paperback version of the butcher and the rent because you know why? There is a sneak peek at the sequel!

And I read it and I said, oh my mother fucking gosh. That's what she said. I did direct vote. So you can get a little sneaky peaky at the sequel so you can know what's going to be what you're in for. or if you're like me You're currently reading along as she writes But yeah, go get your pre-order she can go pre-order them anywhere. They're on like you know Barnes and Noble I'm on anywhere you want to yeah, check it out

I don't think it is tiny where all dot com slash a butcher in the rent anymore So it will be I think at one but it'll be with the new book. Oh, okay, uh, because I'm excited. Don't worry. We'll give you another one of those. Yeah, please, please give me that. But yeah, go do that. It'll be great. And paperbacks are fun. And you can just throw them in your bag, or you can, you know, bend them around if you need to. I love doing that. And then the spine gets all crazy. And the spine gets all like, like, cracks like your spine does when you go to like a chiropractor. Yeah, that's what it is. So go check that out. Oh, I'm excited to see it. Yay! Yay, books and reading and literature and literacy and literacy.

You're, you're, I was going to say you're a literate, but it sounded like you're illiterate. Yeah, I've been here like wow, you're like the most literate. Thank you. Yeah. Some would argue that, but you know, fuck up, we don't listen to those. That's not true, so. Sorry, I really had to read just my seat, though. You hear the squeaky, squeaky. Squeaky.

So it's like, secret. What's that from? That's from Sabrina the Teenage Watch The Late. Yeah, it is. The later years. I can do it now to the later years. I like later years. Do you guys remember that? Don't worry, we're gonna get into the case, but you don't worry about it. I can do it now to the later years. Do you guys remember that?

Don't worry, we're gonna get into the case, but you don't worry about it. Sometimes we take it old school and we just need to like talk at you for a little while. Yeah, just like get into it, you know? And it's funny because there's a, we still, there still is very divided camps on whether they wanna hear us speak

about being human beings or not. And that's funny to me, but. Of that, I don't like my that, does anyone remember the later years of Sabrina the Teenage Witch? I bet you wish you didn't. But, no, I thought they were good. I saw it in the later high school ones. We're good. I like maybe the beginning of college, but after that, what do you mean? I don't, I'll watch it. Like, hi, I'm here. It's not my favorite, those last couple ones. It's almost like the last season of Gilmore Girls or the last couple of seasons of the office.

Yeah, you lost me there. We're just, I'll watch it, because I'm here for this ride, but like, I'm not enjoying myself. I know, I love, I love Roxy though in the later years. Yeah, she's a great one. I think it's when Sabrina starts working at a newspaper that it gets that gets started. Well, she starts dating a guy that I'm very confused by to this. It's a judge. Uh, no, Josh, I understood it was this other Randa. I don't remember his name. I don't remember either. That's how much you met her. Maybe I didn't see the last season. Yeah, I think it's the one she's gonna marry

How much you met her. Maybe I didn't see the last. She said, yeah, I think it's the one she's gonna marry. Until. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, okay. Yeah, it was like, thank goodness. Was that the heart? Yeah, I love it.

But you know what, that was Sabrina for today. Now we're gonna talk about something not as fun at all. Nope, not at all, but this is like a pretty well-known true crime case. And I know you guys like to hear like some more current ones. So I figured I'd hand this on over to you. This is the Amato family murders. It's a really sad case.

And at the center of it is a man's named Grant. Grant Ternin Amato was born on May 20th, 1989, in Chuliotta, Florida. And if you look at that, you would never think that it said Chulio de, but guess what I did? I went to pronounce names.com. And she told me how to say it. And I said, thank you.

Well, I love that. But anyway, Chulio de. He was the youngest son of Chad and Margaret, a pharmacist and an operations manager respectively. I really love saying respectively after a sentence. I don't know about you. Respectively. Respectively. Now Margaret brought a son Jason to the marriage from her previous marriage, and actually Chad would end up adopting Jason down the road, which I thought was really sweet.

Yeah. But then the couple went on to have Cody, the middle son, and then finally Grant the youngest son. Okay. Now Margaret and Chad raised their family, like I said in Chulio to Florida. It's like a semi small rural town in the Seminole County of Florida. It's about half hour outside of Orlando. Okay. Which I'm gonna be there soon and I'm like,

ooh, spooky. Not in Chulio to that is in Orlando. Orlando. But by all accounts, the family dynamic was a good one. Chad and Margaret both like were able to maintain stable really well-paying jobs. They could provide a good life for their children and they could also pursue their own passions and their own hobbies outside of work. And for Margaret, I just think this is so sweet. That hobby for her was her love of horses. And she particularly loved this one horse named Lady.

Lady. Lady. What a cute name for a horse. Right? Lady was actually a former race horse that Margaret adopted in the late 2000s. And she'd been boarding Lady at the Miracle Lane Stables, not too far from their house.

Okay. Now, according to people that knew Margaret, her relationship with Lady, who was like a rather stubborn horse, was really reflective of how she was so committed to the people that she loved, especially like her husband and her children. Yeah. She had an unwavering commitment to those people. Cute. Now, while their household was generally loving and supportive, Jason would later tell a jury that his father could be strict and had very high expectations for his children.

And this was occasionally a source of tension, especially as the boys started entering their teenage years. Grant and Cody, though, they were inseparable while growing up. Like, they had a bond like no other. They were really close in age. There was just two years between them and they had a ton in common. By the time they were in high school, they went to Timber Creek High if you're from the area. They were doing almost everything together. They were both on the school's weight lifting team and high school. And even beyond high school, they still maintained like a super close relationship. After graduation, they both enrolled in nursing programs at the University of Central Florida. And once they finish those nursing programs, they wanted to continue their education so they each decided to study anesthesiology.

Oh wow. What you like? Like, alright. You know. And now according to Grant, their long-term plan included buying matching BMWs and living in their parents' house together after Chad and Margaret moved to a smaller retirement home in Tennessee that they actually purchased a few years before their deaths.

So part of the plan was buying matching BMWs? Yes. Okay. No comment. Yep. It's giving step-brothers. Yeah. Right.

Like, let's get matching BMWs and live in Mom and Dad's house when they moved to Tennessee and they both be nurses. It's giving us. Menendez brothers as well. See, I actually don't know a lot about that case. Yeah, that's an interesting one. We'll cover that one eventually. Yeah, that's a UK's for sure.

It's giving menendez brothers in like one respect, not in both respects. One of these people is fantastic. The other, not so much. Yes. Yes. Now while their commitment for each other went both ways, Cody definitely was the more responsible of the two and usually got Grant out of a lot of shit and would like

clean up his vests, solve his problems. Yeah. You know, because from the outside, Grant seemed like he was, you know, successful and responsible and all that. But things really took a turn in the mid-2000, and responsible and all that. But things really took a turn in the mid 2000, I never know how to say that, 2010s. The 2010s? The 2010s. Yeah, there you go. I don't know, it's weird.

