The new Paramount+ documentary shines a spotlight on a man named Grant Amato who, in 2019, shot and killed his mother, father, and brother.
His crime was shocking, more so because his family were not people who meant him any harm. In fact, they were apparently a close-knit unit, which makes Grant’s act of murder even harder to fathom.
So, why would Grant Amato kill his family? Let’s take a closer look at the case.
Who is Grant Amato?
Grant Amato was born on May 20, 1989, in Chuluota, Florida to Chad and Margaret Amato.
He was raised in Chulota with his elder brother Cody and after graduating high school, the two of them studied to become nurse anesthetists.
Cody graduated from his course but Grant wasn’t able to complete it. However, he was still able to find work at a healthcare facility, where he was employed as a nurse.
In 2018, Grant was suspended from his job for improper medicine administration. Hospital staff found empty vials of a sedative known as propofol in two rooms he had been overseeing. He told police he administered them to patients who were not “adequately relaxed.” It was alleged that Grant had been stealing the drugs from his workplace, though he was never charged. However, he was fired from his job, an event that sent him into a tailspin.
After losing his job, Grant became something of a recluse at his family home. He was unable to find a job, so with plenty of time on his hands, he visited pornographic websites. One of these was a site called “MyFreeCams,” which is where he met a Bulgarian cam model named Silviya Ventsislavova, who went by the alias “Silvie” on the website.
It was Grant’s obsession with Silvie that led to his terrible crime.
Why did Grant Amato kill his family?
Grant had to pay money for Silvie’s virtual company and as he didn’t have a job that paid him a salary, he used his parents’ credit cards to fund his addiction. Within a few months, he had spent around $200,000 of his family’s money.
Grant’s family sent him to a rehabilitation facility for porn and internet addiction, costing them $15,000. When he returned home, his parents prohibited him from having any contact with Silvie. However, Grant was somehow able to convince his mother to let him use the phone to call her. When his father heard about this, Grant was told to pack his bags and leave.
It’s this dispute over his relationship with Silvie that drove Grant to kill his parents and brother.
On January 24, 2019, Grant shot his mother in the back of the head while she was using the computer. When his father arrived home, Grant also shot him.
Grant then sent his brother a message, convincing him to come home, using his father’s phone. When Cody entered the house, Grant killed him.
The next day, Cody’s co-workers alerted the police when he failed to show up for work. When the police entered the Amato household, they discovered the dead bodies of Grant’s family. Cody was curled up on the floor in a storage room, Chad was lying on his back in the kitchen, and Margaret was sprawled over the desk in the home office.
Grant was later arrested for the murders. He told police he didn’t think his family were fair because he felt that the Bulgarian female was his girlfriend and they had a relationship. According to the arrest affidavit, his reason for killing them was because “his family had been blaming him for months for ruining their lives, stealing and not following the rules of the home, so he might as well be blamed for this too.” (source)
Grant Amato was put on trial for the crime in July 2019. After being found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, he avoided the death penalty but was given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Read More: Where is Grant Amato now?
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