The Tragic Story of Grant Amato

in mid-2018 29 year old Grant was unemployed living rent free in his parents guest house in the rural Village of chuliota Florida he had not once lived on his own and had recently been kicked out of an anesthesiology school for lack of attendance and also fired from a job as a nurse for stealing medication it was around that time when he decided to experiment with a relatively new realm of online campsites these platforms differ from regular porn sites in that they are interactive instead of watching a pre-recorded video users can solicit live performances from models in exchange for money this allows individuals to watch whatever acts they want but at a price using his brother's credit card he browsed through multiple cam models spending an average of 20 minutes on each one yet it was on the 5th of June when forensics discovered he came in contact with a performer who went by the stage name of Sylvie and over the following six months Grant would spend over two hundred thousand dollars of his family's money on this one model the entirety of his father's life savings that he had saved up from working as a pharmacist for over 30 years was gone he had spent sixty thousand dollars from his brother's credit card and had also taken a sixty five thousand dollar loan out on the house when his family found out instead of calling the police Grant was sent to a behavioral Rehabilitation facility for online porn addiction the more we try to run from shame the stronger it becomes when Grant got back from Rehab on January 4th his father presented him with a two-page list of rules he was required to follow if he wanted to continue living at home one of the conditions was that he cease all communication with Sylvia immediately but it took just three weeks for the family to discover that he had broken the contract and re-established contact with the model via Twitter on January 24th when Chad Amato got home from work he reportedly confronted Grant over his disregard and the two of them got into a heated argument which almost turned into a physical altercation Grant was then kicked out of the house and for the first time in his life he was on his own shortly before 9 A.M the next morning police received a call from Cody Amato's girlfriend alerting them that he had failed to show up to work that morning and hadn't responded to multiple phone calls they arrived at The Residence at 9 17 am and once knocks on the front door went unanswered they were able to gain access with a knife via the back entrance Chad Margaret and Cody Yamato were all found lying dead on the floor with gunshot wounds to the head from a nine millimeter handgun Grant became the immediate Prime Suspect as a witness statement from Cody's girlfriend advised police of the confrontation that had occurred the night before as well as the collection of bizarre circumstances that had led to that point he was traced to a hotel in Orlando we encounter someone that we want to make sure you're safe now we know you don't have any weapons or we'll get those restraints off early we're confident you've been Cooperative everything's good so we appreciate that very much goes a long way he immediately agreed to accompany them to the police station and sit down for an interview reports stated that he wasn't made aware of his family's demise nor was he advised as to what the purpose of the interview was for Grant himself didn't once inquire just reportedly sat silent in the back seat of an unmarked police car staring out the window for the entire Journey to the police station thank you Stephanie thank you foreign [Applause] [Music] just to restate he has not been told nor given any insinuation as to why he is sitting inside an interrogation room and has not once inquired himself hey we really appreciate you coming over with us and uh you know anytime during this you need to stop and go to the bathroom want to drink um snacks saying just let me know and we'll be happy again my name is Danny Anderson and um the investigator's initial plan is to establish a friendly connection with the suspect which can often be a highly effective tactical procedure to elicit a more detailed discourse yet on this occasion something seems to get lost in the Endeavor which you'll just have to see for yourself when the time comes this is one of the most fascinatingly aggravating interrogations to ever be released into the public domain um so we just want to talk a little bit and we'll get this in and out be on our way okay um full name my full name is Grant Tiernan Amato what is there any special uh Nursing degree what you do or uh I mean I have like other certifications um but uh I mean with that like I primarily worked in the hospital for I think five years five or six years well I had I was accused of Grand Theft for the third degree back in June of 2018. there was no evidence that ever presented all the charges were dropped I've been applying for jobs for the last couple weeks I'd gotten a like three or four callbacks um and then I went on a job interview yesterday for a home infusion nurse job what time was your interview yesterday uh it was scheduled for ten I got there around nine okay uh and then I think we actually had the interview about 9 45. the hell that go I mean it was all good uh they didn't have anything they said that they'd probably be getting back to me by Tuesday or Thursday this coming week get you back to work yeah because I mean it's like it's a crappy world when you know you don't have any money do anything so financially how how's the the nursing what you did I'm sorry I just don't know that much about understanding the nursing how does it pay how does it pay um I mean if you work your standard three to three 12 hours a week you get anywhere between I'd say 45 and 55 000 a year so I mean it's not bad I think my best year I made like 55 000. because I rarely worked overtime right you know when I was just because I I had the whole plan of going to uh to graduate school so I was just kind of using it as a stepping right at that time just to pay the bills gotcha that's and what you're going for what does that pay the nursing anesthesia pays I mean base like about 150 up to 175. okay um High School where'd you go I went to Timber Creek I'll be right um High School in the first two years of college I was ABC um you know I was in honors in the major program for uh UCF um girlfriends girlfriends I had like my high school sweetheart uh girlfriend um for about five years and then ever since then no like official girlfriends no flings or anything like that here and there dates occasionally but I mean not really kind of focused on like just getting through the life the life goals that you know I wanted to achieve what do you like to do what do I like to do I like to watch anime what is it I'm sorry I don't oh sorry I don't know what it is I mean I think it's an epidemic and I'm like okay and then then when you start explaining to it I mean like now it's it's animated um it's like cartoons I guess you could say but it's Japanese cartoons it isn't Japanese and then they uh yeah you speak Japanese I don't I understand a few words we actually just went to uh me and my brother and one and one of friends or I guess Japan how long have you been out of work I've been out of work for six months since June how did you pay that's a lot of money for to be out of work my brother oh yeah um I think the only other game that we really played was fortnite but then that was starting to get to like it's a big deal right now and and actually yeah during the time that I was um that I wasn't working as a nurse I tried to do the whole Twitch streaming thing what is that um [Music] we have to explain a lot of this with uh with twitch it's you got your mic and then you have your face cam and then basically people are just watching you play whatever game you're gonna say that you're playing okay on virtual reality it was primarily just beat saber so it's like a rhythm-based game like Guitar Hero apart from that uh we really didn't get into too many other games yes we were kind of just focused on beat saver but I think we had downloaded a few other where it's just like you're going through like a world and you can interact with the world or something closer your brother the Starbucks code oh yeah yeah yeah me and Cody he's older you were him he is I'm the youngest one I'm 29 he's 31. my oldest brother Jason is 35 to 36 now talk about coding Cody you know we decided to go to nursing school together we decided to go to the the nurse anesthesia school together a lot of people thought that it was weird because we did everything together and because we were so close but yeah I mean a lot of people understand the bond of Brothers yeah the true Bond if you're close and I mean during like this whole time I mean kind of like with just a few examples I've given you he was can take care of everything it's always there for you yeah always there to support you always there yeah I did everything to go and connected at the hip ever any issues really with him no like I was saying during this last six months it had been a very trying time he would like have his moments where he would get extremely upset like um like you know he never gets violent I guess you could say but like at one point he got so upset that he like pushed the cabinet and then it like dented into the wall yeah I mean at least with me he's always been like where he's he's there for me like whatever it takes regardless of what's happening I'm gonna take care of it for you but that's your mom my mom has uh it must have been a bizarre sight for the detectives to witness when a man who had just allegedly shot his mother in the back of the head gave a reminiscent smile when she was brought up in the discussion she's always been the uh it's kind of like Cody she's always been the one that focused on me and um yeah you know countless times my dad would like come up to me and he'd make like me feel like he'd try and use things and word things that make me feel guilty so that I would you know do everything that I can like get a job almost like a motivation right and he he'd tell me time and time again that you know you're her favorite I mean she would do anything for you and I mean it's like yeah I don't need to hear that I mean that's not what would motivate me sure um but no with Mom I think we yelled at each other a grand total of like three or four times my whole life never any issues I mean she it was always like if there was somebody that I could talk to and like Cody wasn't available I'd always talk to my mom I'd always let her know what's going on um yeah I mean she would help me out through through anything okay tell me about that dad uh what does he do Dad's a pharmacist he works for CVS he's been a pharmacist for I think 35 years or so my dad was a very like Angry violent type person overbearing overbearing you know like baseball practice it'd be like four or five hours and he's hurling the ball as fast as an adult can and we're