It's only 10s, 70s. The 2010s, because that was when Grant was kicked out of his graduate nursing program and instead found a nursing job with Advent Health, a large hospital system in Central Florida. OK. It's sort of unclear why he was kicked out of the anesthesiology program at the University of Central Florida, but that definitely is the event that marked the beginning of a

very downward spiral that would eventually lead to murder. Awesome. So in June 21st, 2018, staff at Advent Health actually realized that eight bottles of propa fall, which is a powerful sedative that they usually get people before surgery, sedative, oh my god, idiot. Why can't I go? I could let that go. No, you shouldn't have let that go. I think I just sounded so cute. sedative. sedative. I'm reading. Maybe that is one way to say it, who knows? I hope not. I like sedative, but yeah, sedative. I think if people before surgery, they realized eight bottles had gone missing from the locked

cabinet where they usually kept it. Now, the empty bottles were found a short time later in two rooms that were being overseen by grant. As far as anybody could tell, the medication hadn't been ordered and security records showed that it was grant who checked the medication at. So, when he was confronted about this whole thing, he swore up and down, no, I wasn't stealing it to sell it because they probably thought that was happening there. But instead, he told them, quote, he administered the drug to patients who were not being adequately relaxed.

Oh, okay. So, all right. Slightly understandable, but like, you can't just like take that out for no reason. So the hospital had no proof of any wrongdoing, but they also believed that this was not the first time propifal in particular had gone missing under Grant's watch. So he was fired immediately.

Yeah, I can kind of see that. Now, what made the entire ordeal worse was that during the confrontation over the missing medication, grant made a ton of comments about relating to self-harm and suicidal ideation. So they had to call the police and he had to be taken into custody as like a protective measure.

Yeah. Now, at the time, Advent health administrators seemed to be intent on planning, or seem to be intent on pressing charges for the theft of the medication. So now Grant was unemployed, and he was waiting to hear whether he was gonna face charges for Grant Larsony.

So he started spending a lot of time online. Uh-oh. I guess that's what you do. It's not great. And he was like, whenever leads to good things. No, he wasn't on like zippercrooter.com looking for a job, sponsor us. Because that was just a little drop there.

There you go. But he was frequently visiting porn sites, and he really loved to use Twitch for watching lives and gaming. So he's just gaming and doing stuff in his room. Yeah, you know, you know. He actually told his parents though, not long after he was fired, that he really wanted to build a career for himself

as a live streamer on Twitch. Okay, which, you know, I'm like, I'm sure you could probably make good money doing that at this point in time, but I think back then, that was a relatively new platform, so that might have been a little worrisome to his parents. I can see that, I'm sure like the YouTube thing in the beginning too when

somebody's like, when it first came out and people were like, I'm going to be a YouTube star. People were probably like, yeah, yeah. That's never going to happen. But now look, it really came. Now look. So at the same time, though, because they were, they were starting to get worried about, about Grant, because at the same time, Chad and Margaret had been noticing large amounts of money missing from their bank accounts and multiple credit card charges from websites that they'd never heard of.

So when they confronted Grant about this missing money, he actually spilled the beans. He admitted everything and said he had taken the money and he had used it to promote himself on Twitch. Okay. Which wasn't necessarily true. That's not great. No. Either way, that's not great.

Well, don't steal money. That's the thing. Exactly. You can't use people's money to do those things. No, you got to use your own money. Yeah. Now, or you could ask for a loan because that's also an option. There you go.

If you do want to use other people's money, you just ask first. Precisely. Now, what Chatton Margaret didn't know about they were about to find out was that Grant hadn't taken the money to help build his career. He really was spending it on private shows and conversations with a cam girl named Sylvia Sylvie Vensis Lavova. Oh, hopefully. Okay. Now, Grant had been spending a lot of time on Sylvie's site in particular. And her site operated by, like users would buy tokens that they could use to pay for performances.

And her performances cost 90 tokens per minute. Oh, which like, not some coins. Damn girl. Now tokens could also be used for tipping and like any kind of other transaction on the site. I don't really know how it works. But Grant was probably Sylvie's most generous customer and he would purchase 5,000 tokens a night for $600

and he was spending about four hours every single night on this website. Oh, he was developing an addiction. That's becoming a problem. Yeah. And as his addiction to the website got worse and worse, he started sending Sylvie quotes, clothes and sex toys, which she would model for viewers.

But he's not spending, like, he's spending his parents' money on these things to send to the school. That's the thing. It's like, this is not okay. No, it's one thing if you're sending it, like, with your own money, like, have at it, with your life. Like, you, whatever you're...

I don't care. Into, but like... You're taking your parents' Like you, whatever you're... I don't care. Into, but like... You're taking your parents money for that. Yeah, you can't take other people's money and do these things. And also, you don't feel yakaiyaka about using your parents money for this.

Yeah. Like, I would. I would feel yakaiyaka, that's just me. I don't know. I don't need, that's just me. Yeah, we don't have to go into it. But anyways, I don't need you. I was like, how about you go into it now?

You know what, no, I'm not. You know. You know. I'm about to go into it now. You know what now? You know what now? You know what now? You know what now?

You know what now? You know what now? You know what now? Trans and Fads come and go, especially when it comes to health and wellness. I feel like there's always something to keep up with in the FAD world of that. But Noom is not a FAD.

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They were texting and like other communications like the performance and stuff like that. It did give the illusion of a personal relationship because that's the point. But in reality, Sylvie was just promoting herself and obviously encouraging Grant to spend more money because that's her job. Of course. Girls gotta eat. Yeah. On grand send of things though, the constant contact and the emotional high

was enough to convince him that he was deeply in love with Sylvie. Oh, no. And for that reason, he kept stealing money in order to keep in close contact with her. Oh, this is really stressful. It's really sad. It's so sad.

That's the thing. It's so sad. That's the thing. It's like very stressful and sad. Yeah. So the more money he had to spend, the closer he felt to her. Mm-hmm. Now, the illusion of a romantic connection between Grant and Sylvie was mostly fueled

by the performances, the texts, the chats, like I was just saying. But it was also kind of fostered by this online community on the Cam Girl site. Because Grant wasn't only chatting with Sylvie, but online community on the Cam Girl site. Because Grant wasn't only chatting with Sylvie, but he actually made friends on this site, and he was catfishing all of these people, leading them to believe that he was this super successful gamer guy who drove a BMW and owned this beautiful house. When in reality, none of that was true.

He did live in a beautiful house, but it was his parents' home. Yeah, exactly. In a letter, he wrote to five or six friends about a month before his whole family was murdered. He vented about his family, calling them controlling and complaining that they, quote, did not understand how I could care for someone as much as I cared for Sylvie. Oh, this really is sad.

It is. Now, by the fall of 2018, so remember, this started in like the 2010s. Now it's 2018. This has been going a while. Grant had retreated even further into this fantasy world. He was stealing more money from his parents. Now he was stealing from his brother Cody to continue this relationship. And when he wasn't able to get hands on their cash, he would steal their belongings.

Cody had some guns that grant ended up stealing and selling for cash. Oh, this is like very real addiction. Oh, it's super real. It's super real. It's super real. It's super real. Yeah.

And around the same time, he also managed to take out a $65,000 loan using his parents' house as collateral. Holy shit. Isn't that bonkers? What? It's like, this is so intense. It's so deep rooted. Oh my goodness.

So the family finally reached their breaking point in late November. At that point, Grant had stolen around $150,000 from his parents and $60,000 from Cody, his brother. Oh, shit. So they sat down and confronted him. They were like, we need to figure this out. Like, this isn't okay.

