Hello! Hello! Welcome back to diagnosing killer. I am Kenna. I'm Koelle. I'm excited to talk to you guys again. I know. I feel like it's still been a week.
It's been a really long week.
Yeah, we've had a lot going on.
You were in Vegas.
I was in Vegas. I graduated. I walked the stage from college finally. So I actually have a psychology degree, so now my word means a little bit more than I did a few weeks ago.
And we were on the news. We talked about it. Well, obviously you guys have heard the interview, hopefully, that we came out with Clark Finney. We named it DAK Live, which I think is a really cool concept. Maybe we can put it in the future with someone else.
No editing, completely raw, unfiltered. And we did air that last week. And then shortly afterwards we aired the Clara Harris episode, which we talked about the fact that we were going to the interview.
And I'm going to be on the news. It kind of got mixed up in the timeline. But we did a segment on Great Day S.A. So if you would like to go watch that, we're super honored. They made us look so good. And I just Googled Great Day S.A.
And then the date was 1217 2021. So if you just Google that, it's on the homepage.
Yeah. Yeah, I got to see it. Why didn't you get to see it live or recorded it on DVR? Because I didn't wake up until late. I was like, oh my God, I forgot we were on TV today.
Well, I saw it hours later because I was two hours behind you guys back there. And so I didn't watch it until like, I guess noon, y'all's time.
Yeah, I was really awesome. Go give that a watch if you guys want to. It's only like a four minute segment. It's nothing crazy. But you can see us live and in action in our closet recording, you know, super authentic.
Yeah. And thanks so much to Clark seriously. It was such a privilege to talk to her and listen to her and open up with her. And it was really cool. It was awesome. She's awesome.
Yeah, she's great. I told you I FaceTimed her drunkenly while I was in Vegas. Oh my God, you did not. We had a conversation. It was great. She was so nice. She's so nice. I'm so embarrassed.
So embarrassed. That's what you do in Vegas. You get drunk and make stupid decisions. Yeah, and make stupid decisions.
Without further ado, I think you have a new case for us today. We've been talking about not the case in particular, but the fact that you're doing a case and I'm really excited to know what it is.
It's kind of weird. I feel a little nervous. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I mean, I feel like with Clark, it was so easy and it wasn't like, yeah, specific content. Yeah, it wasn't scripted.
Right. But now it's like, I have to present all over again. And it's been like two weeks. Powerpoint presentation.
Alrighty, today we are going to crack open the case of Grant Amato. Do you know who Grant Amato is? It sounds familiar. You will. Okay. Yeah, I hope so.
You're going to get to know this guy. He was born May 20th, 1989 to his parents, Chad and Margaret Amato.
Margaret had had a son from a previous relationship and his name was Jason. Jason was about three or four when Chad and Margaret got married and he adopted Jason. So, Amato.
So the couple would go on to have two more children. Cody was born in 1987 and then Grant, who's the baby, and he was born in 1989.
Shortly after Grant was born, the family built a house in Chiluda, Florida and it's about 25 miles outside of Orlando. So just a little tiny Florida town.
This town was considered to be rural and it actually had very little crime that occurred there.
And you know, typical of most. Until now. Yeah, until now. Four-shadowing. Uh-oh.
The house was completed in 1990 and the family moved into their four bedroom dream house. So around this time, it seemed like the family was doing really well.
Chad Amato, who was the dad, he was a successful clinical pharmacist. So he was a really smart dude and he had a really avid love for computers as well.
Chad described himself as a quote self-taught computer guru. So clearly Chad loved what he did and it's actually all detailed in his own personal website, which is still active.
So we're going to talk about Chad a little bit. He gives himself a brief bio. He considers himself to be a quote, an accomplished, confident leader with many years of pharmaceutical experience involving retail, hospital, home health, specialty, and long-term care in the state of Florida.
After finishing my private elementary and my private high school education, I enrolled and graduated from the University of Florida.
My original plan was to be an industrial chemist, but the lab was rather solitary and my father, who was also a pharmacist, convinced me that parlaying with the chemistry major into a pharmacy degree would be more socially interactive and equally gratifying.
And he was right. Today, healthcare is an ever-changing discipline.
Change is an opportunity best met with motivation, not resistance. Outside of the profession, I am married and I am mentored three sons.
They also have established careers in the healthcare industry. Since my profession resides inside buildings, the vast majority of my free time is spent outdoors.
I marvel and compete with mother nature. My favorite activities are climbing, hiking, and cycling.
I chill out and watch classic films and try to avoid the relentless mainstream media commercials. When it's time to self-educate, I just Google it.
A balanced routine for me would be work, exercise, fun, and peace. I consider myself fortunate to have a soulmate of the same spiritual wavelength. She is the moon to my son.
This is the dad.
This is his own bio, yeah, on his website.
The dad, though.
Yes.
So his wife, Margaret Amato, she's mom, and she was a client operations manager at Nuance Communications.
So aside from her job, Margaret was an active animal lover, especially of horses. She often rescued and rehabilitated horses even in the most severe cases.
The most beloved one of hers being Lady, who she rescued in 2009, and she was an off-the-track thoroughbred, so she was a retired racing horse.
She posted about Lady all the time on her Facebook pages, and Lady was a troubled horse, but Margaret never abandoned her and kept showing Lady the love and affection that she thought she deserved all throughout her life.
And then a lady passed away. I didn't know the date, but she did pass away at some point.
So Jason had actually, this is the oldest son, he moved away to college within a year or so of the family moving into their brand new house.
This kind of gave way for Cody and Grant to become really close together, so they were pretty much inseparable. Everyone described them as best friends.
During their high school years at Timber Creek High School, Cody and Grant also became interested in healthcare, so they realized like they wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps and their grandparents' footsteps.
At the same time, Cody and Grant joined a weightlifting team, and they were also really big motivators for each other in the gym, so they seemed like they were doing really great extracurricular activities and things like that, staying motivated.
But just like typical teenagers, however, the brothers had playstations, PCs, VR sets, video games consumed quite a bit of their downtime, so they were pretty obsessed with online stuff besides gaining some type of extracurricular outlet.
So the brothers also loved things like anime, and they were also part of an airsoft gun competition thing, like they had their own little airsoft troop that they went in and did competitions with.