like seventh eighth grade trying to catch this stuff should be little you would belittle me when I was younger the problem my guess was was that I was I was always like the jokester the one that could calm everybody down make everybody smile if it was a heated situation I could say a joke or something and then make everybody kind of move past it and I was just in the point where it's like you know I'm hearing you know all this stuff from Dad I'm seeing how much Cody's helping me you know Mom stressed out with her job and it's like I'm not doing anything was the last time your dad put his hands on you uh the last time my dad put his hands on me would be [Applause] I'd say kind of the middle of December of 2018. what happened it's because um you know with all the money that had been getting spent and just to be clear the cam model has not yet been brought up in the discussion the money being spent in this context would simply be his living expenses I guess just the mix of everything that I've been saying is kind of boiling up in him um and the fact that I was to him it seemed like I wasn't concerned about it so and then I thought that was you know I wasn't acting like myself with the jovialness and you know all that kind of stuff um my father chose to admit me to like a like a depression or an addiction clinic or something like that in Fort Lauderdale called Cornerstone when was that that was December 22nd until I think uh January 4th did you agree to go I didn't but they said that you know this was your only who said my dad okay and that was in Fort Lauderdale yes yeah did your mom agree with it my mom and my brother both agreed but it was my dad who was like the Iron Fist like this is what's gonna happen like you know you can why did he say he needed to go what was his reasoning because uh with the way that I was acting he just he didn't see that I was doing anything for like the positive um you know and a lot of it just came back to money with him uh he would he would like allow me to to spend money that he had uh like with his credit card or something like that but it's like then whenever I did it was like a huge problem okay so you had one of his credit cards yeah and what were you buying with it uh well what I was doing is um over the past four months or something like that I've been I've been talking to this woman online appreciate uh she's it's embarrassing as it is she's uh she's a she's a can Model A what a cam model yeah just like all the videos you have to tell us I can model it's like they they it's like a virtual girlfriend I guess you would say okay like that type of situation so a lot of the money went to her okay where's she at she lives in Bulgaria Bulgarian where's that over in Europe it's like outside of Germany okay never been there no okay uh there wasn't it wasn't that serious what would you give her money for um just for like the time online with her yeah so it was just like that type of thing and what did she charge 600 for like 5 000 or something tokens or something like that so and then it was four hours a night um so I mean it's I mean that's basically just where all the like the cost went to was you pay real money for the tokens then you use the company's digital currency for okay for that so you do that and when did you meet her I met her um at the beginning of July yeah at the very beginning of July okay and and still talking to her so yeah I mean more just on uh like Twitter like just through direct messaging um again cell phone service doesn't work so it's like I can't use the the chatting how much do you think you spent on this because it's kind of pricey yeah probably close to like two hundred thousand dollars I'd say two hundred thousand dollars yeah and where'd the money come from money came from me uh my brother and then my dad did they know what the money was going there they didn't know that it was going to uh a cam a cam model I was saying that it was going towards my Twitch streaming uh like like you know like advertising like putting my name out there and that that type of thing so I guess to like bring it all back with why I was brought to Cornerstone uh it was a mix of all of those things it's like he felt like you know I um he felt like he had to be grounded yeah yeah and so then I was there you know I spoke to like the therapist and psychiatrist and all that stuff I didn't need any medications for anything they had analyzed it as this is an isolated event you've been out of work you have this PTSD from the whole getting arrested thing and I mean the last thing on my record was I think a speeding ticket back when I was at UCF they had signed me up I think to be there for 60 days but then I was only there until January 4th so I paid for that my brother Cody what was the cost of that do you know fifteen thousand so their final diagnosis of he was one that I was fine that didn't need to be there yeah that I was I was fine I told them all about like my living situation and how it had been stressful and then it got better and then now it's just stressful again but they had all just said that it was just this isolated inspirational PTSD from right when I got back that's where my dad started to get really kind of overbearing I mean rightfully so I know what I did but it's like with him it was every single day hours a day excuse me hours a day he'd come home from work and then he would just talk to me just about the same exact thing over and over and over and over and over again when was the last time that you and your dad did have you know a heated conversation uh it would be Thursday Thursday because one of his rules was that I wasn't allowed to talk to the woman anymore that I had been talking to um but I guess you could say behind the scenes my mom would let me talk to her through her cell phone using Twitter so yeah anyways on Thursday he had apparently found out that I was speaking to her again you know it wasn't really my intention to continue talking to this woman but it just kind of happened um and then because there was like that emotional connection I guess you could say between her and me like I I like you know I felt like like like a relationship you know I didn't want to just stop cold turkey on it so it's Thursday you're home all day yes with your mom she works at home correct yeah your dad's at work what's his normal work hours uh he works until I think he had to go in early that day uh because he had to start like doing overtime or something like that and he normally works though from like five or six in the morning to I think he gets home between like 5 30 and 6 at night or something like that what time do you get on that day uh he got home at like 5 30 and then uh he came in and then he asked me in a calmer State I guess you could say like basically the leading question of you know why do you think we're about to have this conversation giving me I guess that opportunity to be honest and truthful to maybe tone it down a little bit I of course did what I always did where I kind of didn't admit to it um and then he he came out and he told me that I'd been doing that yeah yeah um have an argument yeah he kind of you know pulled me up from the couch and then he was yelling at me to pack my [ __ ] up and just get out of the house that he was the one who had to be the hammer and that you know why am I making him have to go through this and all this other kind of stuff okay I have my argument and then I'm packing my stuff I'm you know taking it out to the car it took me like a couple hours to get as much as I could just kind of out into there so I left and then what time do you think you laughed about oh God 9 or 9 30 or so he goes on to state that he met up with his brother soon after on the side of the road and well in the conversation conversation was basically that he was brought up to speed you know in that he would take care of it he was brought up speed by what this is Grant attempting to frame his brother for a double murder suicide you will see this quote brought up repeatedly from this point forward he was brought up to speed on like why I'm why I'm out here who brought enough to speak my mom oh so she talked to him yeah he told you that Mom had talked to him right do you think that's why Cody left work according to Grant Cody had left work a few hours early to meet up with him on the side of the road Cody had indeed left work early yet it wasn't to meet up with Grant it was later proven that while Margaret Amato was sitting at the computer sipping on a glass of red wine Grant shot her in the back of the head he then lay and wait for his father to return to the house then shot him twice in the head as he entered the kitchen Cody then received a text from his father's number asking him to come home urgently forensics believed that he was very likely pleading for his life soon after he entered the front door he was found by police with a gunshot wound to the face lying in the fetal position his credit card was stolen with a purchase made to a campsite for six hundred dollars an estimated 30 minutes later I mean blood off work early like three or three times already this week so I was just like 10 15 minutes you talked to Cody right you have a conversation and he leaves to go home right and you leave to go where and then I stay in that general area just so that if anything happens somebody like knows where I am yeah I mean I was saying that general area and then I decided to go to Publix Publix he just referred to the public supermarket parking lot this is where he used the free Wi-Fi to log on to the campsite with his dead brother's credit card which is about what time my between like midnight and 1:00 I think yeah and you go to Publix midnight one and I'll have to stay there till I stayed there until like seven slept there last night talk to anybody I just I messaged the girl that I've been talking to before on Twitter so you have to pay for it right right so respond back to you I think once the discussion is then brought back to his last meeting with Cody what did he say he was going to go do Cody said that he will take care of it take care of what just the situation that was at hand with whatever he had been updated with from my mom did he tell you what he was updated he had told me that he had told me the reason why like I'd been kicked out um but he really didn't give me that much dialogue like about that situation you know he was he was miffed a little bit because you know he had just gotten off work and now we have to go deal with this but what was your demeanor like what did Cody see you as like were you like scared yeah like I was scared because I mean like I said the first time that I had been out of the house we've come and talked to you we wrote up here voluntarily with us to talk to us the detective will now initiate the first confrontation why do you think we're having this conversation I honestly don't know but I'm pretty freaked out at this point because you know it's uh I mean I know like how the situation was when I left you're now about