And this is so unhinged that it's like, that must have been really scary to set him down and be like, this can't happen. Because you're like, what is he gonna do? It's gotten to a point where clearly he'll do anything. Something is, yeah, like he's got no boundaries. Yeah. So I'd be scared.

Yeah. So when they confronted him, he admitted that no, he wasn't just promoting himself on Twitch. He really was stealing money to send to Sylvie, the Bulgarian model that he was in love with. He said, so the family tried to be supportive because they realized what this was. He was struggling with addiction.

And with their support, he actually started to get serious about getting his life together and, you know, like getting healthier. Yeah. So things really started to improve in early December. Advent health actually dropped the charges against grant for the stolen medication.

Wow. So now he wasn't facing those charges anymore. That's lucky for him. Really lucky. And he and Cody had been planning this trip for a long time to go to Japan. They had planned it like before he lost his job. And Cody was like, let's still go.

Like, let's still go on the trip, we'll figure it out. Wow. So they went on the trip together. Wow, so he had like a very supportive unit around him. Like way more supportive than a lot of families would be. Abs of fucking movie. Like he had these people on his back and especially his brother.

And that's very rare. But unfortunately by the time they got back home, Grant seemed to be slipping into old tapets. Just days after they got back from their trip to Japan, Grant and his dad got into another argument about the stolen money, and the fact that Grant was saying he was going to get a new job, but not making any moves to do so. Because I think his dad was like, dude, you just got home from this trip that you probably

shouldn't have even gone on in the first place. And now you're just like lounging around my house all day. Yeah, it's time to get a job. It's time to start paying back the money you took. Because he's like 30. Yeah, come on. Yeah. Get it together. get it together.

Get it together. Yeah. And in the regard of like look for a job. Yeah, like being an adult. Exactly. Exactly. So Grant would later say of his father quote, with him it was every single day, hours a day.

He'd come home from work and then he just talked to me about the same exact thing over and over and over and over again. Like yeah, probably because they wanted you to better your life. And as your father, he's concerned. And when you're making no move to better your life, they're gonna keep saying the same thing, hoping that sometime it clicks.

Right, because you're just doing the same thing over and over and over and over. They feel like they're banging their heads against a wall. They're all in the same boat. Yeah. Now, a few days later, on December 19th, the tension caused yet another fight between Chad and Grant. And this time, Grant stormed out of the house

and didn't say where he was going. Now, in the weeks leading up to this latest fight, the family had actually started going to family therapy together. Oh, wow. And Grant was said to express during these meetings, quote, strong feelings of worthlessness. And at one point, he quote,

broke down emotionally and admitted to being severely depressed. Okay. And he hadn't said anything about wanting to harm himself, but because he was clearly in this heightened emotional state when he left the house after the fight with his dad, Cody and Margaret were really worried. I see that.

Especially when he still didn't come home the next day. They were like, I don't know. Yeah, I would have been worried about this. Yeah, they were like, he's in a low place. He left in the middle of a fight. Like, we don't, we're very worried. And he's been very unpredictable. He's very much not himself.

Very erratic, exactly. A lot of like, very, you know, he's being very impulsive. Yeah. Like for a while now. So it's like, I would be worried. And we love him, you know, like that's the brother in the son. There is some supportive family. It sounds like they are. So they decided the best course of action would be to file a missing person's report just to find out where he was. According to the missing person report, Cody and Margaret told officers that grant had been in contact via text since they reported him missing and that he told them he was, quote,

really tired of dealing with everything and he is just gonna handle it his own way, which worried them even more. Yeah. Because given the stress that he'd been under and the fact that he had easy access to firearms, excuse me, in the family home, Cody and Margaret were at this point,

quote, a hundred percent convinced that grant would try to harm us. Oh, no. So the day after the missing persons report was filed, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office got a call from an officer in a pop guy, believes I say it, Florida, saying that grant actually had been located luckily.

And when officers responded to the call about a suspicious car, they found that it was registered to Grant Amato. So they found him. When they spoke to them, he said he came to a pub cut to visit family and then told them that he needed a break from his mom and he had no intentions of hurting himself. He was like, you have nothing to worry about. I just needed to get out of here for a while.

Yeah. So the interviewing officer asked the standard questions about safety and self-harm and was able to determine that Grant didn't need any kind of psychopath like he was all right. And it turned out though that after the fight with his father, Grant had gone to his Aunt Donna's home. And she would later tell police he showed up quote, skinny and lost looking and that he slept all day since he arrived and she was worried about him. Now while she originally thought that he probably had come to her in a time of need, he was really just scamming her. Yeah, I could have seen that.

A few days after Grant had shown up at the door, Donna noticed strange and unfamiliar charges to her credit card in large, large sums of money. And this poor lady is just trying to, you know, just trying to be a good family member. And she's not by marriage, too. Oh, so she didn't even, like she had no, like, you know, her obligations were pretty small here. Right. Really took them, this guy sucks. You really? I was like, like, this is so mean. It is. It's due to people who care about you.

To fuck over your family like this. Yeah. Like, it's just like, this lady is taking you into her home. Like, that's really shitty. Exactly. Now, knowing that the situation was getting touchier and touchier by the day, Donna decided that it would be better to speak with Cody, Grant's brother than Confront Grant had on. So she called Cody and told him everything that had happened and he was so apologetic, so embarrassed, and also begged his aunt not to press charges, and actually told her he would pay back his aunt

whatever Grant had charged. Are you kidding me? Like he was like, if you don't press charges, I will pay this back to you. Like please, like we're trying to get him straight. Like we're trying to make this work. Super curious. It's time.

A very precarious time. Chad also begged his sister in law not to press charges. And he actually broke down crying over the entire such a big show for me. And it was quote, the first time Dona said she had heard of cry in the 27 year she knew him. Oh my God, I was so anxious. And it was quote, the first time Donna said she had heard of Cry in the 27 year she knew him. Oh my God, that breaks my heart.

Just like so stressed. Yeah. And he explained to her the full extent of grants problems. And he confided in Donna that he and Margaret actually had to remorgge their home in order to cover the 150,000 that had been stolen from them. I can't imagine what this poor family was going through. It must have just been hell. And it was years of this.

Yeah. Like just years and ups and downs. Like, oh, yeah, exactly. And it was like just when they thought he was getting better. He goes and fucks over. Like it's one, and I'm sure it's one thing for him to fuck them over. Like you're angry about that. But then you're like, oh my God, you're my child

and you're capable of doing this to you're taking it into the extended family. Exactly. And like the embarrassment and the shame and the shock. Like that's awful. I can't imagine. Now, according to Donna Chad told her, yeah, I'm going to have to work a few more years

than I thought I'd have to, but it's okay. I'll do it for Grant. I don't want him to go to jail. Oh my God. Yeah. I don't want him to go to jail. Oh my God. Yeah. I don't even know what to say. It was clear that the stress was taking a considerable toll on everybody,

but especially Chad. At that point, he had to take on a second job just to cover Grant's debts, so that his son wouldn't go to jail. That breaks my heart. That I'm looking at pictures of this family, and I'm just like, oh, right. And that's, like, love. cover grants debts so that his son wouldn't go to jail. That breaks my heart. That I'm looking at pictures of this family and I'm just like, oh, right.

