Where Is Grant Amato Now? All About the Convicted Murderer at the Center of “Ctrl+Alt+Desire”

Prosecutors argued that Grant Amato's obsession with a model drove him to kill his family

Grant Amato spiraled after he started sending money to a cam model — an obsession that eventually turned into murder.

The killer, whose case is at the center of the new Paramount+ true crime docuseries Ctrl+Alt+Desire, shot his father Chad, mother Margaret and brother Cody after he was prohibited from contacting a model named Silvie whom he met through a pornographic website.

After losing his job, Grant began spending hours of his time and hundreds of dollars a day on videos, photos and messages from Silvie, eventually stealing money from his family to be able to afford the interactions.

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After a stint in a rehabilitation facility for porn and internet addiction did not stop Grant from trying to contact Silvie, his family banned him from speaking with her and cut him off financially.

They also asked Grant to leave their home but he eventually returned to kill his mom, dad and brother. After the manhunt to find Grant, he stood trial and was sentenced to life in prison.

From the crime to the resulting trial, here's everything to know about Grant Amato and where he is now.

Who is Grant Amato?

Grant grew up in Chuluota, Fla., with his brother Cody, mother Margaret and father Chad; he also had an older half-brother named Jason who didn't live with the family. Grant was especially close with Cody; they grew up going to school and weightlifting together. As adults, they traveled to Japan and studied nursing at the University of Central Florida.

Cody eventually graduated from the nurse anesthetist program, but Grant withdrew from his studies and became a nurse at AdventHealth Orlando. Grant's career ended quickly: He got fired after he was suspected to be stealing prescription medications from the hospital where he worked, as well as improperly administering medications to patients.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, prosecutors claimed that after losing his job, Grant became depressed and isolated. He began live-streaming and gaming, as well as frequenting pornographic websites. He subsequently became obsessed with a Bulgarian live cam model named Silviya "Silvie" Ventsislavova.

Who is Silvie?

In order to keep talking with Silvie, Grant lavished the cam model with money and gifts, including sex toys and lingerie.

"It wasn't my intention to keep talking to this woman, but it just sort of happened," he told investigators in footage obtained by Killer Cases. Grant added that he believed he and Silvie had an "emotional connection."

Grant's parasocial relationship with Silvie was an expensive one, and he spent not just his own money, but also funds that he stole from his family — more than $200,000, according to investigators — to get videos, photos and interactions from Silvie online. He did so under the guise of wanting to promote his Twitch channel, a platform to stream video games.

When Grant's family found out about his obsession with Silvie and that he was stealing their money, they initially were more concerned about his welfare than their funds: Grant went to stay with his aunt Donna Amato, the Orlando Sentinel reported, and he soon began stealing money from her.

Chad and Margaret convinced Donna not to press charges against Grant and, in December 2018, picked him up from her home and brought him to a voluntary rehabilitation clinic for pornography and internet addiction.

When Grant left rehab early in January 2019, Chad and Margaret gave Grant a written ultimatum: if he wanted to keep living at home, he had to get a job during the day, go to therapy and pay for his own cellphone and debts. Grant was also prohibited from contacting Silvie.

Instead of following these rules, he used his mother's cellphone to message the model. When Chad found out on Jan. 24, 2019, per the Orlando Sentinel, he ordered Grant to leave their home.

What did Grant Amato do?

The day after Chad kicked Grant out of the house, Cody didn't show up to work so his co-worker called the police and asked them to check on the Amatos at home. Sheriff's deputies arrived at 9:17 a.m., per The Florida Times-Union, where they found Margaret slumped dead at her computer, Cody dead on the floor of a storage room and Chad dead on the kitchen floor. All three had been shot "execution style," according to investigators.

Grant's 1996 Honda Accord was missing from the home so the police put out a bulletin for the car and found him the next day at a hotel in Orlando. He agreed to speak with investigators and showed little to no emotion while saying he didn't know what happened to his family. Later, when confronted with images of their bodies, Grant outright denied involvement with their murders.

Detectives weren't convinced, and days later, they arrested Grant, who was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the slayings. WESH TV reported that prosecutors accused Grant of staging the murder scene to look like his brother Cody murdered his parents and then died by suicide.

Records indicated that after Cody, Chad and Margaret's bodies were discovered, one of the family credit cards was used to purchase $600 of tokens for access to Silvie. Per The Lakeland Ledger, prosecutors also alleged that after killing Chad, Grant used his father's fingerprint to access his online banking app.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Grant also attempted to cash in on his parents' life insurance policy, but was denied at the time due to his suspected connection to their deaths. Grant was found guilty on all counts on July 31, 2019.

What was Grant Amato's sentence?

Prosecutors pushed for Grant to get the death penalty, but the testimony of Grant's surviving brother, Jason, may have convinced the jury to spare his life.

"One of the biggest things I miss is being able to talk to my mom. It's been 208 days," Jason said at a sentencing hearing, his voice breaking (via Killer Cases). "Though they are gone, I want everyone to know that Chad, Cody and Margaret were amazing people."

The defense asked if Jason still loved Grant and he said yes. The jury ruled on Aug. 12, 2019, sentencing Grant to three lifelong prison sentences without the possibility of parole — one for each of his victims.

"I considered it a huge victory," defense attorney Jeffrey Leukel said in Killer Cases. "I've never been around a defendant with such a lack of emotion when so much is on the line and it's your life. There was no breakdown crying, there was no turning [or] hugging me because I saved his life. It was just standing there, straight-faced, no emotion."

Where is Grant Amato now?

Grant is serving his life sentences at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach, Fla.

In August 2019, he filed to appeal his convictions and life sentences, the Orlando Sentinel reported. An appellate court affirmed the original decision in May 2021, denying Grant's appeal.

Nearly three years later, Grant's crimes and resulting trial were the focus of Paramount+'s true crime series Ctrl+Alt+Desire.

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