Florida man allegedly kill family after they accuse him of stealing $200,000
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Chuluota man killed his parents and brother after he was kicked out of his home and accused of stealing $200,000 from his family to send to a woman he had met on a porn website, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.
Deputies say Grant Amato, 29, shot and killed his father Chad Amato, 59; mother, Margaret Ann Amato, 61; and brother Cody Amato, 31, in their rural Seminole County home Friday morning. He faces three counts of first-degree murder.
The investigation began Friday, when one of Cody Amato’s co-workers at Advent Health Orlando called authorities to report Cody had not shown up for work that morning.
When no one inside the family’s home on Sultan Circle in Chuluota answered, despite knocks on the doors and windows and blasts from an air horn, a Seminole County deputy used a knife to break a deadbolt lock and walked inside through a back door. Deputies found Chad Amato dead in the kitchen. Cody Amato’s body was in a storage room, with a handgun nearby, while Margaret Amato was found slumped over her desk in the home office. Chad and Margaret had been shot execution-style, investigators said. Grant Amato’s 1996 Honda Accord was missing. Cody Amato’s girlfriend told deputies Grant and Cody had been having problems, after Grant stole $50,000 from Cody and sold his guns without permission. Cody and Grant’s brother, Jason Amato, said Grant had stolen another $150,000 from their father.
The girlfriend said Grant had gone downhill since his family found out about his relationship with a Bulgarian woman, and that he was using the stolen money to pay to talk with her. He had also recently been kicked out of nurse anesthetist school.
“... Cody told (his girlfriend) that he was afraid Grant Amato would kill everyone,” according to an affidavit.
On Saturday, authorities found Grant Amato’s car at a hotel in Orlando. Amato met detectives outside of his hotel room and agreed to go to the Seminole County Sheriff ’s Office to be interviewed.
In an interview, Amato confirmed he had been at odds with his parents over his relationship with the Bulgarian woman, who he had met on “Cam Girls, an adult web camera website.”
Before the killings, Amato said his parents told him to complete a 60-day internet and sex-addiction treatment program in Fort Lauderdale if he wanted to stay at home. Amato began the program on Dec. 22, but said he left after a few weeks.