And that's like love. Like the love that he had for his son. Like that's the thing. It's like that's straight up just loving your kid. Yeah. And conditionally just wanting to, and I know they're like probably shielding a lot. And it's like, but you just want to.

You want to shield them from any harm, even if they're the ones doing harm, you want to shield them. I mean, we've even seen it in our own family. Of course. And I've seen it. And other people's families, like, it's family. So sad. You know, and he was the youngest too. So I feel like that place, such a role. Like, it's your, it's actually your baby. That's definitely part of it. And that's the thing. As far as everybody could tell, the Amato family was going

to incredible lengths. And some people the thing. As far as everybody could tell, the Immodot family was going to incredible lengths. And some people's opinions maybe even too far. Of course. To shield Grant from the consequences of his actions. But at the same time, they were also trying to create and enforce boundaries. But as we know, it's impossible in a situation like this. Yeah, what is?

There's no way of knowing how to deal with this kind of situation. No, because there's no right or wrong way. There's no handbook on it. There's no... Everybody reacts different in these kind of situations. He's so incredibly addicted to this that it's like, it could be any reaction under the sun. That could happen and there's no way to predict it.

Exactly. You know, like, you might come at him nicely and that might piss him off. Right. You might come at him aggressively and that's the thing that comes him down. You have no idea. It's just like raising kids. Like how you have to like treat each kid differently. Yeah, you have to tailor how you react to each one. Exactly. But so that they were going to these incredible lengths to create all these boundaries, but stealing from the extended family from Donna and Troy Amato was the last straw from Margaret and Chad. Yeah. And on December, excuse me, no, don't excuse me. I was saying the right thing, but excuse her anyways. And just excuse me. Excuse me.

That was funny. But on December 22, the entire family surprised Grant with an intervention in Donna's driveway. Among other things, they insisted that he take responsibility for the mistakes that he'd made and they demanded him. They really get's come to the point where you need to check yourself in to rehab. Like we've got to figure this out. Absolutely.

So he ultimately agreed to checking himself into a clinic in South Florida and he was going to be addressing his addiction to sex and pornography. Okay. So Grant returned home from rehab on January 5th, 2019, after less than two weeks of treatment. And in addition to the more than $200,000 at this point that he'd stolen from his parents and brother, he racked up several more debts that he had no means of paying. On top of the $10,000 he paid so that the two could take the trip to Japan, Cody agreed to cover $8,000 in a crew to turn his fees,

and the $15,000 bill for the stay at the South Florida Rehats. His brother sat there and took all of that on for him. And when you, I keep looking at the pictures and I'm like, he does have like, Cody has such a kind face. Oh, and he was like a nurse. And that's the thing, like he's just like a good person. Absolutely a good person.

Like rips my heart out. Everything that he was willing to do to keep his brother who didn't give a shit. Is that exact thing? Like, oh. Oh. ["The My Skid Row"] With my schedule, getting into the kitchen

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and he had gotten in real trouble, like maybe that's sometimes that's what people need. I'm not saying it would have stopped anything. I'm just saying sometimes you got to let some tough love. Yes. Slipped through there, especially to a 30-year-old. It's like, absolutely. I think he needed that,

but it's easy to say that from over here. If that's your own kid, no fucking way. Totally. You know what I mean? But looking at it from the outside, you're like, just let him get in trouble. Oh, I know, but I've seen it in families where the person doing this

or the person struggling with addiction is like 50, 60. Exactly. And their parents will still do anything. Oh yeah, that's no matter what. That's so many families have this happening in various forms and various degrees. Like, more families do have this going on than do not. And that's so true.

Yeah, it's so sad. And you never think that as a parent that you're gonna be, you know, 70, like moving into retirement age. Right. And this is what you're going to be dealing with. Because that's the thing like a prepare. Like I said, like they, they were preparing to retire and see they bought a home that they wanted to retire in. Like, and it's like, you see, and then they had to take on a second job done your, the hardest part of your job, you know, raise them. Exactly. But this is where it got even harder.

That's my heart. So Grant comes home from rehab early, like did not get the treatment that he should have. And the family decides that they're going to have dinner at a California pizza kitchen, which like great fucking decision. I love California pizza kitchen. I do too, actually. I haven't had that a long time. Me either. Me and Drew used to go and dates there all the time when I worked in Boston because. I do too, actually. I haven't had that a long time. Me either.

Me and Drew used to go and dates there all the time when I worked in Boston, because there was one like right there. Fucking good. Wow. But this one probably wasn't that great. So the evening after he returned home, they head over to California pizza kitchen,

probably thinking like a public place will be a better place to have this discussion. Absolutely. And Chad laid out a series of rules and expectations that he had written up for his son. It was like a two pages on a yellow legal pad. Okay. Among other things Grant was expected to get a job

during the day. How terrible. I was just gonna say already, fuck it. Right. Discontinue his use of the internet pass midnight. Which like, you're in my fucking house. Well, in it's a, you have proven that you can't be trusted with it. Right.

So we do have to give you a boundary. And it's, it's for your own good. That's the thing. He needed to begin paying for his own cell phone bill. Yes. Is this such basic shit? He needed to develop a plan to pay back the money he's stolen from his family members. Very rational.

Go to regular therapy. Mm-hmm. Apologize and make right with the money he's stolen from his family members. Very rational. Go to regular therapy. Uh-huh. Apologize and make right with the people he'd stolen from. All great. So most importantly, he needed to sever his relationship, quote, unquote, with Sylvie immediately. It's like all of that, you can see what they're negotiating. Right. That last one, I'm sure, was the, the the non-negotiable one totally. Yeah. So the

document it also highlighted the reasons for the new set of rules. It stated that quote, grant through his past trans get excuse me transgressions has relied on knowledge the family would not report him and cover him. Yeah. And it accused him of quote, family relationship abuse beyond to beyond tolerance. That's 100% how to describe it to family relationship abuse. Because it is knowing that they will not do anything and using that to your own advantage. Absolutely. And it hinted at the hurt that he'd caused the family around him.

Chad's document pointed out, quote, you chose a stranger, physically non-existent over your entire family. That's the part, that's like, in the way that that that said is really hits you hard because it's true. Yeah, I mean, it's like there's really no other way to describe that.

But it's so fucked because like to us we're sitting here, we're like, it's a girl on a website. But to him, but his mind was in such an altered state because of the addiction that he formed, you know? Yeah, that's why it must be so wild. Like for them to be sitting there, it's probably so frustrating for them

because it's very clear and logical that state. Right, but to him, it's like, Sylvie was his girlfriend in his mind. Yeah, as far as he's concerned, you're severing the most important girlfriend in this month. Yeah, as far as he's concerned, you're severing a, the most important relationship in his life. Exactly.

Which it's like, that's why therapists and psychiatrists and mental health facilities exist. Because they know how to deal with that kind of thinking. Right. Like normal people are not supposed to like everyday people, I mean, like your family. Right. Are not supposed to know how to deal with,

like I don't know how to deal with that. We're not thinking. And that's why I think that's the thing. That's why they were going to family therapy. Exactly. Because they were even making the effort to try to understand. Exactly.