to see the lead interrogator's attempt at getting Grant to confess in a manner so blatantly obvious that the suspect immediately sees through it and the child was told the truth always is the best thing to do correct correct you agreement yeah and accidents happen and things in the Heat of the Moment things happen that we wish hadn't happened but we make I do it myself sometimes my kids will make me so aggravated I'll snap at him and then walk away and say wow I wish I would not have done that that was not very adult of me to to snap at my child for something yes they're wrong but I should be the adult and not snap at him right tell me what you think because I could tell by I've done this for a long long time and I read people the way they act and the way they they talk to me and them questions there's something you want to tell us I can see it in your eyes I can see it in your body language and just your the way you act Now's the Time Now's the Time if there's something you want to get off your chest and give us an explanation of what's bothering you now is the exact time to do it and I I'm giving you that opportunity um right now to tell me some something you want to get off your chest it's there I can see it in your face out about that night you're upset about it you're upset about you've been that since we've talked to you I can see there's something been bothering you even though I don't know you from Adam's house can't you see things in people that something really bothered in this guy it's not that you know I spent a bunch of money I shouldn't have on this girl so be it you did it's over with money can be made that something's bothering you I I'm just worried about what is all transpiring from this I think at this point right now to be honest with you grant you know what it is um it's in your eyes your eyes is is the view to your soul is it's in your eyes and it sounds stupid and people don't believe it like I told you out there in the car did I not tell you you may not like what I say but I'm going to tell you the truth I'm going to tell you the truth every time that I can walk and walk into in front of anybody in God and say I don't care I told him the truth and we usually know answers before we ask it right we me and Eva knew everything before before um we asked you the questions Now's the Time to come to Jesus be honest because you're holding something back I can see it in your eyes people don't believe that the police will help you but we are actually here to help you with issues you may have um I think something happened and you don't want to tell us but right now is the time to get it off your chest and I really wish you would because it will make you feel better in the end I I genuinely don't have anything else that I can say about the night or you know the periods of time afterwards there's only there's only one opportunity to make that that good impression and two if we've done something we shouldn't have done get fast up there you get caught your hand in the cookie jar detective Dan's approach here is so incredibly outdated and predictable that it actually seems to boost the suspect's confidence it's the detective in fact who gives off a nervous disposition he'll begin stumbling over his own words while simultaneously mixing up his analogies which never made a great deal of sense to begin with now is there anything else that happened at the house that you didn't tell us that you've left out but we haven't asked you that would be of importance or during the time that you drove around for those few hours did you ever really go back to the house that you haven't told us about you'll also notice the female detective interject with something useful every now and then but unfortunately she's not the one leading this interrogation that would be the detective who keeps bringing up Jesus to a guy who just murdered his family to go jerk off in a parking lot to a Bulgarian cam model I know things can't deal with someone who lies to me but I'll deal with someone and help them till the end no matter what believe it or not that's just me and she'll tell you I'm very it's what it is I'm going to be honest with you I'm going to say if I can do something that can help you I'm going to help you because every one of us make mistakes and do things we should have done in the Heat of the Moment to protect ourselves or to protect somebody else it happens now is the time now now is the time so what do you think happens I think that there was something that obviously happened at the house tell me what happened I don't know what happened I know better listen to me I know better I can help you grant with honesty I can help you with honesty we think something else happened before you left the home that you're either afraid of or embarrassed to talk about but we need to know exactly what happened because like Danny said we can place you there at certain times and so we need to know what happened before you left that house because you didn't leave with everything being okay I I honestly I don't I don't have anything else that I can really say I mean I don't I don't know you even know why law enforcement got involved like what what brought us to that home no once you start telling me something that's truthful that I know then we're going to have a conversation of exactly what happened I mean you're a smart guy you know something's happened at your home you have law enforcement here you haven't heard or gotten anything I mean I'm just scared as to what the answer is well you need to help yourself by filling in the blanks of what happened that night so we can give you the answer did anything more happen with you and your father besides him grabbing you up from the couch and yelling at you and kicking you out anything out that at all did he did he harm you hit you no draw any weapons on you no you didn't do anything like that I mean he was just yelling this this is the time to come to Jesus to be honest because you know more I'm looking in your eyes your eyes tell me exactly that you you are hurting inside I get brother I get it you're hurting and this is the only time we can help you because once we get to a certain point there's nothing I can do it's it's in the hands of who has it not that I can do honesty is always the best policy you get caught stealing a car you admit to it I get it how can I get help what can be done to help me and let me tell you the rest of my story your whole if something happened that you were defending yourself then we need to know that if you were protecting yourself because you were in fear then that makes sense but we need to know exactly what happened for you to protect yourself you can't minimize this once a wise man told me one time once a bomb goes off you can't defuse it the detective's wise man friend was clearly a specialist in nuclear fusion yet most people would already comprehend that a bomb can no longer be diffused once it has exploded you can't that's already out there now is the point say how I put Band-Aids on myself to minimize the the injuries I have and we're giving you that opportunity I want to give you the opportunity I don't think you're a bad guy at all I really don't the male detective will now for some reason focus on Grant's flaws and the overwhelming embarrassment of the cam girl situation which is basically the exact opposite of what he should be doing he seems to get confused about what he's trying to achieve here he carries a sympathetic tone while essentially roasting the ever-loving [ __ ] out of the suspect I think you're going through a very stressful and emotional time right now we've been out of work and just dealing with all the problems with the arrest you're probably not used to depending on somebody to pay all your bills you know you have to do Mom and Dad or have to have to give you money Cody's having to give you money and there's a significant debt to people 200 000 I don't know what I'll do I mean mortgage yeah I get it or something like that or a medical bill for my child yeah I get it but talking to some girl you know in Bulgaria you know you said you've hit it right ahead you were embarrassed about it and you have nothing to be embarrassed about here it is man I want to help you she want to help you you gotta you gotta you gotta come to me with the truth now because I I already know the truth there's a reason you didn't go back to the house there's a reason why you haven't tried to reach out I mean like you haven't heard from anybody yeah I mean I must I just I don't it's like it's words that like I can't think of to even say like I I just I don't know how to even say the words give me a round about what you're thinking that somebody in my family's dead and how does that make you feel if you think if you're thinking that I have absolutely no ability to comprehend the words because like I said I've been there for my whole entire life and even though there's been struggles and everything like that there has never been any issues there's never been the struggles or the issues like happened Thursday never for you I I believe you 100 I believe it's never been like that but something happened Thursday unlike anything you've ever experienced in 29 years of your life and maybe you felt that was Rock Bottom for you you were getting kicked out of the house your father gave you an ultimatum I mean that's the female detective will now carry out what the male detective was probably trying to do a few minutes ago she will afford him justifications for the crime making the gravity of admission less intimidating you know you know I can understand how you would feel I mean that you'd want to lash out or you know if something happened you'd want to defend yourself sure absolutely but we need to know what happened I mean I know I can tell that you guys are like leading me into a certain way of what the only thing we're leading you to is wanting to get the truth from you not trying to make you say something that's not true that's not accurate the truth the end that's it that's all we want is the absolute truth I genuinely don't have anything else to say about what transpired during the night time so when you left your house everybody was fine and when you left Cody everything was fine well we got called to the house because Cody didn't show up to work so law enforcement goes over there and can you tell us what we found no the only thing that I was told was that Cody would take care of it for me that's all that I know so if anything happened in the home to bring law enforcement there what would you think happened that there was a shooting between home I don't know between Cody and and my dad and why would you think that to protect me or to help me or to do something with me so you're telling me you did not shoot Cody no your father or your mother no I mean I don't know like what more I can say well when law enforcement arrived that's what they found so you're the only outstanding child you're the one that's been having problems with your dad you're the one that we haven't