Because of Grand Amato’s increasing fixation on a webcam model, he had to shell out an absurd amount of cash to keep things running.
Money that he didn’t have, money he had stolen from his family. But despite their best efforts to help and protect him, Grant’s family was murdered and in 2019, he was convicted of killing them.
This topic is explored in the Investigation Discovery documentary “Signs of a Psychopath: Fantasy Over Family.”
Wondering what led to this terrible conclusion and where Grant might be now? We’ve got you covered.
Who is Grant Amato?
Grant is the youngest son of Chad and Margaret Amato. The couple had two other sons – Jason, the oldest, and Cody, the middle son.
Despite Jason’s absence, the rest of the family remained in Chuluota, Florida. Grant and Cody had always been close growing up.
They had joined their high school weightlifting team together. The two were inseparable.
They met in nursing school and continued their education as nurse anaesthetists at the same institution. But problems started to appear in June 2018 when Grant failed anesthesiology school.
Even though the charges were later dropped, Grant was suspended from his job after being accused of stealing medication and improperly administrating medication to a patient. As a result, he began to feel downcast.
Now without a job, Grant started to spend an increasing amount of time on the internet. He would game and live-stream.
Eventually, he met a webcam model from Bulgaria called Silvie. To continue communicating with her, he began spending money from his family’s business.
From there, he progressed to buying her sex toys and clothing.
Grant admitted he had stolen over $200,000 from his family in an effort to make it appear that he was a successful professional gamer who had stolen from the system.
In December 2018, after an argument with his family regarding his behaviour, he went to his aunt’s house where he stole her credit card information.
The family urged her to not press charges, and Cody promised to pay her back on behalf of his brother.
His family was still trying to keep him safe, and by the end of December, they had admitted him to a facility for treating behavioural issues.
Upon his return, Grant was to follow a set of rules if he was to stay with the family.
His phone service was cut off, and he was ordered to end his relationship with Silvie and find gainful employment.
But Grant’s mom let him use her phone to contact Silvie on Twitter.
On January 24, 2019, Chad found out that Grant had been kicked out of the house by his father due to an argument they had.
On the morning of January 25th, police were called to the house after concerned coworkers reported that Cody had not shown up for work.
There was no one home, so the police broke down the door and discovered a bloody murder scene. Chad was found dead in the kitchen and shot twice in the head.
A gun was concealed on his hip in a holster. Margaret was found seated and shot in the head in her home office. Investigators believed that she was likely shot first.
Cody was found in a doorway between the gym and the garage, shot below the eye. There was a gun close to his body as well. Grant was nowhere to be seen.
The police tracked Grant down the next day at a local hotel. While he talked about family problems he had been facing, he never asked what happened to them.
When questioned about their deaths, he blamed someone else. He admitted to stealing the money but said that his father had kicked him out of the house on January 24.
After initially telling the police he left around 9:30 p.m., he admitted he was lying and changed his story to sometime around midnight.
He said he had slept in the parking lot of a nearby supermarket and then gone to a job interview.
Credit card images belonging to Grant’s grandmother, uncle, and cousin were also discovered on his computer by law enforcement. Over time, he was arrested for three counts of murder.
It all started in July of 2019 with the trial. According to the prosecution, Margaret was shot and killed at 4:40 p.m., and Chad was killed when he returned home from work an hour later.
Cody was murdered shortly after returning from the hospital. Grant, it was said, had placed the handguns and shell casings near the bodies to create the illusion of a murder-suicide in which Cody was the one who actually shot and killed the parents.
Casings from the gun discovered near the bodies were from that weapon, but the bullets that killed the two were fired from a different weapon.
The defence claimed that other suspects were not considered and that the crime scene analysts had not processed the scene thoroughly enough.
The jury deliberated for around eight hours before reaching its verdict of guilty on all charges against Grant.
Where is Grant Amato Now?
Grant was found guilty of first-degree murder on three counts in August of this year.
The jury considered the death penalty but ultimately decided to recommend a life sentence without parole. Jason’s testimony during sentencing had been emotional.
Despite their passing, he wished for all to know that Chad, Margaret, and Cody were extraordinary people whose memories would endure.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections database, Grant is still a prisoner at Madison Correctional Institution in Madison County.