And that's what like therapy is for. It's like you really, but he needed some. I really feel like this family is like the, like the poster children of like what you should do I know because it seems like they were doing everything they could like They were trying to keep him out of trouble so that they could handle it as a family They were going to therapy. They sent a therapy had they paid for the rehab They laid out what he needed to do and then laid out why he needed to do it when they had no need to do that

No, it was pretty clear why he needed to do all those things, but they took the extra step to be like, this is why we are asking this of you. That's huge. And I feel like, and not even shows like all the work that they did with behavior and specialists. And because I was gonna say that does seem like very much a tool that you would get through like,

you know, therapy or treatment. Exactly. It's like you need to explain why you are requiring these things of this person. It's like a small child. It's like a form of respect. I'm asking you to do this, you should know why. Right. You know. And it's like kids. It's like, yeah, when you're teaching them, like, you can't do this because this will happen. Because this is the reason I'm not just asking you to do this. Right. But it would be, it was made clear to grant during the meeting that if he broke any of the rules or any of those

expectations, he would be kicked out of the rules or any of those expectations He would be kicked out of the house immediately like this was this was the final. We've reached the end game here Exactly. So he agreed to the terms during the meeting But it's pretty unlikely that he ever had any intention of following through yeah would that promise to change his behavior In a letter sent to his friends from the camgirl website He referred to his father as the Cam Girl website, he referred to his father as controlling and abusive and claimed that his mother was, quote, simply around for security. Oh, God. But I'm like, you don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah. Like ridiculous. And the letter also hinted at just desperation and discouragement that he felt over the ultimatum. He told his friends, I hate myself for what I did. And I hate the thought of never getting to be with her again, meaning Sylvie. After everything that I gave and everything that I tried to do with her, I just can't comprehend being without her. Seeing her be able to be so happy without me and her life is something I guys hope, something I hope you guys never have to live through. Wow, this is so deep. It's so deep. It really is. So it's unknown whether the letter raised any red flags in grants online porn community, but if it did, nobody took the alarming tone or the obvious desperation seriously enough

to contact anybody. Which happened a lot. Of course. Yeah. That's why online is just not safe. No, it's really not. But at the same time, nobody ever could have expected that his frustration would manifest into what it did a very short time later. Just after nine o'clock on the morning of January 25th,

the Seminole County Sheriff's Office got a call from Craig Cisco and administrator actually at Advent Health. He was one of the multiple employees who were really concerned after Cody had failed to show up for work that morning because remember they worked together before a grant got fired. Cody also wasn't responding to any of the calls placed to him by co-workers. It was entirely unlikely.

Oh no. And according to Cisco, Cody, quote, had never missed a day of work. Oh no. Now, because it was a day of work. Oh no. Now because it was so out of character, his co-workers were requesting a well-being check. So the deputies arrived at the Amato House on Sultan Circle just shortly after taking the call,

and they found Cody's car parked in the driveway, as well as Chad and Margaret's cars parked in the garage. They continuously knocked on the door, but nobody was coming to answer. So when their knocks on the door failed to get anybody's attention, officers called the cell phones of the three people inside believed to be home and actually even blasted air horns in an attempt to get their attention. Yeah. But nothing. So as far as they could tell, the windows and the doors were locked, so one deputy ended up having to use a knife to disengage the deadbolt on the back door, and the officers went into the home to conduct the wellness check.

Now, when you can't get in like that, you must, I wonder what those investigators were thinking, because when you can't get in like that, you have to be like, we're not coming into something good. Exactly. You know? And they were not. As soon as they walked in the house, deputies immediately discovered the body of Chad Amato.

This is really brutal, just so you guys know, the discovery of these bodies is rough. Okay. He was lying on his back in the kitchen. It was clear that there was no signs of life. He'd been shot twice in the head, and it was lying in a large pool of his own blood. There was actually a holster around his waist when he was discovered with a handgun tucked inside, but it didn't look like he'd

tried to retrieve it before he was shot. Oh man. So they moved throughout the house and they found Cody's body next. This is horrible. He was curled into a fetal position in the storage room off of the garage, and he had been shot in the face, and was covered in blood. He was still wearing his nursing scrubs, indicating that he'd just got back from work. Oh my god. And like his father, a handgun was discovered on the floor just a few feet from his body. Oh, then the officers found Margaret last. She was lying face down at her computer in the family's office. She had been shot in the back of the head and there was blood covering her entire face. So to the responding officers, the house seemed neat and orderly other

than what they had just found. And there were a lot of valuable items easily visible throughout the house, but nothing seemed to be missing. So they were pretty much able to rule robbery out right off the bat. And investigators obviously suspected that the motivation was execution because the evidence at the scene pretty much showed that. Yeah.

So crime scene technicians noted that Cody had barely made it into the garage when he'd been shot, meaning that the killer did not hesitate to pull the trigger as soon as he got the opportunity to. And evident chilling, it's so chilling. Evidence collected from the kitchen seemed to indicate that that shot had been shot while standing, but the second shot was delivered, quote, execution style while he was on the kitchen floor near the center island. And Margaret had been taken out similarly because she was also shot in the back of a head execution style. So the picture to investigators was becoming clear. Whoever killed this family had come to the house with that exact purpose and no other purpose whatsoever. So the deputies had been dispatched to the home actually less than a month

earlier. So they knew that there was another occupant of this house. But when they arrived, he, that person wasn't home, Grant, and neither was his car. So a below alert beyond the lookout was immediately issued for Grant, even though at the time it was unclear whether he was a suspect, a victim, or neither. And investigators also started pulling toll records for his toll transponder, which showed him driving eastbound in the morning, then westbound in the afternoon, but other than that, they were unable to locate him. So you know what's going on? So his absence in the house became even more suspicious when the investigators spoke to Cody's girlfriend Sloan.

She told them all about the issues that had been going on between Grant and the rest of the family. And according to Sloan, Cody had become concerned about Grant's unstable behavior and the weeks leading up to the murders. She said he, quote, was afraid that Grant would kill everyone. Like he was literally worried about it. That that was even a thought. I think because he was getting more and more unhinged as like the days and weeks went on. Wow.

Can you imagine having that at being an actual fear of yours? Absolutely. About your own flesh and blood, like being like, I am legitimately scared that they are going to kill everyone in this family. I can't even imagine. Like, I can't even imagine. It must have come to such a point. And she also told the officers that she had been at work

with Cody on January 24th, the day before the family was discovered. He got a call from his father a little after nine. And his Chad said to Cody, like, you need to come home like something's wrong. Yeah. And when Sloan asked Cody what was going on, all he said was stupid fucking bullshit, and then he left work. He's probably so sick of it. So absolutely. No, like, it was probably just like daily. Oh, I had to know. So he's probably like, Jesus. And when you're not the one creating all the issues, and you're like, yanked into it every time. Exactly.

Oh, I can't imagine he must have just been so frustrated. But a half hour after that, she texted Cody to check in and she was like, hey, like, is everything okay? And he said, all okay, you didn't need to worry. Which like, so sad. And that was the last time they spoke. So when he didn't show up for work the next morning, that was when she and Chris Cisco got concerned and requested the well-being check. Oh, man. So while a team of officers interviewed friends

and associates of the Amados detective, James Galina and Liliam, a Grinzoni, I believe. spoke with Jason Amado and let him know, and that's the oldest brother. Yeah. Let him know that, quote, three unidentified bodies had been discovered in his home. Okay. Or in the amount of home he did. Yeah.