been able to find for two days do you understand now why would we would be questioning you about this yeah but I mean I went in like I mean I wouldn't be saying like all like I don't know the way this I I don't I don't I don't know like what to even say so if anything happened in the home you believe it would be Cody and him yes because I was I mean I don't I I don't have you know access to anything we know that Cody didn't shoot your dad we know Cody didn't shoot your mom we know Cody didn't shoot himself there's something and you still haven't asked though that's because I'm I'm I mean I don't know what the normal proceedings are but I don't I mean I have normal proceedings are for you to be honest about what happened and then we hope you understand everything that's going that's going to go on from here on on out of what our responsibilities are and we don't believe you're being honest we feel that you are leaving something out about what happened in that home and the evidence tells us what happened in the home but you need to fill in the blanks the suspect's composure was finally starting to slip this was the perfect moment to draw out the silence to see how he'd respond to the pressure here's here's for honesty I'm gonna I am an honest guy I'm going to be honest and when it's all said and done I'm going to be honest to the very last day that I deal with you and then when this um when this investation begins I'll go on the next person to be honest with them I can only do so much with honesty honestly honesty honesty so what are you not telling us what happened at that home that you know did you leave the house with your brother Cody looking like that or did you leave the house with your father looking like that or your mother is that how you left your family no nobody nobody else went into that house who left your family like this if you were the one that's been depressed you were the one that owes money you were the one that confrontation with your father who did this to your family if you were trying to defend yourself or something else happen we need to know now the female detective does an excellent job at affording him the option to admit to a lesser infraction which in this case is self-defense she provides the option while simultaneously building pressure it's a textbook maneuver and she does it very well so how to say house what happened Grant we're here to listen to you need a truth we're here to make this right you've got to tell the truth it's on the tip of your tongue my man I get that did your father go out you try to protect yourself no I didn't do any of this hey I know video surveillance tells me everything that happened this night I'm telling you of people that you'd be surprised who in your neighborhood has video and I know that no but there's only four people was at this house during this time one two three four tell me you got to tell me man you got to tell me get over that over that hoop the video is the video if you're sitting there saying no no no no no and video shows something else guess what big problem because it will wind up later on that that you can't get any help from anybody a lot of this what people make decisions on is honestly with somebody honest didn't fire a gun didn't fire a gun didn't fire a gun none of them did no there's there's nothing else that I can say your emotions your demeanor your body language your eyes tell me everything I need to say about you you want to tell me in the worst way you want to get this this pain off your chest do it I mean it's just there's just nothing else that I can say so your dad had told you in the past before that he would kill you right for what reason for I basically did anything related to this again causing costing you have a lot of money and Cody knew about that right so when did you learn that your family was dead I had been worried since last night when I was uh just in the hotel but I knew when you guys told me I mean like I knew when you guys had told me you already knew though but I had he already said you know at any point did you feel like you needed to reach out to Cody and see if he was okay or I just didn't want to call anywhere I just didn't want to know we understand your father was abusive and we understand that he was the [ __ ] and if he threatened you that he was going to kill you when you came back you were probably in fear were you not so did your brother come home to try and defend you and then this gunfight happened and you got so scared that you left this version of events would obviously clear Grant of any wrongdoing the detective is hoping he takes the bait so that he changes his story and can then be placed under arrest for lying to police I just don't know where else to go to get you to to come around because it does not make any logistical sense of what you tell us it doesn't if these two got into shooting we would know we would know they shot each other we'd know that but why Mom just got so bad and out of hand like never extend before in your life never been here before in your life or your family's life he's pissed his future his retirement his plans are being upset by you because of the financial cost I would almost bet this is just a horrible bad incident that on any other day wouldn't happen but you and me both know so she what happened that night I just I I don't I don't have the answer for anything else okay this is the last time for him to walk out and then I'm done and I'm done for good when I'm done I'm done done [Music] do you not feel bad for doing this to your family I mean I've been getting blamed for the last half a year for everything and I've been trying to move forward into a positive direction and then every day I'm reminded of all the trouble that I had caused and then I keep being told the same thing over and over again but there's nothing that I can do to change it do you regret doing this to each one of your family members I didn't do that each one so here you sit my feet for a minute set my seat get on here sit right here come here sit right here get out of that seat sit right there for me the suspect still isn't sitting in his seat two things that happened here you're a guy swimming out in the middle of the ocean and we're going to give you one of two things based on based on you you can have a live preserver keep to keep from drowning or you get the boat anchor is which one do you want because we will give you whichever one you ask for the life preserver the boat anchor I want the life preserve that I've said everything that I can you want it and I I believe you do but you have not said everything you can say but there will be a time where you asked for that life preserver I can't give it to you I can't once I cross once I cross the lines I gotta step over can't do it I won't do it think about that I want to talk to her for a minute think of think about the the last life preserve I can give you think about it take a few minutes just to reflect on it and then we'll come back to you in a couple of minutes and then we'll go from there and what happens is what happens fair enough okay I need some food some water good you good to stay for a while longer you okay if I just don't have anything more than I can say okay I'm not keeping here if you want to stay well I'll talk to you till whatever until you're you're happy with with everything and you're okay um you're not detained you're not being kept here don't want to be here you don't have to be here okay give me a minute we'll get down here what I'll do is uh we'll get you up somewhere I'll give you my card my phone if you want to talk to me you're more than welcome call me and we'll move forward from there Vernon any questions of me before I go or before before we walk out I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have like one of my uh like allowed to do live your life hey man we're right there at Jason's here it's gonna be a few more minutes what I need to do is just for for our investigation get some pictures of you we're going to collect your clothing as soon as that's done we'll get Jason here to talk to you sorry thank you all right so uh I I think you know what happened yeah I just I'm gonna ask your plane now you are not part of it anyway no when's the last time you saw everybody oh I left the house between like uh midnight and like 12 30. I want to believe you grant but you're the last person that I could put in that house and I know what happened over the last six months who else can I blame who how are we gonna find out who did this the [ __ ] you did you could have been in jail you would have been in jail for years and they covered it up for you I'm scared for you and I'm scared for myself and I don't feel comfortable with you being around me alone I'm sorry I could take you physically but if you have a knife or know where a gun is I'm [ __ ] I need you to be honest with me man I need to have closure I was told that you would not be have access to be able to contact this woman why do you feel the intent to still contact her it was just the whole emotional thing I mean that's that's okay so are you saying that you love the woman I feel like I did yeah okay you feel like you did so you don't feel that way now I mean now it's now it's pretty much you know I mean it's not what it used to be is all I can say because she's aware of what has happened in the last several months right it hurt right oh yeah yeah because you can't carry that Persona that you carried before I do love you so just remember that just like Mom Cody and Dad loved you nobody loved you anymore or any less [Music] you have anything else you need to talk about before we let you go because now's your time you know that like Danny said once you're out of here you there's no coming back from this we're giving you every opportunity to tell us what happened in that home that you have not told us so you're aware that when you leave here you're not going to have any chance to redeem yourself and tell us the truth after the fact and you're okay with that you can live with yourself knowing that you're not going to tell us the truth you ready man yeah question for you real quick you want to hurt yourself you don't want to hurt anybody else no Suicidal Thoughts okay Grant was arrested nine hours later at his hotel his trial began on August 12 2019. Grant a motto was so obsessed with this woman you're going to see from the evidence in this case at 2 53 A.M on January January 25th after leaving the house that contained the three dead bodies of his family the defendant goes to a nearby Publix parking lot s onto their Wi-Fi and uses his dead Brothers USA a checking account to pay 599.99 to get on to Sylvie's website at 302 in the morning that's what this case is about it's about his blind obsession with this woman the end of the world as he believed it to be because of his family and his absolute contempt for those that he held responsible for we the jury Grand Amado was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