Cody would go on to graduate in 2005 with Grant following in 2007. Both of the boys had dreams of going to nursing school, getting their degrees, and after college they would buy matching BMWs and purchase their family's home, all while their parents would retire in a recently purchased house that they had purchased in Tennessee.
So that was their goal, like they had their whole lives planned out. They were going to go get their nursing license, buy nice cars, buy the house, the family house, and then, you know.
So the boys seemed like super hyper focused and seemed to have a pretty good plan in place for their futures. Cody and then eventually Grant would go on to nursing school and then anesthesiology school. They wanted to be anesthesiologists.
So Cody excelled in all of his courses. He flew through nursing school and anesthesiology school. Grant, however, struggled in school and would only barely pass his nursing degree in 2011.
And he soon dropped out of anesthesiology school after failing multiple courses.
Becoming an anesthesiologist is one of the hardest things that you can do in the doctor world. Like that takes a shitload of schooling and a lot of perseverance and really good grades.
Yeah, and a lot of discipline, which Cody seemed to have, honestly. So even though this was perceived as a setback for Grant, he did go on to find work in an ICU, in the ICU as a nurse for the Orlando Regional Medical Center where he would work as an RN for the next three years.
It kind of sounds like Kristen Gilbert.
Shut up! I haven't got there yet.
But in 2018, while working for Avent Health Orlando, Grant was actually suspended pending an investigation into missing medications.
The hospital where Grant worked had noticed a large amount of propofol that had gone missing. And I don't know if anybody remembers this, but propofol was actually one of the drugs that there was that doctor that had a pending investigation on him from Michael Jackson's death.
And because he was giving him copious amounts of propofol.
Oh no.
Mixed with other like horse rank realizers or whatever.
But a large amount of this had gone missing and measures were taken to track the missing medications.
Specifically, there are two vials that were split between two patients, two vials, split between two patients.
That sounds like a lot.
Where no orders by any doctor to administer this drug had been given and they were both under Grant's care.
Yeah.
While the investigation continued since Grant was suspended, he spent more time at home and especially on the internet.
He poured himself into video games and began to isolate.
Eventually, Grant would be arrested for grand theft, which is more than $300 but less than $5000, but it is a felony charge.
Okay.
So, and this was for improperly administering drugs.
Yeah. I mean, he could have killed somebody.
Yeah.
So, Grant had actually semi admitted to the crime stating to his superiors when originally approached, but he said that he quote,
administered the drug to patients because they were not adequately relaxed.
Yeah.
What?
So, let's just tranquilize that.
Yeah.
Just borderline kill them.
Yeah.
So, the charges were actually later dropped, but this was not without suspicion that the family had something to do with the reason that the charges were dropped.
They were a pretty wealthy family.
Yeah.
So, of course, Grant was fired from his job, which he should have been.
Yeah.
Because of this, his isolation worsened.
He spent almost all of his time indoors and online.
His weight began to drop like at an alarming rate because he was just becoming.
He just wasn't eating.
He wasn't well, he was sleeping all day.
He was staying up all night.
He began to get like very pale.
Like, yeah.
He just wasn't taking care of himself, which is a complete 180 from the guy that was lifting weights in high school.
Yeah, of course.
You know, he looked good.
I mean, he can even Google pictures of him then and it was like, okay, well, he's not a bad looking guy.
Yeah.
And then you Google pictures of him like around this time.
So, he started playing multiplayer shooter games with other people online and he began to actually livestream on Twitch.
Okay.
And so, he was like finding this kind of other world.
You know, like he began to have friends online and things like that.
And so, he had begun to believe that he could possibly make a career out of becoming a Twitch streamer.
So, with this and his family believing in him that like you can do anything that you set your mind to, like, of course,
Father and his brother actually started financially helping him to purchase new equipment or like support him for a little bit while he got more followers
and things like that to really start his career.
So, they super wanted to support him.
They were being really supportive.
But it's no surprise though that a man that was seemingly an online obsession at this point would become lonely and look for relationships sources online, right?
So, eventually he became addicted to porn.
Oh.
So, we're just gonna like jump right in there.
Jump right in.
Okay.
Well, again, like he's isolated, he's lonely.
Well, the internet is his only source of communication or interaction with people.
Right, and entertainment or whatever.
So, it just makes sense.
Like, he's online all the time and I'm not saying nobody looks at porn.
I'm just saying it started becoming a full-blown addiction.
Yeah.
So, with this, he would, this would eventually lead to someone he called the love of his life.
Okay.
This was a Bulgarian cam girl named Sylvie.
Okay.
So, portraying himself as everything that he always wanted to be in life, he met Sylvie on a cam girl website.
He claimed that he was a wealthy professional gamer with a BMW and a luxurious house to himself.
There's like one thing in that sentence that's accurate, which is gamer.
Oh, yeah.
Gamer.
So, with the money he was accepting from his brother and father, Grant would purchase lavish gifts, flowers, lingerie, and even sex toys for her.
All right.
Which, of course, he's watching, right?
Oh.
Because it's a cam girl.
I didn't even think about that.
Yeah.
Grant would often just send straight up money to Sylvie as well.
So, Grant was spending upwards of not even joking.
This was, this is after doing a little bit of math, almost $2,500 for a four-hour long session.
Oh my God.
$2,500 for four hours.
That's.
So, that's over $500 an hour.
Yeah.
Holy crap.
And so, a lot of the time it was like 600 there, 600 here, 600 there, but it was an uncommon for him to spend that amount of money.
Wow.
Yeah, for a four-hour long session.
It's not even his money that he's spending.
No.
Wow.
He doesn't have a job.
Jesus.
So, he also began referring to her as his girlfriend.
But she's just like, give me your money, send me the presents.
Yeah.
I'm doing my job.
I mean, she's a cam model.
I mean, that's what she does.
But he is like thinking it's way different.
He thinks that, yeah.
And I think that it just starts becoming such an addiction that it's like if he feels like
he spends more time with her than other people, then she's going to love him more than, you
know, only be interested in him if he's consuming all of her time.
Yeah.
Which she doesn't care.
She's getting paid.
Yeah, exactly.
So, he's trying to max out credit cards.
He even attempted to take out a credit card in his own father's name.
Even after learning this, his dad did not press charges, however.
And in fact, in order to keep it like on the hush-hush, Chad just kept the credit card.