So Jason explained to the investigators that, while he was Cody's emergency contact on most forms, he really didn't speak much with their family or engage with them very much. He said the only person that he talked to regularly was his mother, and they spoke every week. Okay. He confirmed what Sloan had told police about grants theft

and destructive behavior. He knew all about that. And when they asked whether he could think of anybody who might want to harm the family, Jason told them about grants relationship with Sylvie, and he mentioned, you know, Granke gets mail from her sometimes. So she has our address.

Like her, she has their address. Yeah. So that became like, oh, like another layer to the story. Like, oh, is it her? They were like, are they together? Like, yeah, they have to think of all these things. So the next morning, Grant's car was located

by the Orange County Sheriff's Deputies in the parking lot of a double tree hotel in Orlando. According to hotel staff, he had checked in the day before, which was January 25th. He checked in just after 2.30 in the afternoon, and he only registered himself for one day. He was scheduled to check out the next afternoon. So, quick, quick, quick. Yeah. Now, as officers were speaking with the front desk staff, he actually came out of his room and was confronted by the deputies. Wow, raising. Wow. So he eventually agreed to return to the Sheriff's Office for a formal interview.

Wow, bonkers. I mean, they would have gone him anyway, but the fact that he just came out of his room, crazy. Yeah. During their interview, he confirmed that he had met Sylvie six months earlier. And since then, he'd been talking to her regularly and sending her tons and tons of money. He told detectives that he initially agreed to the ultimate and that he got from his dad when he had gotten back from rehab.

But then he felt that the rules were very unfair, quote, because he believed Sylvie was his girlfriend and they had a relationship. It's like very unfair, quote, because he believed Silvi was his girlfriend and they had a relationship. It's like very unfair. Yeah, you know what I think is unfair? The fact that your parents had to remorgge their home because you stole that much money from them. I'd say that's pretty unfair.

I would say so. Hey there, fellow podcast listener, it's Elena. And Ash! And we're taking you back to the days before streaming services. Whoa! You know when you would come home from high school and it was only a few hours until that TV show everyone was watching was about to come on? Well in 1999, that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer,

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wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon music or Wondery app. Darn, ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e- or Wondery app. Dar-nar-narararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararararar over the relationship. Grant said his dad grabbed him by the shirt and demanded that he get out of the house. So he was able to scoop up some of his belongings and then he said he got out of there. He said he was driving down the street and he met Cody and Cody told him, like, oh, I'll go straight and things out with mom and dad

and like come back later, like I'll figure it out for you. But he said that was the last time he saw or spoke to any of his family members. So the detectives were like, okay, yeah, cool, cool, cool. Like one problem with your story though, Cody was working that night, so you didn't run into each other. Ooh, yeah. Didn't think of that, did you?

Like you didn't run into each other by chance on the side of the road. Yeah, claimed. No. So Grant was like, oh, sorry I was lying. Oh yeah, oops. But I'm gonna thank you for reminding me that I was lying. I'm gonna tell you the truth. Yeah, like I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that.

I actually didn't leave home right away. I waited for Cody to get back home. You know, like my dad just let that happen. Yeah, absolutely. So we got this explosive fight. Oh yeah. And then he got home and I told him everything. And that's when he said he would talk to our parents.

And I left. And no, of course I haven't been back yet. No. And he said, I told him everything. And that's when he said he would talk to our parents. And I left. And no, of course I haven't been back yet. No. And he said, I got that wrong. My bad, sorry. It was like, he was at home. It was the side of the road. Yeah, totally.

The same, it's crazy. Yeah. He told them it was around midnight that he left and that he spent the night in his car in the parking lot of a public grocery store. So he then told them that he had every intention to return home the next morning and he actually started heading that way

and he got to his neighborhood. But at the last second, he changed his mind and he decided, you know what, I'm not ready to go back on yet. But he did get to the neighborhood. So the detectives were like, oh, did you see anything out of the ordinary, like the morning,

because that could have been when it happened. Like did you see anything out of the ordinary, like the morning, because that could have been when it happened. Like, did you see anything crazy? Yeah. And he was like, no, nothing's us at all. Mm, but of course the detectives knew that a wild had he actually returned to the neighborhood that morning he would have seen several police cruisers and news vans parked outside of the house,

which would certainly qualify as out of the ordinary or at the very least memorable to me. I was just going to say, I think that would be something that I would mention. Like, hey, there was this crazy thing. Yeah, that I saw. So they pushed back with that. They were like, that's weird that you didn't see all the news vans and like the police,

like, pressants. That's wild that you didn't see that. It's so crazy. And he was like, oh, I'm so sorry, I just keep lying. Like, I'm going to tell you the truth again, though, sorry about that. I did see those cop cars and the news fans, and that's why I left. Oh, okay.

He's like, thank you for reminding me of that as well. I totally forgot that I saw those, but I did. Yeah. And then I was like, I did. So the detectives were like, you saw all that. Like, most innocent people stumbling upon a scene, like that on their front lawn would want to make sure everyone in their house was safe and unheard, like you didn't.

Yeah. And Grant was just like, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what to say. He's like, you know what, I don't have an answer for that. He just told them once he left the area, he went to a local fast food restaurant to use their Wi-Fi. And when he did, he checked a local news site, and that's how he learned that there was

a shooting in his neighborhood. Wow. A shooting. Okay. And when asked again why he didn't feel compelled in his neighborhood. Wow, a shooting. Okay. And when asked again why he didn't feel compelled to check on the family, he told the officers, I just didn't want to know. Wow, like you're, you're something.

You are the worst liar. I have ever heard in my entire life. Truly, yeah. So he was interviewed like this for hours and hours and hours by the Seminole County Sheriff's detectives. And throughout most of their interview, all, wow, I just got really a lot of stuff. I was just gonna say, damn, you got real boss. That was wild. Yeah. And all Granted was make himself look more suspicious. And after more than three hours of the

conversation, Granted still hadn't asked detectives what had happened to his family. Are you kidding me? Three hours. And they're like, they're like, yeah, new space. And he curiosity heavy police present shooting like, you want to know what happened? No. And he still didn't seem to alarm to buy the situation at all. Wow. Okay. So detective MulTari was getting more and more convinced that this is their guy, clearly. Yeah. And he was really hoping to get a confession, though, because of course, that's what you need. Yeah.

So she placed, or sorry, I had said here earlier, she placed multiple crime scene photos of Cody's body in front of Grant. And directly asked, quote, did you leave the house with your brother Cody looking like that? Oh, shit. And Grant covered his face face but gave no response.

So, MulTari then produced crime scenes of Chad and Margaret and said, or did you leave the house with your father looking like that? Or your mother? Is that how you left your family? Damn. And Grant glanced at the photos before covering his face again, saying, no, I didn't do any of this.

Wow. Like looked back at them and was like, no., initially he suggested it could have been a murder suicide. And he tried to blame Cody. Are you kidding me? The person that was there for him through everything. Oh, that pisses me off. Through wrestling. And through nursing school.

Through work. Through their trip to Japan, through the fucking craziness school, through work, through their trip to Japan, through the fucking craziness with Aunt Donna there, through rehab, through all of it. The best brother you could literally ever ask for. Or even dream up to be quite honest. Must have been Cody and then he must have just turned the gun on himself.