in mid-2018 29 year old Grant was unemployed living rent free in his parents guest house in the rural Village of chuliota Florida he had not once lived on his own and had recently been kicked out of an anesthesiology school for lack of attendance and also fired from a job as a nurse for stealing medication it was around that time when he decided to experiment with a relatively new realm of online campsites these platforms differ from regular porn sites in that they are interactive instead of watching a pre-recorded video users can solicit live performances from models in exchange for money this allows individuals to watch whatever acts they want but at a price using his brother's credit card he browsed through multiple cam models spending an average of 20 minutes on each one yet it was on the 5th of June when forensics discovered he came in contact with a performer who went by the stage name of Sylvie and over the following six months Grant would spend over two hundred thousand dollars of his family's money on this one model the entirety of his father's life savings that he had saved up from working as a pharmacist for over 30 years was gone he had spent sixty thousand dollars from his brother's credit card and had also taken a sixty five thousand dollar loan out on the house when his family found out instead of calling the police Grant was sent to a behavioral Rehabilitation facility for online porn addiction the more we try to run from shame the stronger it becomes when Grant got back from Rehab on January 4th his father presented him with a two-page list of rules he was required to follow if he wanted to continue living at home one of the conditions was that he cease all communication with Sylvia immediately but it took just three weeks for the family to discover that he had broken the contract and re-established contact with the model via Twitter on January 24th when Chad Amato got home from work he reportedly confronted Grant over his disregard and the two of them got into a heated argument which almost turned into a physical altercation Grant was then kicked out of the house and for the first time in his life he was on his own shortly before 9 A.M the next morning police received a call from Cody Amato's girlfriend alerting them that he had failed to show up to work that morning and hadn't responded to multiple phone calls they arrived at The Residence at 9 17 am and once knocks on the front door went unanswered they were able to gain access with a knife via the back entrance Chad Margaret and Cody Yamato were all found lying dead on the floor with gunshot wounds to the head from a nine millimeter handgun Grant became the immediate Prime Suspect as a witness statement from Cody's girlfriend advised police of the confrontation that had occurred the night before as well as the collection of bizarre circumstances that had led to that point he was traced to a hotel in Orlando we encounter someone that we want to make sure you're safe now we know you don't have any weapons or we'll get those restraints off early we're confident you've been Cooperative everything's good so we appreciate that very much goes a long way he immediately agreed to accompany them to the police station and sit down for an interview reports stated that he wasn't made aware of his family's demise nor was he advised as to what the purpose of the interview was for Grant himself didn't once inquire just reportedly sat silent in the back seat of an unmarked police car staring out the window for the entire Journey to the police station thank you Stephanie thank you foreign [Applause] [Music] just to restate he has not been told nor given any insinuation as to why he is sitting inside an interrogation room and has not once inquired himself hey we really appreciate you coming over with us and uh you know anytime during this you need to stop and go to the bathroom want to drink um snacks saying just let me know and we'll be happy again my name is Danny Anderson and um the investigator's initial plan is to establish a friendly connection with the suspect which can often be a highly effective tactical procedure to elicit a more detailed discourse yet on this occasion something seems to get lost in the Endeavor which you'll just have to see for yourself when the time comes this is one of the most fascinatingly aggravating interrogations to ever be released into the public domain um so we just want to talk a little bit and we'll get this in and out be on our way okay um full name my full name is Grant Tiernan Amato what is there any special uh Nursing degree what you do or uh I mean I have like other certifications um but uh I mean with that like I primarily worked in the hospital for I think five years five or six years well I had I was accused of Grand Theft for the third degree back in June of 2018. there was no evidence that ever presented all the charges were dropped I've been applying for jobs for the last couple weeks I'd gotten a like three or four callbacks um and then I went on a job interview yesterday for a home infusion nurse job what time was your interview yesterday uh it was scheduled for ten I got there around nine okay uh and then I think we actually had the interview about 9 45. the hell that go I mean it was all good uh they didn't have anything they said that they'd probably be getting back to me by Tuesday or Thursday this coming week get you back to work yeah because I mean it's like it's a crappy world when you know you don't have any money do anything so financially how how's the the nursing what you did I'm sorry I just don't know that much about understanding the nursing how does it pay how does it pay um I mean if you work your standard three to three 12 hours a week you get anywhere between I'd say 45 and 55 000 a year so I mean it's not bad I think my best year I made like 55 000. because I rarely worked overtime right you know when I was just because I I had the whole plan of going to uh to graduate school so I was just kind of using it as a stepping right at that time just to pay the bills gotcha that's and what you're going for what does that pay the nursing anesthesia pays I mean base like about 150 up to 175. okay um High School where'd you go I went to Timber Creek I'll be right um High School in the first two years of college I was ABC um you know I was in honors in the major program for uh UCF um girlfriends girlfriends I had like my high school sweetheart uh girlfriend um for about five years and then ever since then no like official girlfriends no flings or anything like that here and there dates occasionally but I mean not really kind of focused on like just getting through the life the life goals that you know I wanted to achieve what do you like to do what do I like to do I like to watch anime what is it I'm sorry I don't oh sorry I don't know what it is I mean I think it's an epidemic and I'm like okay and then then when you start explaining to it I mean like now it's it's animated um it's like cartoons I guess you could say but it's Japanese cartoons it isn't Japanese and then they uh yeah you speak Japanese I don't I understand a few words we actually just went to uh me and my brother and one and one of friends or I guess Japan how long have you been out of work I've been out of work for six months since June how did you pay that's a lot of money for to be out of work my brother oh yeah um I think the only other game that we really played was fortnite but then that was starting to get to like it's a big deal right now and and actually yeah during the time that I was um that I wasn't working as a nurse I tried to do the whole Twitch streaming thing what is that um [Music] we have to explain a lot of this with uh with twitch it's you got your mic and then you have your face cam and then basically people are just watching you play whatever game you're gonna say that you're playing okay on virtual reality it was primarily just beat saber so it's like a rhythm-based game like Guitar Hero apart from that uh we really didn't get into too many other games yes we were kind of just focused on beat saver but I think we had downloaded a few other where it's just like you're going through like a world and you can interact with the world or something closer your brother the Starbucks code oh yeah yeah yeah me and Cody he's older you were him he is I'm the youngest one I'm 29 he's 31. my oldest brother Jason is 35 to 36 now talk about coding Cody you know we decided to go to nursing school together we decided to go to the the nurse anesthesia school together a lot of people thought that it was weird because we did everything together and because we were so close but yeah I mean a lot of people understand the bond of Brothers yeah the true Bond if you're close and I mean during like this whole time I mean kind of like with just a few examples I've given you he was can take care of everything it's always there for you yeah always there to support you always there yeah I did everything to go and connected at the hip ever any issues really with him no like I was saying during this last six months it had been a very trying time he would like have his moments where he would get extremely upset like um like you know he never gets violent I guess you could say but like at one point he got so upset that he like pushed the cabinet and then it like dented into the wall yeah I mean at least with me he's always been like where he's he's there for me like whatever it takes regardless of what's happening I'm gonna take care of it for you but that's your mom my mom has uh it must have been a bizarre sight for the detectives to witness when a man who had just allegedly shot his mother in the back of the head gave a reminiscent smile when she was brought up in the discussion she's always been the uh it's kind of like Cody she's always been the one that focused on me and um yeah you know countless times my dad would like come up to me and he'd make like me feel like he'd try and use things and word things that make me feel guilty so that I would you know do everything that I can like get a job almost like a motivation right and he he'd tell me time and time again that you know you're her favorite I mean she would do anything for you and I mean it's like yeah I don't need to hear that I mean that's not what would motivate me sure um but no with Mom I think we yelled at each other a grand total of like three or four times my whole life never any issues I mean she it was always like if there was somebody that I could talk to and like Cody wasn't available I'd always talk to my mom I'd always let her know what's going on um yeah I mean she would help me out through through anything okay tell me about that dad uh what does he do Dad's a pharmacist he works for CVS he's been a pharmacist for I think 35 years or so my dad was a very like Angry violent type person overbearing overbearing you know like baseball practice it'd be like four or five hours and he's hurling the ball as fast as an adult can and we're like seventh eighth grade trying to catch this stuff should be