Grant Amato

Grant Amato was born on May 20, 1989, in Chuluota, Florida,[2] to Chad Robert and Margaret Anne (née Wade) Amato,[3] the former a clinical pharmacist[4] and the latter a senior operations manager.[2] He was raised in Chuluota along with his brother Cody, with whom he was close.[5] His elder half-brother Jason lived elsewhere.[5][6] He went to Timber Creek High School, along with Cody, and they both joined the weightlifting team together after getting interested in health.[7] Both Cody and Grant attended the University of Central Florida, where they attended nursing school together and then proceeded to pursue further studies to become nurse anesthetists.[8] Cody graduated from his nurse anesthetist program while Grant dropped out, though Grant was able to find work at AdventHealth Orlando as a nurse.[9]

Grant was suspended from his job in June 2018 under suspicion of stealing and improperly administering medication to patients and for suicidal thoughts.[10] Although officers denied the allegations that he was suicidal, saying he did not meet the criteria to be a danger to himself or others around him, they concluded there was evidence to the claim of improper medicine administration.[10] Hospital staff had found eight empty vials of the sedative propofol, which had not been ordered by any doctors, in two rooms that Grant had been overseeing. When questioned during his suspension, he said that he had "administered the drug to patients who were not being adequately relaxed".[11] The hospital then fired him and police officers subsequently arrested him for grand larceny after the investigation concluded, but the charges were later dropped.[12]

On January 24, 2019, while his mother was on the computer, Grant shot her in the back of the head[18] with an IWI Jericho 941 pistol.[19] After, he waited for his father to arrive. Once he walked into the kitchen, Grant shot him twice. To convince Cody to come home after his nursing shift, he texted him using his father's number. Upon entering the door, Grant shot him dead, where he lay in a fetal position.[20] Before leaving the residence, Grant attempted to stage the crime as a murder-suicide, placing the gun by his brother's body.[21]

The next day, when Cody failed to come in for work, his coworkers became concerned and called the police to request a wellness check. Police arrived at the murder scene at 9:17 a.m., entering the house after receiving no response from occupants and finding all the entrances locked.[22] Chad was found on his back on the kitchen floor, Cody curled on the floor in a storage room, and Margaret sprawled over the desk in their home office. Amato was tracked down at a DoubleTree Hotel at approximately 7:45 a.m. on January 26 in Orange County, Florida, after his 1996 Honda Accord was identified.[23]

Grant was subsequently taken in for questioning.[24] At the end of the interrogation, his brother Jason tried to talk to him, asking him to confess to what had happened, but Grant was unwavering in his claims of innocence. When being interrogated, he offered differing stories, one of which said he'd seen police and news vans outside his house following the murders, but instead of going home he went to a local Panera Bread and searched for "top news stories."[25] He was subsequently arrested on charges of first-degree murder.[26] His bond was set at $750,000 on April 25, 2019, after his public defender argued, and the prosecutor agreed, that he could not be held without bond.[27] If he could post the bond, a number of conditions were set including no access to electronic devices with internet.[28] Grant did not post the bond and remained in custody.[27]

Amato's trial began on July 15, 2019.[29] Before people testified, crime scene analysts on behalf of the prosecution attempted to show things that were out of place, but Amato's attorney questioned when they realized he was the main suspect and if that could have affected the examination.[30] On August 9, individuals were asked to testify as part of the penalty phase, with three people testifying on each side's behalf. Grant's brother Jason testified against him.[31] The state of Florida told the sitting judge that they intended to seek the death penalty, but the 12 jurors did not unanimously agree on giving Amato the death penalty. This translated to an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.[32] On August 12, Amato was found guilty of all three counts of first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence for each.[33] When asked if he felt remorse, Amato responded with, "My family has been blaming me for months for ruining their lives, stealing, and not following the rules of the home, so I might as well be blamed for this too."[34]