Oh my God, what an actual piece of human fucking shit. Like, that's where I'm like, fuck, yeah. Like this, like obviously you're a fucking murderer. Like go fuck yourself. But it's like, and you had to twist it at the end there. You really had to do that. And it's like, dude, Cody was found in the fetal position barely in the house.

And evident shows. That doesn't even make sense. Evidence showed you didn't even hesitate before you shot your brother in the face. What a piece of shit. Your own flesh and blood. What a piece of shit. Shot him in the face.

Like, wow. You're disgusting. Truly. Because it's one thing to steal money from people when you're going through a addiction. Like, that's not okay, but I understand you're suffering. It's a very different thing to shoot people in the face. Oh, yeah. I would say so.

That's holy shit. On another level. Yeah, piece of shit. So the people in the face. Oh, yeah. I would say so. That's holy shit. On another one. Yeah. Piece of shit. So the detectives were like, yeah, no. Like straight up monster. No, that doesn't work like that. So then he admitted, you know, I know.

I have all the motives. I have all the means to carry out this murder. But I didn't do it. Like, I know it looks that way, but I didn't do it. So the detectives were like, if it's not you then who would have done this? And he said that it's not you too. Right. He said, I don't know. I've been getting blamed for the last half a year for everything. And I've been trying to move forward in a positive direction. And then every day I'm reminded of all the trouble I caused. And then I

keep being told the same thing over and over again that there's nothing I can do to change it. Is how old to see again? Like 30. Like in his 30s. Okay, so he's not six. No, no, he's checking. He's not because like really? Really? Like every day I keep everybody's the mean stuff because I steal money from them. It's like what the It's like yeah, okay. Yeah, people are pissed. Now you're talking about your dead family by the way. Yeah, like if you're leaning it on your brother who did everything for you, that is so, the fact that he was so willing to turn around and be like probably Cody. It's so crazy to me. Holy shit dude, you are like bottom of the barrel piece of shit. Legit. Like you couldn't even say some stranger came in there, you blamed Cody.

Right. What the fuck? Like that is fucked. What a coward on another level. But at the same time detectives felt like they were super close to getting a confession because they're poking their boat in. Oh yeah.

And they're like, we're gonna get there. So what they did was they ended up contacting his older brother Jason. And they were like, why don't we get the two of you in a room together? And you can front him, I know. So Jason goes in the room and immediately asks Grant whether he had anything to do with it.

And Grant said, no, I have nothing to do with it. And Grant told him, I want, or excuse me, Jason told him, I want to believe you Grant, but you're the last person I could put in that house. And I know what happened over the last six months. I can understand that trouble that you've been going through, but it's hard for me to think you would break to this point. Yeah. So they had a 15-minute conversation

as detectives watched, and they could tell it was clear that Jason didn't believe Grant's denial either. No. And it became particularly evident when he wondered out loud what would have happened had he been in the house at the time of the murders. 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. And he kept going just trying to get Grant to confess. He said they didn't deserve it. No matter what feelings were felt by anybody, they were good people. Yeah. And just when they thought Grant was gonna bud, she said, I know. And they showed it by protecting me. Wow.

It's like, so now you were home. Wow. And they protected you and you're the sole survivor. Like, what the fuck? What? And it's like, is he talking about that or is he talking about protected him throughout this whole ordeal? I don't even know. Either way, it's like, wow he talking about that or is he talking about protected him throughout this whole ordeal? I don't even know.

Either way, it's like, wow, you're a fucking monster that you're acknowledging that. Right. Like, wow, exactly. Holy shit. So while all of that was going on down at the Sheriff's office, crime scene technicians began a thorough search of the house, Grant's car, and the hotel room that he'd been staying at

in Orlando at the double tree. Now, in the search of his house, Grant's car, and the hotel room that he'd been staying at in Orlando at the double tree. Now, in the search of his car, crime scene analyst Eric Brothers found a handwritten letter that detailed all the issues that had been going on in the family for the last six months. And it included a quote saying, 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. What was that? So back in the interview room, like detectives heard about this and they asked Grant about the letter. And he said he was the one that had written it. He was like, yeah, that's mine. And the quote was something Cody said to him the night that he was kicked out of the house. And they were like, why would

you write a letter in first person as Cody? And he said, he was just trying to document their conversation. But like, if I was just trying to document that conversation, I'd be like, and then Elena said, yeah, no, like that doesn't make any sense. That doesn't make sense. So meanwhile, analysts coming through the evidence at the double tree found several credit cards. After he murdered his family, he stole their credit cards. They found multiple longing to Cody Cha and Chad. That checks a lot. And a later search of the Amato House

would turn up even more credit cards and also images showing the credit card information that Grant had stolen from his aunt and uncle. Based on the quote totality of the investigation, an arrest warrant was issued and Grant was officially taken into custody. He was charged with three counts of first degree premeditated murder for the deaths of Cody Chad and Margaret. Wow. So in March 27th, 2019, there was a bond hearing to determine whether he should be eligible for bond, which is wild. Yeah. His lawyer, Jeff Dowdy, argued that there was no physical evidence tying Grant to the murders, because he lives in the house. I was going to say, of course, yeah.

And he should be allowed bond in order to prepare for the trial. But during the hearing, the prosecutor played the 16-minute conversation between Jason and Grant during his initial interview, and that was followed up by testimony from Jason, who was able to detail all the issues that had been going on in the home, and in his closing arguments, the prosecutor Stuart Stone said, everything points to the defendant in this case and no one else. No one else had any issues or problems with the victims. And even though there was a lack of forensic evidence linking Grant to the crime scene,

but that's because he lived there. Like it's hard to say what's happened. There's a lack of forensic evidence linking anyone to the crime scene. Exactly. That's the problem here. Exactly. Yeah. But because, or excuse me, even though there was that,

the judge actually denied the request for bond. Oh, okay. And Grant was returned back to his cell. Might bitch. By but, the issue of bond was revisited again in late April and the defense attorney pointed again to the lack of forensic evidence, blah, blah, blah, and the judge actually ended up siding with him

because still at this point, there was a lack of proof coming from the prosecution side So he granted a $750,000 bail. Damn. Which grant would need to pay 10% of yeah, he's not gonna know and it came of course with additional requirements Grant if he was to be out on bond would have to wear a GPS ankle monitor Avoid contact with any witnesses in the case and avoid the the internet altogether, which we all know would not have happened. So even though he was in jail, and strictly forbidden from using the internet, meaning he had no way of keeping in contact with Sylvie, he was committed to his belief that she was in fact his girlfriend.

In a handwritten letter to the girlfriend of his cellmate, Grant explained that he and his cellmate had bonded over that he and his cellmate had bonded over their shared interests and work histories. He said to the woman, I know the pain of being separated from the woman you love. My God, you've always been separated from the woman you love. Literally. And then he went on to tell her that he and Sylvie had plans to take a cruise, quote, once all this jail stuff is behind us.

Once all this jail stuff is behind us. Once all this jail stuff lays behind us. BB, you murdered your entire family and even if you're still claiming in a sense that you didn't, your entire family was murdered. Thank you, that was gonna be my next thing. It's like even if you're gonna keep claiming that you had nothing to do with this,

you're not sad at all. That your whole family was brutally slain in their house. In the house that you planned to live in with your brother that was curled up in the fetal position in the growl or in the storage room next to the house. None of this is bothering you at all. I know, he's just gonna go on a cruise with Sylvie. Very cool. I'm also like, did Sylvie know that? Yeah. Did Sylvie know that you guys were going on a cruise because I don't think so. That's, what does Silvino? She knew that he became obsessed with her, and she was just like, it wasn't that for me, it was work. Yeah, like, there was no relationship.