little you would belittle me when I was younger the problem my guess was was that I was I was always like the jokester the one that could calm everybody down make everybody smile if it was a heated situation I could say a joke or something and then make everybody kind of move past it and I was just in the point where it's like you know I'm hearing you know all this stuff from Dad I'm seeing how much Cody's helping me you know Mom stressed out with her job and it's like I'm not doing anything was the last time your dad put his hands on you uh the last time my dad put his hands on me would be [Applause] I'd say kind of the middle of December of 2018. what happened it's because um you know with all the money that had been getting spent and just to be clear the cam model has not yet been brought up in the discussion the money being spent in this context would simply be his living expenses I guess just the mix of everything that I've been saying is kind of boiling up in him um and the fact that I was to him it seemed like I wasn't concerned about it so and then I thought that was you know I wasn't acting like myself with the jovialness and you know all that kind of stuff um my father chose to admit me to like a like a depression or an addiction clinic or something like that in Fort Lauderdale called Cornerstone when was that that was December 22nd until I think uh January 4th did you agree to go I didn't but they said that you know this was your only who said my dad okay and that was in Fort Lauderdale yes yeah did your mom agree with it my mom and my brother both agreed but it was my dad who was like the Iron Fist like this is what's gonna happen like you know you can why did he say he needed to go what was his reasoning because uh with the way that I was acting he just he didn't see that I was doing anything for like the positive um you know and a lot of it just came back to money with him uh he would he would like allow me to to spend money that he had uh like with his credit card or something like that but it's like then whenever I did it was like a huge problem okay so you had one of his credit cards yeah and what were you buying with it uh well what I was doing is um over the past four months or something like that I've been I've been talking to this woman online appreciate uh she's it's embarrassing as it is she's uh she's a she's a can Model A what a cam model yeah just like all the videos you have to tell us I can model it's like they they it's like a virtual girlfriend I guess you would say okay like that type of situation so a lot of the money went to her okay where's she at she lives in Bulgaria Bulgarian where's that over in Europe it's like outside of Germany okay never been there no okay uh there wasn't it wasn't that serious what would you give her money for um just for like the time online with her yeah so it was just like that type of thing and what did she charge 600 for like 5 000 or something tokens or something like that so and then it was four hours a night um so I mean it's I mean that's basically just where all the like the cost went to was you pay real money for the tokens then you use the company's digital currency for okay for that so you do that and when did you meet her I met her um at the beginning of July yeah at the very beginning of July okay and and still talking to her so yeah I mean more just on uh like Twitter like just through direct messaging um again cell phone service doesn't work so it's like I can't use the the chatting how much do you think you spent on this because it's kind of pricey yeah probably close to like two hundred thousand dollars I'd say two hundred thousand dollars yeah and where'd the money come from money came from me uh my brother and then my dad did they know what the money was going there they didn't know that it was going to uh a cam a cam model I was saying that it was going towards my Twitch streaming uh like like you know like advertising like putting my name out there and that that type of thing so I guess to like bring it all back with why I was brought to Cornerstone uh it was a mix of all of those things it's like he felt like you know I um he felt like he had to be grounded yeah yeah and so then I was there you know I spoke to like the therapist and psychiatrist and all that stuff I didn't need any medications for anything they had analyzed it as this is an isolated event you've been out of work you have this PTSD from the whole getting arrested thing and I mean the last thing on my record was I think a speeding ticket back when I was at UCF they had signed me up I think to be there for 60 days but then I was only there until January 4th so I paid for that my brother Cody what was the cost of that do you know fifteen thousand so their final diagnosis of he was one that I was fine that didn't need to be there yeah that I was I was fine I told them all about like my living situation and how it had been stressful and then it got better and then now it's just stressful again but they had all just said that it was just this isolated inspirational PTSD from right when I got back that's where my dad started to get really kind of overbearing I mean rightfully so I know what I did but it's like with him it was every single day hours a day excuse me hours a day he'd come home from work and then he would just talk to me just about the same exact thing over and over and over and over and over again when was the last time that you and your dad did have you know a heated conversation uh it would be Thursday Thursday because one of his rules was that I wasn't allowed to talk to the woman anymore that I had been talking to um but I guess you could say behind the scenes my mom would let me talk to her through her cell phone using Twitter so yeah anyways on Thursday he had apparently found out that I was speaking to her again you know it wasn't really my intention to continue talking to this woman but it just kind of happened um and then because there was like that emotional connection I guess you could say between her and me like I I like you know I felt like like like a relationship you know I didn't want to just stop cold turkey on it so it's Thursday you're home all day yes with your mom she works at home correct yeah your dad's at work what's his normal work hours uh he works until I think he had to go in early that day uh because he had to start like doing overtime or something like that and he normally works though from like five or six in the morning to I think he gets home between like 5 30 and 6 at night or something like that what time do you get on that day uh he got home at like 5 30 and then uh he came in and then he asked me in a calmer State I guess you could say like basically the leading question of you know why do you think we're about to have this conversation giving me I guess that opportunity to be honest and truthful to maybe tone it down a little bit I of course did what I always did where I kind of didn't admit to it um and then he he came out and he told me that I'd been doing that yeah yeah um have an argument yeah he kind of you know pulled me up from the couch and then he was yelling at me to pack my [ __ ] up and just get out of the house that he was the one who had to be the hammer and that you know why am I making him have to go through this and all this other kind of stuff okay I have my argument and then I'm packing my stuff I'm you know taking it out to the car it took me like a couple hours to get as much as I could just kind of out into there so I left and then what time do you think you laughed about oh God 9 or 9 30 or so he goes on to state that he met up with his brother soon after on the side of the road and well in the conversation conversation was basically that he was brought up to speed you know in that he would take care of it he was brought up speed by what this is Grant attempting to frame his brother for a double murder suicide you will see this quote brought up repeatedly from this point forward he was brought up to speed on like why I'm why I'm out here who brought enough to speak my mom oh so she talked to him yeah he told you that Mom had talked to him right do you think that's why Cody left work according to Grant Cody had left work a few hours early to meet up with him on the side of the road Cody had indeed left work early yet it wasn't to meet up with Grant it was later proven that while Margaret Amato was sitting at the computer sipping on a glass of red wine Grant shot her in the back of the head he then lay and wait for his father to return to the house then shot him twice in the head as he entered the kitchen Cody then received a text from his father's number asking him to come home urgently forensics believed that he was very likely pleading for his life soon after he entered the front door he was found by police with a gunshot wound to the face lying in the fetal position his credit card was stolen with a purchase made to a campsite for six hundred dollars an estimated 30 minutes later I mean blood off work early like three or three times already this week so I was just like 10 15 minutes you talked to Cody right you have a conversation and he leaves to go home right and you leave to go where and then I stay in that general area just so that if anything happens somebody like knows where I am yeah I mean I was saying that general area and then I decided to go to Publix Publix he just referred to the public supermarket parking lot this is where he used the free Wi-Fi to log on to the campsite with his dead brother's credit card which is about what time my between like midnight and 1:00 I think yeah and you go to Publix midnight one and I'll have to stay there till I stayed there until like seven slept there last night talk to anybody I just I messaged the girl that I've been talking to before on Twitter so you have to pay for it right right so respond back to you I think once the discussion is then brought back to his last meeting with Cody what did he say he was going to go do Cody said that he will take care of it take care of what just the situation that was at hand with whatever he had been updated with from my mom did he tell you what he was updated he had told me that he had told me the reason why like I'd been kicked out um but he really didn't give me that much dialogue like about that situation you know he was he was miffed a little bit because you know he had just gotten off work and now we have to go deal with this but what was your demeanor like what did Cody see you as like were you like scared yeah like I was scared because I mean like I said the first time that I had been out of the house we've come and talked to you we wrote up here voluntarily with us to talk to us the detective will now initiate the first confrontation why do you think we're having this conversation I honestly don't know but I'm pretty freaked out at this point because you know it's uh I mean I know like how the situation was when I left you're now about to see the lead interrogator's attempt at getting Grant to confess