He didn't close it.
Yeah.
This is enabling at its finest.
Which is just enabling him to use it.
He has all the information.
Yeah.
So, Grant was showing that pretty much he could take from them and they weren't going to do
anything about it.
Yeah.
They never reprimanded him and Grant would just tell them whatever they wanted to hear
and continue to be like in the moment and then just continue to spend money.
So, over the course of a few months, Grant would spend almost $200,000.
I don't even have that much money.
And family money.
Yeah.
It's so ridiculous.
He doesn't have a job.
I know.
It's not even his money.
His money is this.
Like where is this coming from?
He hasn't had a job.
That's the thing.
So, all of this money is coming from his family and honestly it's not clear how or when the
family kind of found out that Sylvie existed.
But I'm sure it's not like he's hiding it.
He's probably charging all of their credit cards or whatever it is.
Anyways, I'm thinking that the family knew that he had a girlfriend but maybe didn't know
that she was a cam model or I don't know.
Maybe he's just saying it's just gifts or something.
But how do you not know it's a cam girl?
Yeah.
Maybe they did.
Yeah.
Know that it's a cam girl and I'm not sure that again, I don't know how they found out.
But honestly Margaret and Chad don't seem like they are dummies.
Yeah, of course.
They also don't seem like they're like, hey, stop doing that.
Yeah.
They're just like, please.
Yeah.
Could you please stop?
Literally.
And he's like a full blown addict at this point.
Yeah.
He's also a whole ass adult.
So, Cody, you know, having a really good career, he's an anesthesiologist.
He really wanted to help his brother and he told Grant that he did need to get help.
But he said, let's get out of town, let's take a really nice trip.
Just the two of us, I think actually a friend met up with them at some point, but he's
like, let's go get some space.
Let's get clear headed.
And when we come back, get some help.
Yeah.
He's like, okay.
So, Cody, being a great older brother spent $10,000 on a trip to Japan.
Wow.
Yeah.
They stayed in early December.
And this is of 2018.
So, yeah, he was just trying to get him motivated, like maybe like shake him up a little bit,
maybe get him out of his depression and get him doing something, you know, like, like
this is a whole, there's a whole world out here.
Yeah, exactly.
Like, and you're just isolated online.
I thought that was pretty cool.
That's nice.
Oh, that's nice, Cody.
So, Cody and Grant had always wanted to take that trip, like I said, and it was in December.
Cody did tell Grant that when he returned home, he got a seek treatment.
Grant said, cool.
And the two seemed to have a great time.
What do you think happened when he got back?
He just went right back to his old habits.
Fuck yeah.
So, he was like, he did not get help.
After the trip, Grant and Chad's relationship started to deteriorate.
So that's the son of the dad.
Chad was just like, I've had it.
Like, he had actually been spending their retirement money.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So, both Chad and Margaret, like, all of their retirement money was almost gone.
He even actually applied for a second mortgage on their house.
Without telling them?
Yeah.
So, when they were just taken, the mortgage itself was only $150,000, which wasn't even
enough to cover the amount of debt that he had racked up, but they also have to pay that
back.
Yeah, exactly.
So, it's like, it's just- Jesus.
What is it?
Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul?
Yeah.
That's really all it is.
Yeah.
So, one particular very terrible argument that Grant had had with his dad, Grant just
ditched.
Like, he just left the house.
He messaged his mother saying, quote, I'm really tired of everything, and quote, I'm
gonna handle this my own way.
Fearing that her son would take his own life and became- she became really concerned.
And she's a concerned and sweet mother anyways.
She called the police to report her son missing.
She cited his depression and isolation saying that after failing in school and getting fired,
he was feeling, quote, worthless.
She was really concerned that he had access to guns as well, because they were kind of
gun people.
I didn't really mention that earlier, but that was supposed to go with the Aerosoft thing.
So Grant had actually gone to his aunt Donna's house, seemingly for refuge.
And she lived about 42 miles away.
And when he arrived, Donna was shocked by Grant's appearance because she hadn't seen
him in a few months.
Uh-huh.
Oh yeah, she had lost a lot of weight and stuff.
And he just looked terrible.
He looked pale and sleep deprived.
So she offered for him to stay there for a few days to kind of cool off or whatever
it was, right?
And didn't initially notify Chad or Margaret where he was.
She was like, you can just be here for a little bit, chill out.
Donna, over the next two days, had noticed that Grant just really had strange sleeping
patterns.
He slept all day, stayed up all night, all this stuff.
And then she started noticing that her credit card was being hacked.
Oh, that's really weird.
He hasn't done that yet.
I'll remind you that the family kept it really hush hush.
Oh yeah, that's right.
So she realized that Grant was the one that had stolen her credit card information.
So she called Chad to reveal to him that Grant was with her and was using her credit card
without her consent.
Chad, at this point, had broke down crying.
And Donna said in 27 years that she's known her brother-in-law, she's never seen him cry.
Or maybe once.
But Donna heard all of it, basically, that they wouldn't be able to retire when they
wanted to and that they had to remortgage the house.
And it didn't matter what it took to keep Grant out of jail, they were still going to
do it.
That's so awful.
So Margaret and Chad both begged Donna not to press charges.
And Cody even offered to make payments to Donna to cover what he spent.
Donna agreed not to press charges under the premise of him getting help, basically.
So she was like, I won't press charges as long as he goes to get help.
He's not going to though.
So on December 22nd of 2018, the Amato family, including Chad, Margaret, oldest son Jason,
and middle son Cody, confronted Grant outside of his aunt Donna's home in the driveway.
In intervention.
Yeah, in intervention.
They had made arrangements for Grant to go to recovery for internet and sex addiction.
Cody himself was the one that fronted the bill for a 60 day treatment program in Fort
Lauderdale to the tune of $15,000.
I was going to say that's not cheap.
It's not.
Grant decided to go to treatment voluntarily.
However, he would check himself out just after two weeks of inpatient treatment.
Oh my gosh.
He would later tell detectives that he justified leaving in this two weeks ban because the
psychiatrist and therapist did not prescribe him any medications and called his addiction
a quote isolated event due to being out of work and PTSD from being previously arrested.
Okay.
I think that's a little ridiculous that they came to that consensus with his diagnosis,
but you don't just, you don't go to therapy and, oh, you shouldn't go to therapy and hopes
or recovery and hopes of getting medicated, you know, that's not.
