Orlando Sentinel

Brother: Amatos desperate to help

Surviving sibling testifies in trial of man accused of killing other family members

- By Michael Williams

Grant Amato’s family desperatel­y wanted him to get better.

His obsession with a Bulgarian webcam model turned unhealthy after he lied to and stole money from his family to send to the woman, his sole surviving brother Jason Amato testified Friday during Grant Amato’s trial in the January killings of his other brother, Cody Amato, and their parents.

Tension in the home caused Grant Amato to run away to his aunt’s home in Apopka shortly before Christmas, Jason Amato said. His family took 12-hour shifts outside the home to make sure Grant didn’t run farther. One day around 3 a.m., they held an interventi­on, confrontin­g Grant in his aunt’s driveway.

His mother found a treatment center in Fort Lauderdale, and it was time to get help.

The conversati­on was testy, Jason Amato testified, but eventually Grant Amato got into the car with his parents and brother Cody and they drove to the facility.

“And that was the last time I saw Cody and my dad,” Jason Amato said in court.

About a month later, they were dead, along with Margaret Amato.

During his emotional testimony, Jason Amato said they were known as a “football family,” going to every Florida Gators home game. His father, a pharmacist and “self-taught computer guru,” was stern at times but never abusive. His mother loved horses. Grant and Cody were inseparabl­e.

Grant Amato left the treatment facility early, but things seemed to be getting better. He started becoming part of the family again, Jason Amato recalled his mother saying.

“That was great news for you to hear, wasn’t it?” asked Jeff Dowdy, Grant Amato’s lawyer. Jason said it was.

But unbeknowns­t to the family, Grant Amato was still talking with the model named Silvie, a violation

of a list of rules Chad Amato said Grant needed to follow if he wanted to stay in the home. On Jan. 24, his father found out and kicked Grant out of the home.

The family was found dead the next day.

About a week after the killings, Jason Amato took an inventory of the home.

He said nothing of value — which included at least five PlayStatio­ns, four computers and several TVs, safes and jewelry, was taken from the home.

But inside a home office used by his father, Jason Amato found the list of rules Chad Amato had given Grant, he said.

“I guess I would call it an ultimatum,” Jason Amato said. “Some options that were given to Grant to choose between after leaving the facility. And based off some of his choices there were specific rules and regulation­s that my father had laid out for him.”

Grant Amato was given a choice of whether to stay home or join the military. But Jason Amato said his father tried to make Grant seem like “less of a person” by listing reasons he couldn’t join, including that he was too underweigh­t.

The other rules indicated the family wouldn’t pay off any more debt. Grant Amato was also to get a job, stop spending so much time online — and stop talking with Silvie.

Other witnesses called Friday included Christine Varnell, Jason’s longtime girlfriend who vouched for his alibi the day of the killings; Arthur Rubart, a crime-scene analyst who processed the hotel room where deputies found Grant Amato; Eric Brothers, another crimescene

analyst who processed Grant Amato’s car; Janell Kennedy, the security supervisor for the CVS facility where Chad Amato worked; Paul Schatz, a Central Florida Expressway Authority employee; and Daniel Anderson, the lead Sheriff ’s Office investigat­or for the case. Rubart testified he found several credit and debit cards belonging to Chad and Cody Amato in Grant Amato’s bag.

A note was also found in the hotel: “I miss being home already and it has been already one day since I was kicked out by dad,” it said in part.

Brothers testified about finding another note in Grant’s car — which appeared to be written from Cody Amato’s point of view.

“Grant, I’ll take care of all your problems,” it said. “I just need you back. I can’t live without you brother. I said I’d take care of all your problems at the house and I have.”

Prosecutor­s allege Grant Amato tried implicatin­g his brother in a murder-suicide, planting evidence in the home, including shell casings and guns near Cody and Chad Amato. Anderson testified that Amato admitted to him that he had written the letter, explaining he was trying to memorializ­e the last conversati­on he had with his brother.

But Amato’s lawyers have asserted during cross-examinatio­ns that investigat­ors never considered any alternate suspects in the killing, and were inadequate in their processing of evidence.

Toward the end of his testimony, Jason Amato wiped away tears as Dowdy asked him whether he loved his brother, Grant.

“I loved both of my brothers,” was his response.

 ?? RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA/ORLANDO SENTINEL ?? Grant Amato is accused of killing family members, who were found dead a day after he was kicked out of the home.
RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA/ORLANDO SENTINEL Grant Amato is accused of killing family members, who were found dead a day after he was kicked out of the home.

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