in a manner so blatantly obvious that the suspect immediately sees through it and the child was told the truth always is the best thing to do correct correct you agreement yeah and accidents happen and things in the Heat of the Moment things happen that we wish hadn't happened but we make I do it myself sometimes my kids will make me so aggravated I'll snap at him and then walk away and say wow I wish I would not have done that that was not very adult of me to to snap at my child for something yes they're wrong but I should be the adult and not snap at him right tell me what you think because I could tell by I've done this for a long long time and I read people the way they act and the way they they talk to me and them questions there's something you want to tell us I can see it in your eyes I can see it in your body language and just your the way you act Now's the Time Now's the Time if there's something you want to get off your chest and give us an explanation of what's bothering you now is the exact time to do it and I I'm giving you that opportunity um right now to tell me some something you want to get off your chest it's there I can see it in your face out about that night you're upset about it you're upset about you've been that since we've talked to you I can see there's something been bothering you even though I don't know you from Adam's house can't you see things in people that something really bothered in this guy it's not that you know I spent a bunch of money I shouldn't have on this girl so be it you did it's over with money can be made that something's bothering you I I'm just worried about what is all transpiring from this I think at this point right now to be honest with you grant you know what it is um it's in your eyes your eyes is is the view to your soul is it's in your eyes and it sounds stupid and people don't believe it like I told you out there in the car did I not tell you you may not like what I say but I'm going to tell you the truth I'm going to tell you the truth every time that I can walk and walk into in front of anybody in God and say I don't care I told him the truth and we usually know answers before we ask it right we me and Eva knew everything before before um we asked you the questions Now's the Time to come to Jesus be honest because you're holding something back I can see it in your eyes people don't believe that the police will help you but we are actually here to help you with issues you may have um I think something happened and you don't want to tell us but right now is the time to get it off your chest and I really wish you would because it will make you feel better in the end I I genuinely don't have anything else that I can say about the night or you know the periods of time afterwards there's only there's only one opportunity to make that that good impression and two if we've done something we shouldn't have done get fast up there you get caught your hand in the cookie jar detective Dan's approach here is so incredibly outdated and predictable that it actually seems to boost the suspect's confidence it's the detective in fact who gives off a nervous disposition he'll begin stumbling over his own words while simultaneously mixing up his analogies which never made a great deal of sense to begin with now is there anything else that happened at the house that you didn't tell us that you've left out but we haven't asked you that would be of importance or during the time that you drove around for those few hours did you ever really go back to the house that you haven't told us about you'll also notice the female detective interject with something useful every now and then but unfortunately she's not the one leading this interrogation that would be the detective who keeps bringing up Jesus to a guy who just murdered his family to go jerk off in a parking lot to a Bulgarian cam model I know things can't deal with someone who lies to me but I'll deal with someone and help them till the end no matter what believe it or not that's just me and she'll tell you I'm very it's what it is I'm going to be honest with you I'm going to say if I can do something that can help you I'm going to help you because every one of us make mistakes and do things we should have done in the Heat of the Moment to protect ourselves or to protect somebody else it happens now is the time now now is the time so what do you think happens I think that there was something that obviously happened at the house tell me what happened I don't know what happened I know better listen to me I know better I can help you grant with honesty I can help you with honesty we think something else happened before you left the home that you're either afraid of or embarrassed to talk about but we need to know exactly what happened because like Danny said we can place you there at certain times and so we need to know what happened before you left that house because you didn't leave with everything being okay I I honestly I don't I don't have anything else that I can really say I mean I don't I don't know you even know why law enforcement got involved like what what brought us to that home no once you start telling me something that's truthful that I know then we're going to have a conversation of exactly what happened I mean you're a smart guy you know something's happened at your home you have law enforcement here you haven't heard or gotten anything I mean I'm just scared as to what the answer is well you need to help yourself by filling in the blanks of what happened that night so we can give you the answer did anything more happen with you and your father besides him grabbing you up from the couch and yelling at you and kicking you out anything out that at all did he did he harm you hit you no draw any weapons on you no you didn't do anything like that I mean he was just yelling this this is the time to come to Jesus to be honest because you know more I'm looking in your eyes your eyes tell me exactly that you you are hurting inside I get brother I get it you're hurting and this is the only time we can help you because once we get to a certain point there's nothing I can do it's it's in the hands of who has it not that I can do honesty is always the best policy you get caught stealing a car you admit to it I get it how can I get help what can be done to help me and let me tell you the rest of my story your whole if something happened that you were defending yourself then we need to know that if you were protecting yourself because you were in fear then that makes sense but we need to know exactly what happened for you to protect yourself you can't minimize this once a wise man told me one time once a bomb goes off you can't defuse it the detective's wise man friend was clearly a specialist in nuclear fusion yet most people would already comprehend that a bomb can no longer be diffused once it has exploded you can't that's already out there now is the point say how I put Band-Aids on myself to minimize the the injuries I have and we're giving you that opportunity I want to give you the opportunity I don't think you're a bad guy at all I really don't the male detective will now for some reason focus on Grant's flaws and the overwhelming embarrassment of the cam girl situation which is basically the exact opposite of what he should be doing he seems to get confused about what he's trying to achieve here he carries a sympathetic tone while essentially roasting the ever-loving [ __ ] out of the suspect I think you're going through a very stressful and emotional time right now we've been out of work and just dealing with all the problems with the arrest you're probably not used to depending on somebody to pay all your bills you know you have to do Mom and Dad or have to have to give you money Cody's having to give you money and there's a significant debt to people 200 000 I don't know what I'll do I mean mortgage yeah I get it or something like that or a medical bill for my child yeah I get it but talking to some girl you know in Bulgaria you know you said you've hit it right ahead you were embarrassed about it and you have nothing to be embarrassed about here it is man I want to help you she want to help you you gotta you gotta you gotta come to me with the truth now because I I already know the truth there's a reason you didn't go back to the house there's a reason why you haven't tried to reach out I mean like you haven't heard from anybody yeah I mean I must I just I don't it's like it's words that like I can't think of to even say like I I just I don't know how to even say the words give me a round about what you're thinking that somebody in my family's dead and how does that make you feel if you think if you're thinking that I have absolutely no ability to comprehend the words because like I said I've been there for my whole entire life and even though there's been struggles and everything like that there has never been any issues there's never been the struggles or the issues like happened Thursday never for you I I believe you 100 I believe it's never been like that but something happened Thursday unlike anything you've ever experienced in 29 years of your life and maybe you felt that was Rock Bottom for you you were getting kicked out of the house your father gave you an ultimatum I mean that's the female detective will now carry out what the male detective was probably trying to do a few minutes ago she will afford him justifications for the crime making the gravity of admission less intimidating you know you know I can understand how you would feel I mean that you'd want to lash out or you know if something happened you'd want to defend yourself sure absolutely but we need to know what happened I mean I know I can tell that you guys are like leading me into a certain way of what the only thing we're leading you to is wanting to get the truth from you not trying to make you say something that's not true that's not accurate the truth the end that's it that's all we want is the absolute truth I genuinely don't have anything else to say about what transpired during the night time so when you left your house everybody was fine and when you left Cody everything was fine well we got called to the house because Cody didn't show up to work so law enforcement goes over there and can you tell us what we found no the only thing that I was told was that Cody would take care of it for me that's all that I know so if anything happened in the home to bring law enforcement there what would you think happened that there was a shooting between home I don't know between Cody and and my dad and why would you think that to protect me or to help me or to do something with me so you're telling me you did not shoot Cody no your father or your mother no I mean I don't know like what more I can say well when law enforcement arrived that's what they found so you're the only outstanding child you're the one that's been having problems with your dad you're the one that we haven't been able to find for two days do you understand now why would