No.
And that's what he was saying.
He's like, well, it's, I mean, when I basically he was saying when I signed the paperwork,
I told them like, well, I haven't been diagnosed with anything and I'm not taking any medications.
You can't hold me for anything.
And he also checked himself in voluntarily.
And the thing is, is that he has medical knowledge.
He probably knows the things that he should be taking in order to stabilize himself unless
he doesn't think that he's unstable.
He probably doesn't.
Well, in his mind, it's like they're trying to keep him from his girlfriend.
You know what I mean?
So I think that he probably just hung his hat on the words like isolated event.
Yeah.
Like they were like, oh, well, you know, these, these thoughts that you're having or whatever
might be an isolated event, but whatever.
But yeah, what I'm saying is like, or the PTSD, I think that he literally just honed
in on those things.
So that that was his justification for leaving.
Yeah.
Well, it's like they're trying to say this.
I don't think that an actual psychiatrist or therapist said those things to him is what
I'm saying.
In the context of that, there's no paper trail.
So it's not like, I mean, he just signed himself out.
Yeah.
So who knows what was said to him, you know, eventually Grant returned home on January 5th,
2019, but the family was prepared for this.
And while in treatment, the Amato family had come up with their quote bottom lines like
Dr. Phil.
Yeah.
So these are their rules for remaining in the house and a list of conditions if Grant
were to stay home.
So I transcribed what I could because it's on a legal pad that Chad wrote.
Like the real document was put into evidence, but there's photographs of it online.
So I was only reading it.
Yeah.
It's handwritten.
Yeah, it's handwritten, but it's legal pad paper.
So it's like to get a whole picture of it.
It's like really tiny.
So I transcribed what I could.
So at the beginning of the letter, it's calculated all the money that Grant Amato has either stolen
or used.
Oh, wow.
And what the family had spent bailing him out of situations, including lawyers, hotels,
even the Japan trip.
Oh, wow.
The rehab center, even down to email correspondences with Sylvie because that costs money through
the campsite.
So in the letter, it states that, and there's just bullet points at this point, Grant must
present a plan in writing of his recovery plan that if not adhered to leads to the dismissal
from the home.
He must have any day shift job as an RN, laborer, or in an office.
He cannot have an overnight position.
I'm surprised his nursing license didn't get revoked from all this.
From all that, right?
Or even the accusation of him stealing, although the charges were dropped.
He may not have post-midnight internet use and must not have overnight internet use no
more all-nighters.
Okay.
So he's got to go to bed at a certain time.
Which is only going to help his mental health.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's what they're concerned about.
I mean, they're doctors, they're nurses in this family.
They know.
The family will install a new AT&T modem with limited capacity so they can turn off the
internet whenever they want.
Nice.
It'll come with some sort of a blocking equipment for unwanted Wi-Fi connections as well and
hotspots.
So all that's going to be blocked.
Grant will turn in his phone and the Amados will purchase a new phone minus data capabilities,
essentially just a phone for emergencies.
Yeah.
No internet, just phone call.
Right.
Subscriptions on internet are also canceled on all devices available at the house including
an iPad, a Surface Pro, and a main family computer.
Yeah, this is like legit.
They're like legit.
Like they're like, if you're going to get out of rehab that early, we're going to treat
this place like rehab.
Yeah.
Which is the way it should be.
Yeah, it should.
Most of this was Chad because Margaret, she's too sweet.
You must get a job and be able to afford beginning to pay back some of the money at an agreeable
amount to pay and to also pay for his car insurance.
He must issue a family apology and create some savings.
Chad did note in the letter in little parentheses on the side that he, the family did not anticipate
Grant's ability to pay them back nor that they ever expect an apology from him, at least
not a sincere one.
Yeah.
But he also says in parentheses, like lacks the ability to be empathetic or whatever.
Like they're legit.
There's a sign right there.
Grant would agree to a personality and psychiatric evaluation as well as regular therapy.
Grant also had an option to join the military if he didn't want to comply with all of the
family house rules.
Okay.
But he would still have a place to land, right?
Grant was told to never contact Sylvia again and if he were to, Grant would immediately
be kicked out of the house.
Furthermore, while he was in rehab, Chad and Cody actually contacted Sylvia while Grant
was there and revealed that Grant was not rich and had been using family money to support
his addiction to her.
She was told not to contact Grant, lest she be pulled into an investigation of fraud.
Wow.
This is like a lot.
Like they are smart people.
Well, yeah.
And like the thing is, is like everything that you're saying, I'm thinking to myself,
he's gonna be like, no, like, fuck you guys.
I'm an adult.
I'm like, do this and that and the other.
But like if you don't act like an adult, then we're not gonna treat you like an adult.
And you got those rights taken away when you did all of this prior.
Well, and these are just conditions to stay in the house.
Exactly.
If the dude wanted to live in a shelter, he could go live in a shelter or if he wanted
to go get a job, you know, whatever it was.
And move out.
Yeah.
Oh, I think I accidentally skipped over this, that he must show a job application or proof
of employment.
He must find a job in 60 days and keep it for at least 90 days.
Okay.
At a time.
And if he wants to switch jobs, you gotta.
You gotta stay there for 90 days.
Yeah.
So Grant agreed to all of these conditions.
Wow.
Although it was ridiculous, he said that his own father would keep his girlfriend from
having any contact with him.
Like the dude literally legit thinks this is unfair.
He thinks that's his girlfriend.
Yeah.
Like for sure.
After Grant was given this ultimatum, Cody became concerned that of the family's safety,
he was actually quoted in telling a girlfriend that he was worried that his brother would
quote, kill everyone.
Oh my gosh.
Because he was that upset.
Does he kill everyone?
We're gonna get there.
Oh my gosh.
This however did not stop Margaret from enabling her own son.
No.
She would eventually cave to Grant's request by allowing him to use her phone to contact
Sylvie via social media, Twitter.
Okay.
She's going against Chad now.
Like it's not even like you're still enabling your son.
Now you're going against your husband.
Right.
Like in his family.
It's for his safety.
Exactly.
The family safety.
It's not like the husband's being ridiculous.
Yeah.
So on the fourth in 2019, Chad found out about Grant's continued contact with Sylvie.