No, he was just under the unhoused question. I think she must have been terrified. Yeah. So it's honestly unclear why Grant was writing long detailed letters to his cellmates girlfriend. Yeah, I was gonna have that next. Yeah, I don't really know. But most of his other correspondence made sense under the circumstances.

He was clearly unable to come up with the $75,000 bond, so he tried to access the payout from his parents' life insurance policies. Fuck that! Are you kidding me? But, you know, he was informed that his indictment for their murder happened to make him ineligible for that money. So, like, there's this little thing standing in your way. Tiny rule of, like, if you're the one on trial for the murder, you actually don't get that. You actually don't get this crazy. I know it's wild.

Sorry. Very unfair. Sorry about that. And speaking of unfair. Yeah. Yeah. You know all about that, Grant. For sure. But anyway, the conditions of his bail made it so that he couldn't use any funds from his parents' estate anyway to make bond. So instead, he began reaching out to news outlets, offering, quote, trade exclusive interviews to reporters

in exchange for getting money to bond out of jail. Wow. So he's like, yeah, yeah, I'll talk to you about my friends. Yeah, it's really good. So I can get out of here. And an email to a reporter in New York he complained about his inability to come up with the money saying, it seems to be my half brother's mission

to make my life that much harder by not believing me, communicating me, or even helping me, even after I was blessed with a very high bond. Wow. Like, you think it's fucking Jason's responsibility to bond you out of here. You murdered his mother, his adoptive father,

and his half brother. He's so delusional. Yes. His other message to journalists were very similar in tone, and they usually contained a list of repetitive complaints about everything from his experiences in jail. He would write about his interest in Japanese culture, and then he would start complaining again

about the lack of support outside of jail and his quote unquote, elitist neighbor, Speckholm. He called them elitist. What? I'm like, I don't think they're judging you because like you don't have money. Yeah, I don't think they're judging you

because you murdered your whole family and you murdered their neighbor. So I don't think that's part of the judgment. I don't think it's elitist. No, I wouldn't say it was. Now, despite his quote unquote efforts, Grant was never able to come up with the money. And he remained in jail awaiting trial.

But as he was trying his hardest, the Seminole County investigators continued collecting and analyzing a seemingly endless amount of evidence actually coming from the car and from the house. The more prominent evidence included hundreds and hundreds of images and screenshots of Sylvie. There were text conversations between the two and there were screenshots of the bank transactions showing proof of his countless purchases of those tokens that he could use on the Cam Girl website. So his trial for the murder of his parents and his brother finally began on July 15th in the Seminole County Circuit Court.

Stuart Stone was arguing for the prosecution and again, Jeff Doudy was leading Grant's defense team. So in his opening statement, Stone laid out the prosecution's theory that Grant had been faced with the ultimatum of giving up his fantasy relationship with Sylvie or losing the support of his family. So he chose to continue that relationship with Sylvie

and also chose to murder his parents and brother. Awesome. Thinking that with them out of the way, he would be free to continue on in his relationship and live off of their money. Yep. Now the prosecution pointed to the fact that just a few hours after killing his family, Grant logged on to the Wi-Fi at publics and tried to connect with Sylvie. My God. A few hours.

This is so beyond obsession. Yeah, I can imagine. Wow. So the prosecution told the jury, quote, his parents and brothers' bodies aren't even cold and he's already reestablishing or trying to reestablish contact with Sylvie. He was just waiting for her to say, I love you too, come to Bulgaria, come see me, but that didn't happen.

Oh my God. Because this is her job. It's not like, she's not in love with you. She not in love with things. No, like this is literally her job. Right this is her job. It's not like, she's not in love with you. She not in love with thing. No, like this is literally her job. Right, that's it. So throughout the trial, it went on for two weeks. The jury was presented with, by then,

well-known story of Grant's full-blown obsession with Sylvie, his theft of more than at that point, $200,000 from his family, and the incredibly tense relationship that had developed between him and specifically his father as a result. But the more damning evidence actually came from the murder weapon. It was in, I hope I got this right, IWI Jericho 941 pistol that belonged to his best friend,

Blake Turpin. So Turpin was called to testify, and he told the jury that he realized his gun was missing from his home about a month or two earlier, and remembered leaving Grant in his bedroom, where the gun was kept, quote, for about 10 minutes, two weeks prior to the killings. Oh, damn. So he not only stole a shit ton of money from his family, stole their belongings, but he stole from his best friend to kill his family. I was gonna say and then use that thing

to murder his entire family so that it would be traced back to his best friend. Wild. And was willing to say that it was Cody who did everything. Yep. Like he will throw anybody under the bus. Anybody. So on July 31st, 2019, after more than eight hours

of deliberation, which I truly can't even believe it took that long, the jury unanimously delivered a guilty verdict. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Bye. And all three charges of first degree premeditated murder. Yep. And the penalty phase of the trial

took place on August 12th. And it was particularly important because actually Grant was potentially facing the death penalty for these murders. Oh, damn. But during that part of the trial, Jason Amato testified and told the judge, it's so hard to go through the grieving process

when there are multiple losses and uncertainty in the future. I'll give him that. Through all this, though, I'm a proud Amato and I will rise up smarter and stronger than before. And ultimately, the judge sentence, sentence, grant Amato to life in prison without the possibility of parole. By Grant's end. By Grant's fucking. Wow. I am like like without words for that's it. Why?

I didn't know that story. I can't believe I've never heard that story. I actually, I have to tell you, and I have to give credit where credit is due. I actually learned of this case from Bailey Sarian. Oh, shit. It was one of the first videos I ever watched of her. Oh, I love that.

Yeah, like years ago. Oh, that's crazy. Oh, I love Bailey. I love Bailey so much. Oh, that's crazy. Oh, I love Bailey. I love Bailey so much. Like the three-disshuman, like truly. So if you want any more information on this case, I would definitely suggest going to Bailey's channel and watching that.

Oh, man. You know what it is? It's the name sounded familiar? Yeah, but I did not know this. Yeah, I did not know this. And crazy that it really wasn't that long ago. It's so sad. I know. It's such a sad case.'t that long ago. It's so sad, I know.

It's such a sad case. Like that at the end, you're like, by grant, see you later, but then you're like, fall. But like everyone is gone. And it's like, I feel so bad for Jason, like having, like what he said, going through the grieving process with this as part of it,

you can't even, you're grieving your entire family and grieving the loss of your brother to your remaining brother who did all of this. Of course, it's so upsetting. And I can't imagine I would just never trust anybody ever again. No, honestly, you shouldn't. No, I don't, I don't, anyways, but,

wow, so sad. So sad. Well told. Thank you. Shout out to Dave for helping me with the research. David, the most beautiful, beautiful being the majestic unicorn, him. So yeah, guys, we thank you for listening and we hope you keep listening and we hope you

keep it weird. But not so weird that any of this. Yeah, none of it. Not even one part of it. Except like, shop at Publix because I heard it's a great grocery store. Definitely do that. All right, love you bye! Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself

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