we would be questioning you about this yeah but I mean I went in like I mean I wouldn't be saying like all like I don't know the way this I I don't I don't I don't know like what to even say so if anything happened in the home you believe it would be Cody and him yes because I was I mean I don't I I don't have you know access to anything we know that Cody didn't shoot your dad we know Cody didn't shoot your mom we know Cody didn't shoot himself there's something and you still haven't asked though that's because I'm I'm I mean I don't know what the normal proceedings are but I don't I mean I have normal proceedings are for you to be honest about what happened and then we hope you understand everything that's going that's going to go on from here on on out of what our responsibilities are and we don't believe you're being honest we feel that you are leaving something out about what happened in that home and the evidence tells us what happened in the home but you need to fill in the blanks the suspect's composure was finally starting to slip this was the perfect moment to draw out the silence to see how he'd respond to the pressure here's here's for honesty I'm gonna I am an honest guy I'm going to be honest and when it's all said and done I'm going to be honest to the very last day that I deal with you and then when this um when this investation begins I'll go on the next person to be honest with them I can only do so much with honesty honestly honesty honesty so what are you not telling us what happened at that home that you know did you leave the house with your brother Cody looking like that or did you leave the house with your father looking like that or your mother is that how you left your family no nobody nobody else went into that house who left your family like this if you were the one that's been depressed you were the one that owes money you were the one that confrontation with your father who did this to your family if you were trying to defend yourself or something else happen we need to know now the female detective does an excellent job at affording him the option to admit to a lesser infraction which in this case is self-defense she provides the option while simultaneously building pressure it's a textbook maneuver and she does it very well so how to say house what happened Grant we're here to listen to you need a truth we're here to make this right you've got to tell the truth it's on the tip of your tongue my man I get that did your father go out you try to protect yourself no I didn't do any of this hey I know video surveillance tells me everything that happened this night I'm telling you of people that you'd be surprised who in your neighborhood has video and I know that no but there's only four people was at this house during this time one two three four tell me you got to tell me man you got to tell me get over that over that hoop the video is the video if you're sitting there saying no no no no no and video shows something else guess what big problem because it will wind up later on that that you can't get any help from anybody a lot of this what people make decisions on is honestly with somebody honest didn't fire a gun didn't fire a gun didn't fire a gun none of them did no there's there's nothing else that I can say your emotions your demeanor your body language your eyes tell me everything I need to say about you you want to tell me in the worst way you want to get this this pain off your chest do it I mean it's just there's just nothing else that I can say so your dad had told you in the past before that he would kill you right for what reason for I basically did anything related to this again causing costing you have a lot of money and Cody knew about that right so when did you learn that your family was dead I had been worried since last night when I was uh just in the hotel but I knew when you guys told me I mean like I knew when you guys had told me you already knew though but I had he already said you know at any point did you feel like you needed to reach out to Cody and see if he was okay or I just didn't want to call anywhere I just didn't want to know we understand your father was abusive and we understand that he was the [ __ ] and if he threatened you that he was going to kill you when you came back you were probably in fear were you not so did your brother come home to try and defend you and then this gunfight happened and you got so scared that you left this version of events would obviously clear Grant of any wrongdoing the detective is hoping he takes the bait so that he changes his story and can then be placed under arrest for lying to police I just don't know where else to go to get you to to come around because it does not make any logistical sense of what you tell us it doesn't if these two got into shooting we would know we would know they shot each other we'd know that but why Mom just got so bad and out of hand like never extend before in your life never been here before in your life or your family's life he's pissed his future his retirement his plans are being upset by you because of the financial cost I would almost bet this is just a horrible bad incident that on any other day wouldn't happen but you and me both know so she what happened that night I just I I don't I don't have the answer for anything else okay this is the last time for him to walk out and then I'm done and I'm done for good when I'm done I'm done done [Music] do you not feel bad for doing this to your family I mean I've been getting blamed for the last half a year for everything and I've been trying to move forward into a positive direction and then every day I'm reminded of all the trouble that I had caused and then I keep being told the same thing over and over again but there's nothing that I can do to change it do you regret doing this to each one of your family members I didn't do that each one so here you sit my feet for a minute set my seat get on here sit right here come here sit right here get out of that seat sit right there for me the suspect still isn't sitting in his seat two things that happened here you're a guy swimming out in the middle of the ocean and we're going to give you one of two things based on based on you you can have a live preserver keep to keep from drowning or you get the boat anchor is which one do you want because we will give you whichever one you ask for the life preserver the boat anchor I want the life preserve that I've said everything that I can you want it and I I believe you do but you have not said everything you can say but there will be a time where you asked for that life preserver I can't give it to you I can't once I cross once I cross the lines I gotta step over can't do it I won't do it think about that I want to talk to her for a minute think of think about the the last life preserve I can give you think about it take a few minutes just to reflect on it and then we'll come back to you in a couple of minutes and then we'll go from there and what happens is what happens fair enough okay I need some food some water good you good to stay for a while longer you okay if I just don't have anything more than I can say okay I'm not keeping here if you want to stay well I'll talk to you till whatever until you're you're happy with with everything and you're okay um you're not detained you're not being kept here don't want to be here you don't have to be here okay give me a minute we'll get down here what I'll do is uh we'll get you up somewhere I'll give you my card my phone if you want to talk to me you're more than welcome call me and we'll move forward from there Vernon any questions of me before I go or before before we walk out I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have like one of my uh like allowed to do live your life hey man we're right there at Jason's here it's gonna be a few more minutes what I need to do is just for for our investigation get some pictures of you we're going to collect your clothing as soon as that's done we'll get Jason here to talk to you sorry thank you all right so uh I I think you know what happened yeah I just I'm gonna ask your plane now you are not part of it anyway no when's the last time you saw everybody oh I left the house between like uh midnight and like 12 30. I want to believe you grant but you're the last person that I could put in that house and I know what happened over the last six months who else can I blame who how are we gonna find out who did this the [ __ ] you did you could have been in jail you would have been in jail for years and they covered it up for you I'm scared for you and I'm scared for myself and I don't feel comfortable with you being around me alone I'm sorry I could take you physically but if you have a knife or know where a gun is I'm [ __ ] I need you to be honest with me man I need to have closure I was told that you would not be have access to be able to contact this woman why do you feel the intent to still contact her it was just the whole emotional thing I mean that's that's okay so are you saying that you love the woman I feel like I did yeah okay you feel like you did so you don't feel that way now I mean now it's now it's pretty much you know I mean it's not what it used to be is all I can say because she's aware of what has happened in the last several months right it hurt right oh yeah yeah because you can't carry that Persona that you carried before I do love you so just remember that just like Mom Cody and Dad loved you nobody loved you anymore or any less [Music] you have anything else you need to talk about before we let you go because now's your time you know that like Danny said once you're out of here you there's no coming back from this we're giving you every opportunity to tell us what happened in that home that you have not told us so you're aware that when you leave here you're not going to have any chance to redeem yourself and tell us the truth after the fact and you're okay with that you can live with yourself knowing that you're not going to tell us the truth you ready man yeah question for you real quick you want to hurt yourself you don't want to hurt anybody else no Suicidal Thoughts okay Grant was arrested nine hours later at his hotel his trial began on August 12 2019. Grant a motto was so obsessed with this woman you're going to see from the evidence in this case at 2 53 A.M on January January 25th after leaving the house that contained the three dead bodies of his family the defendant goes to a nearby Publix parking lot s onto their Wi-Fi and uses his dead Brothers USA a checking account to pay 599.99 to get on to Sylvie's website at 302 in the morning that's what this case is about it's about his blind obsession with this woman the end of the world as he believed it to be because of his family and his absolute contempt for those that he held responsible for we the jury Grand Amado was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

Transcript for:The Tragic Story of Grant Amato

Transcript for:
The Tragic Story of Grant Amato