Chad reportedly grabbed Grant by the shirt in anger, somewhat lifting him up and then
gave him a few short hours to pack his shit and go.
Wow.
He's serious.
Straight up.
The next morning, January 25th, 2019, Cody's co-workers became worried when he didn't show
up for work.
No.
He had been known as a hard worker and out of the five years he had been employed there,
he had never missed a single day of work.
A co-worker called the police and told the dispatcher that he feared something had come
to harm of his friend and that he would, that it was really unlike him to skip out of work.
He also knew the mental history and depression with Grant and that he knew at one point that
he was suicidal.
The police arrived at the house at 9.20am to carry out a welfare check only to find no
answer at the door.
And after several attempts of contacting any occupants, the officers asked for confirmation
from a supervisor to enter the residence.
Through a sliding glass door, the officers gained access to the residence to find a
horrible scene.
No.
He first found Cody Amato, aged 31, and he was, content warning, it will describe the
death scene.
Cody Amato, who was 31 at the time, was found shot dead in the hallway between the gym and
the garage.
He had been shot once under his eye.
I felt like I'm friends with Cody.
That's so sad.
No.
He just wanted the best for his brother.
He did, and he tried to help him, and he was really successful.
He, again, he was shot underneath his eye, and a gun was laying close to him.
He was dressed in his scrubs.
He had just come over from work from the night before, and his lunchbox was actually next
to him in a pool of blood.
Next found was Chathamato.
He was 59, and he was in the kitchen.
He had been shot twice in the head, and he was face up, and it was noticed right away
that he was wearing a gun holster.
An epistle was so inside the holster.
It was on his right side, and although Chad was right handed, it was a cross draw holster.
So that's weird.
Why is it on his right side if he's right handed?
It's a cross draw.
We'll see.
So the last victim found was Margaret Amato, 61.
She was actually shot in the back of the head while still seated at her computer desk,
and she was swummed over.
Grant was nowhere to be found, and when police tried to track him down via his cell phone,
it had been disconnected.
Police put a bulletin out to track down Grant's 1996 Honda Accord.
I just want to pepper that in there because he said he drew a BMW, and he was driving
a 1996 Honda Accord.
Well, it's to say that his phone didn't get disconnected because he was a partner phone.
And this was 2018.
Yeah, exactly.
So the next morning, a tip actually was received that found Amato's car at a double tree hotel
where he was located, and voluntarily went to the station to talk about what happened
to his family.
When Amato arrived, detectives Anderson, and I think I'm pretty sure it's Maltari, they
seem pretty chill when they get in there.
They're just asking him about school history, some work history, he chatted about his interests
like anime and video games and things like that, trying to get him real comfortable.
He did say that when he last left the house with some bags that he unpacked, and he had
said that he was there for several hours packing because that's the opportunity that his dad
gave him, and he said that Cody wasn't there when he left.
He later changed his story that Cody was indeed there, but Amato only saw him for a short
time, given the hostility in the house he just wanted to get out.
Originally he said that he had left at 9.30 at night, but was confronted when they had
already had information that Cody left his job early at 9.15.
So they were like, given the time that it would take Cody to get to the house, unless
he stopped somewhere, you know, whatever.
Of course they're not going to give him that, unless he stopped somewhere.
But then he did admit that he did see his brother before he left, but only for a short
minute.
Okay, yeah, when he was killing him.
So investigators pushed for more information regarding Cody's love of guns, knowing full
well that a gun was found only feet away from Cody.
Amato leaned into the story and basically was building up a case against his own brother
for murder.
He stated that Cody had told him he was going to quote, take care of everything as Amato
was leaving the house.
He described his father as physically abusive towards everyone in the family except Cody
when they were younger, which is kind of contradictory to him telling him that he's mad.
It was like, oh, my brother loved me so much, he was going to do me this favor.
No, and it was also like, if he's trying to play the whole I'm innocent thing, why wasn't
he like, yeah, I was really concerned when my brother said he was going to take care
of it for me.
Like, why wouldn't you stay?
Oh my God.
Yeah, he's trying to make it ominous.
It's so disrespectful to blame someone that you fucking murdered.
Well, I don't know if he murdered him, I'm sure he did.
He just tried to put them as the bad person.
He said that him and Cody were both intimidated by Chad, although he did claim that Cody never
experienced abuse.
He did talk about the financial problems about him and his girlfriend.
He was not shy about these truths.
And again, he recanted a few things talking about when he saw Cody when he didn't.
He claimed that after he left the house, he sat in a parking lot of a local grocery store
to use the store Wi-Fi to look up directions for a job interview that he had the next day.
Yeah, bullshit.
He said that a job interview, like of all things, it wasn't like I got to get down to
the GameStop or whatever it was.
I got to, oh, the one time in my life I have a job interview.
Seriously, you can't even do that for the freaking requirements on the list after you
got out of rehab.
So he said that he did sleep in his car until he went to the job interview at 6.45, which
is clearly, like, you can clearly look that up.
Also, why does this guy have a car?
Why wouldn't the parents take the car and use it or sell it to get some of that money?
He's also like 28.
28 is not freaking acting like it.
Investigators turn up the heat then by confronting a motto about how his phone will show detailed
accounts of everywhere he went if it connected to Wi-Fi.
You're like, bro, it's 2019.
You're also really computer literate.
You know that it's like your phone connected to the grocery store where you claim to be
sitting all night.
Well, if you move anywhere, it's going to try to connect to other Wi-Fis.
Like, don't.
Three hours into the interrogation, a motto had yet to even ask for the reason he was
there.
He didn't know.
Well, he didn't know that his family had been murdered.
What about his other brother?
Jason, he didn't live in the house.
Remember, he moved out.
He just wasn't there.
Yeah, he moved out during college.
He's not even saying, like, hey, guys, what's all the fuss about?
He's just like, yeah, my brother said he was going to like off them for me.
There's the, like, we didn't tell you what happened.
Well, this was again after like hours of interrogation.
He was like, oh, well, Cody said he was just going to handle it, whatever that means.
Now that I know that piece of information.
Oh, why am I here after three hours?
He never once asked.
He just, and that's so powerful because he's explaining all of the reasons why.
Well, he's giving it his alibi when he doesn't even know.
Yeah, when he doesn't know.
Wow, what an idiot.
And it's so much more powerful when the investigators don't have to say anything because, like, you
never asked why you're in a police station.
You never asked what happened to my family.
Why am I here?
Yeah, exactly.
What's your classic line?
Dummy.
I was like, I put up here and I was like, you know, like Chad and Margaret because they're
not dummies.
He had said that he had stayed the night at the Publix.
He said that he went to the job interview.
And then when he decided to drive home, he noticed that there were a lot of police officers
and ambulances down his street.
So instead of going to figure out what was happening there, he drove to a local Panera,
connected to the Wi-Fi, and then googled local radio or news stations to see if there
was any information.
And then when he saw that it was up his driveway or whatever it was, he was like, well, there's
no way I'm going to get through there.
So I might as well just stay at the hotel.
Oh, yeah.
Don't do anything to try to get to your family that you are trying to say.
Like call 911 and say, was there a 911 call?
Sierra, okay, we went to the grocery store earlier today, me, mom, and the babies.
On the way back into the neighborhood, there was a fire truck leaving and I was like,
oh my God, we have to get home and make sure that that's not our house.
Right.
I was like, I'm sure somebody would have called me, but even that thought, I was immediately
going to the house.
I was not away from it.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So investigators continued to pressure Amato and they actually began to show him graphic
crime scene photos of the family in order to get some type of a reaction because at
this point, he's still deadpan.
Yeah.
Like just talking very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very.
So he ended up killing some people.
game gave a reaction out of him.
Maybe.
I think it was because the video is out there, you can watch it.
It did look like he was like, ugh, like he didn't want to.
He's finally realizing what he did.
I mean, I don't feel that bad for him.
This is the detective's account or their theory about what happened.
So Amato had first shot his mother while she was sitting at the computer.
Later it was confirmed by the computer forensic analyst who testified that Margaret's computer
had actually stopped being active around 4.45.
PM.
So PM.
And he's saying that he was there until 9.30.
So your plan's already got some holes in it.
Exactly.
Grunt.
Her glass of wine was actually still sitting next to her keyboard when she was found.
Detectives then explained that they believed that he waited for Chad to come home and he
would be executed around an hour later.
He was shot once in the head but wasn't killed immediately, content warning.
He did attempt to drag himself to the nearest phone where Amato had stopped him by shooting
him once more and then actually dressed him in his own holster.
Oh, so that's why it was on the wrong, what a dumbass.
So he thought about the fact that his dad was right-handed but he didn't know about
the holster about it being a cross draw.
Thank God for dumb killers.
Dummy.
So Chad's phone had actually been unlocked around 5.55 and actually had the settings
changed on the dad's phone to remain unlocked.
Why?
The creepy thing is that it's only unlockable by fingerprint and later in the trial it was
actually revealed that Chad's index finger was actually wiped clean of blood to access
his phone.
Oh, that is so fucking gross.
So Grunt was getting into his phone to either use it or, I mean, there's no specifications
there.
It was actually revealed later that his bank account information was accessed through the
phone.
That's why, but why would he change it to not lock itself?
That's weird.
I guess we didn't have to keep doing that over and over again with the fingerprint.
Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
The fact that he did it once though.
I know.
It's creepy.
Like, they, like, a forensic blood spatter, blood, a finger?
Not a blood spatter analyst, but like a, like just a, yeah, fingerprint analyst testified
that it has been, happened in several cases where people used their, I mean, used a deceased
hand to open up a phone.
Jesus, so creepy.
Around 9.15, Cody Amato had left for work, leaving his shift early.
Apparently it wasn't confirmed, of course, because Cody's no longer with us, but apparently
a phone call had been made to Cody while he was at work, asking him to come home early.
By who?
Well, that's the thing, is that if Chad had died at about six o'clock and he didn't receive
a phone call until like 9 o'clock, was it Grant posing as his dad?
Trying to lure him to the house.
Maybe it was a text, I don't know, but either way, he had told someone that he needed to
go home because of a family incident.
But Chad, again, the fingerprint, the last fingerprint access that had happened was at
almost 6 o'clock.
And then afterwards is when Cody got the phone call or the text message or the phone call.
Yes.
So he was saying-
So this was completely calculated.
That he pretty much lured his own brother.
Why wouldn't he lure the other brother then while he's at it?
You know what I mean?
I don't know where Jason lives at this point, but he definitely doesn't live in the home.
Well, yeah, but like-
But, like, why go through that length to get Cody home?
I guess because Jason wasn't a part of their whole rehab thing because he wasn't living
in here.
I guess?
Yeah.
Well, he was there at the intervention.
Jason was.
Well, there you go.
But I don't know how far away Jason lived at this point.
Okay.
Not just that Jason should have been a victim.
I don't think he lived around that area.
He might have even lived in Orlando, but that's like 25 miles away.
You know what I mean?
I'm just trying to put myself into the mind of like, why did you have to go out of your
way to kill Cody or get him home?
But I think it's also because Jason didn't enable him.
Cody enabled him financially.
And that he was-
I mean, remember that list that his dad gave him?
It calculated everything even Cody spent.
Cody was the one that fronted the money for the lawyers.
Cody's the one that paid for the hotels.
Cody's the one that-
And the rehab.
Either way, Cody left work early and he was immediately shot as he entered the door, given
the position of his body.
Also, it did say that they were kind of moved.
Like I know that they testified that where Chad was shot initially or even secondhand,
he would be faced down.
But that he was sound faced up.
Well, we know that because of the holster, but that Cody was also potentially moved a
little bit.
And I'm not sure why because it was just like a small pool of blood and then an even bigger
one.
Weird.
I'm sorry, a bigger one and then a smaller one.
So he was already dead by the point that he was being moved.
So Grant had, again, this is all the detectives, this is what they're saying, that Grant had
placed the gun next to Cody in order to stage the crime scene.
So trying to make Cody look like he killed his parents, which we-
Yeah, and then he shot himself under the eyeball.
Yeah, exactly.
Like that doesn't make any sense.
Even confronted with this very specific accusation, Amato never confessed to the crimes and Amato
never will or ever did.
Not even when detectives brought in Jason, his oldest brother, to enter the interrogation
room to ask him what happened.
Yeah.
We'll get back to that in just a second, but-
I don't know if I'd want to see you at that point.
I would be so scared.
Well, he was like, I know you were the last- he's like, I'm not just going to ask you
straight up.
Did you do this?
And Grant was like, no.
No, I loved Cody.
I loved Mom and Dad.
And he was like, well, I know you were the last person to see them.
Like I know you were.
You would, you know, like whatever it was.
And he still just denied it.
So this is- I'm just going to read off a little bit of evidence that was found.
A letter found inside of Grant's car because remember he was like, oh, I hopped in my car
and I drove around or whatever.
So they're like, of course, we're going to look through your car.
Inside Grant's car, there was a letter that read and it was- and kind of disheveled, I
guess, handwriting.
But it says this.
It's a full-on quote, a couple sentences long, and says, Grant, I'll take care of all of
your problems.
I just need you back.
I can't live without you, brother.
I said, I take care of all of your problems at the house and I have.
No one will bother you again regarding this.
Just please come home.
I can't do this again.
If you think I'm a part of the problem here, then I've really lost you and I can't take
that loss after everything.
From the perspective of quote unquote, Cody.
Who, oh, I'm taking care of everything.
I'll do everything for you.
I'll kill my parents and then, oh, if you're leaving, then I'm just going to have to kill
myself.
Like, wow.
And then I placed it in your car.
Or you found it even worse and then you put it in your car and didn't tell police about
it.
Yeah, what the hell?
No, it was found in his car and it was a ridiculously stupid attempt to try to frame
his own brother that he killed.
Also, that just really is compelling to how planned this was and how calculated this was.
That's not a goal.
Every phone, each one of the family members was actually accessed or attempted to be accessed
at a certain point.
So Chad's bank account, like I said earlier, had been accessed around midnight.
Amato then traveled in his car around 2.45 a.m., sat in a grocery store parking lot and
gained access to the Wi-Fi.
At 3.06 a.m., Amato charged $600 to his father's credit card to reopen his CamGirl account.
That's all he fucking cares about?
At, like, what?
You just murdered three of your family members and, like, tried to gain, and again, I'm sure
it's all in the trial.
Most of it was televised, so there's a lot of YouTube video out there of it.
But yeah, I mean, these are the bullet points, right?
Like, he's literally accessed, like, at one point he has, like, over 600 or 700 photos
of Sylvie that he, like, downloads onto his computer that I guess were taken away at some
point.
And so he redownloaded that.
He took Cody's phone and plugged it into, uh, he was trying to transfer all of his personal
information onto his own computer, I guess, to gain access to bank accounts or whatever
it was.
Like, and that was out of an attempt to, because Cody didn't have the thumbprint thing.
He had a number or password, and he didn't know what it was.
So he was trying to gain access to the phone to find out, and financial information, I
guess.
But that's, I mean, that's the severity of it.
That's what's on your mind is, oh, I've got to get this account reopened, and I'm gonna
kill three people to fucking do it.
And I don't have Wi-Fi at the house, so I'm gonna drive somewhere that has Wi-Fi just
to call her.
Oh my god, that's so fucked up.
It's horrible.
That's, like, the part that gave me, like, the biggest chills was, like, as soon as he
possibly could, he went to go spend $600 of his dead father's money to access this.
Like, so, again, that's just some evidence that was eventually used against him.
So we're getting into the trial now.
Prosecutors, of course, have the stance that Amato was totally obsessed with Sylvie, and
that, along with that, increasing debt and the family issues caused Grant to commit these
murders.
So the defense painted Chata Amato as an abusive man whose tirades controlled the entire family.
The prosecution had Jason, the oldest brother, as a witness.
Jason denied that Chata had ever been abusive outside of the occasional spanking his children.
So the defense presented evidence that supposedly proved that Chata and Cody were still alive
at midnight after Grant left the house via some text messages that they were exchanged
between Chata and Cody's phones.
But if he had the prosecutions, like, if he had access to the phones, he could just do
that himself.
Like, that's a really dumb defense.
So how the fuck do you sleep at night as a defense attorney that you're trying to paint
a picture of one of the victims of this murder scene, that he was an abusive asshole and
he not only deserved to get murdered, it seems like, but like, had a part in it.
That's their job.
The defense had said that there was also no DNA evidence nor gunshot residue president
that connected Grant to the crime, although the prosecution quickly argued that Grant
was never apprehended, at least not for 36 hours.
He could complete, like, he could clean himself up.
So both sides actually wanted the courts to understand that the murder weapon itself was
never found.
Okay.
Which is interesting.
So the gun that was found next to Cody wasn't actually used in the crimes.
And there were no shell casings that were ever found.
The murder weapon has not been found.
Still to this day.
Wow.
Interesting.
Which is interesting, right?
But again, it kind of proves that someone did this.
It wasn't Cody.
Cody didn't shoot himself, lose the gun, and then pick up the shell casings, dispose
of those, and then place another gun before he passed.
You know?
I mean, that just doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make any sense.
So somebody had to have committed this crime.
So and again, the prosecution would say that Grant had planted the gun on his own father
so that it looked like Cody and like Cody was being threatened by his father is what
he tried to do.
And he was on the scene not thinking that they're not going to match.
And neither of them don't match.
Yeah.
So ultimately the jury did find Grant Amato guilty of premeditated murder in the first
degree of his father, his mother, and his brother on July 31st, 2019.
And he got charged with three counts of murder or?
Three counts.
Three counts of murder.
Yes.
And this was after eight hours of deliberation.
So arguably not a lot.
I mean, that's a lot of evidence for three murders.
So I don't think that's a lot of time.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, but he did avoid the death penalty.
Don't know how.
Oh, this is also Florida.
Florida.
Jason Amato said that he will always live with the guilt of not being able to help his
family, even if it means that he died along with them.
Oh my God.
He says that he mostly missed being able to talk with his loving mother.
Yeah.
Grant Amato still denies that he had anything to do with the murder of his family.
Oh my God.
Just fucking admit it.
See this day.
Yeah.
Like you're already in prison for life.
So the woman known as Sylvie has never been brought to prosecution or even been interviewed
on her perspective of the relationship or the crimes that were committed.
Wow.
She's just out there in the ether in Bulgaria.
Damn.
Grant Amato is now 34 and is serving a sentence in Tamoka Correctional Institution in Daytona
Beach and he is currently appealing his conviction.
Damn.
He has yet to be diagnosed or evaluated for his seemingly addicted personality and is
likely his likely disconnect from reality or emotions.
So although he hasn't been fully evaluated, Grant Amato clearly has in my opinion, internet
sex love addiction as his what would be his diagnosis.
Yeah.
And it's super powerful with him.
Like that's it's pretty hardcore.
Yeah.
So I'm just going to get into like talking about what that is a little bit.
So treatment just like for any addiction can be helped with the 12 step program, of course.
And the DSM-4 categorizes this disorder as hypersexual disorder.
Okay.
However, it is not in the DSM-5.
Oh, okay.
Which is interesting.
So I thought this was really, really interesting.
The diagnosis of hypersexual disorder has been dropped again, like I said, in the DSM-5.
Although the American Psychiatric Association doesn't recognize that it's a clear disorder
in the DSM-5, the IDC-10, which is the international classification of diseases, recognizes it as
a diagnosable disease.
So hypersexual disorder was described as a sexual desire disorder characterized by an
increased frequency and intensity of sexual motivated fantasies, arousals, urges, and
enacted behavior in an association with an impulsivity component.
So addiction.
So that's the hypersexual disorder.
The addiction part of itself is characterized by an inability to consistently abstain impairment
in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one's
behavior and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response with those
addictions.
So that's just what it was classified as in the DSM-4.
But again, it's not in the DSM-5, but it is on the ICD-10.
And the diagnosis that's in the ICD-10, it's under the blanket of addictions.
Then underneath addictions, it's impulse control disorder.
And then underneath that is pretty much compulsive sexual behavior disorder.
So compulsive sexual behavior disorder is characterized by a persistent pattern of failure
to control intense repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in repetitive sexual behavior.
Symptoms may include repetitive sexual activities becoming a central focus of the person's life
in order to the point of neglecting health and personal care or other interests.
Well, that's exactly what he did.
Exactly what he did.
Activities and responsibilities may also be neglected, numerous unsuccessful efforts
to significantly reduce repetitive sexual behavior, and continued repetitive sexual
behavior despite adverse consequences or deriving little or no satisfaction from it.
The pattern of failure to control intense sexual impulses or urges and resulting in repetitive
sexual behavior is manifested over an extended period of time, like six months or so, which
again, it was only like six or seven months this whole time, and causes marked distress
or significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other
areas of life functioning.
Yeah.
I mean, that sounds just like him.
I actually didn't know about that case.
The name sounded familiar, and I think maybe I've seen it in the news and stuff, maybe
like on an article or whatever, but I did not know about that case.
It's sad.
It is.
It seems like it was just such a turn.
It was like, I feel like, yeah, I feel like it was, I mean, clearly the tension is building,
but what's interesting to me about what the IDC-10 says is that it's the impulsivity.
It's so impulsive.
You don't care.
It was just impulsive.
You do not care who you harm and who you hurt.
I mean, he might as well, I'm sorry, he might as well be an alcoholic or a drug addict.
It is that severe.
It changes your brain chemically.
Of course.
Addiction is a disease, and as many people want us to hypnotize it.
We're gambling, gambling even.
It literally changes your brain chemistry, and it changes the way that you perceive things
with your dopamine and serotonin intake or whatever.
It literally gives you that pleasure center it lights up so you want to keep doing it.
It's the same thing that you're right.
The same thing as addiction to alcohol or addiction to drugs.
Your body continuously gets that and eventually needs it.
It doesn't work without it.
Then not only that, but your tolerance gets higher.
This is no longer satisfying to me.
I need something better.
Yeah.
Spending $200 on this is no longer satisfying.
Now I need to spend $300 and $400.
Now I need to buy her physical gifts.
I need to see this.
It's really something and it's really tragic that that took that turn that it did.
I know.
I feel so bad for Jason especially.
I know.
I mean, survivor's guilt must be immense.
That's again, what he said is that he feels really guilty.
He's like, I should have been there even if he were to take me too.
At least I would have been there with my family.
It's really sad.
I can't imagine feeling like that.
His whole testimony through the trial is also on YouTube and it is heartbreaking.
A lot of it is like the prosecution getting a better understanding of what his relationship
with Grant was and then they focus on some logistical stuff.
They talk about the blueprint of the house and things like that, where certain things
are and all that other stuff.
I think it's more to establish exactly how the murders occurred.
Yeah, like that across the place.
Like a little bit of a backup for the prosecution.
But he did get very emotional.
I mean, yeah.
How do you not?
And he felt like he had dealt with his own bouts of depression and things like that.
But I'm glad that he was there to help.
He helped his family by being able to be there, being able to testify and say that, no, don't
let them defame my dad.
My dad was a good man.
He had the unique opportunity to shed light on his perception and experiences with the
family growing up.
He was the only other person besides Grant that can do that.
Exactly.
And if Jason wasn't around, the defense could have had a better angle, honestly.
Absolutely.
Well, good case.
Thanks for sharing.
It was pretty intense researching.
Seems like you can find a lot of that information online when you start.
So just be weary if you don't like to see testimonies or you don't really care to see
court things.
It does seem like that was popping up a lot in your research.
So just to let everyone know.
Yeah, for sure.
There's not the photos that are out there aren't too graphic.
There is unfortunately one of Cody.
But everything's covered.
You don't really see anything.
It's more of just the position that he was in.
And then there's another.
There's a few shots of just blood, which I'm glad they privatized all that stuff because
I don't feel like people should have access to that kind of stuff.
Of course not.
Oh, thanks everyone for joining us again.
And thanks again for being patient with us this last week.
It's been wild.
But now that we are both done with school and able to kind of take on some more projects,
maybe we'll get some more cases out here.
I've actually been kind of stirring my mind about another bonus segment that I want to
share with you.
I don't see what you think.
Just something to chew on.
But in the meantime, while you're waiting for the mental breakdown, you can follow us
on Instagram at Diagnosing a Killer.
We have Twitter at KillerDiagnosis.
Gmail at DiagnosingAKiller at gmail.com.
We also have a Patreon at patreon.com slash DiagnosingAKiller.
And if you want to see that Great Day SA segment of us, you can Google Great Day SA 1217 2021
and it'll pop right up.
Woo!
Thanks for listening guys.
We'll see you soon.
Thanks.
Love you.
Bye.