SHE was the woman of his dreams – beautiful, sexy, playful, teasing – who spoke English with an enticing Bulgarian accent.
For Grant Amato, 29, Silviya was the person he had been waiting for to help him break out of the depression and sense of failure he had after losing his job.
Grant Amato killed his entire family as a result of his obsession with a cam girl[/caption]
He savagely murdered his mother Margaret, his brother Cody, and their father[/caption]
She was a welcome escape from the suffocating life he led, still living with his parents, along with his elder brother, Cody, 31.
He spent hours talking to her every day, lavishing more and more money and gifts on her that quickly crept up to thousands of dollars.
But this was no traditional love story. The pair had only ever interacted together on a computer screen and it was her job to entice not only him, but hundreds of other clients who paid for her time as a cam girl.
And his obsession for her would lead to financial ruin and the callous murder of his parents and brother.
Now the harrowing story of Amato’s deadly passion is told in the three-part BBC Three series, The Man Who Murdered His Family.
The documentary is based on four years of phone conversations between TV director Colin Archdeacon Grant Amato while he was in prison before and after his trial.
And chillingly, the grovelling killer now claims he is “remorseful” over his crimes, moaning: “I wish I could go back in time and have my family back.”
Growing up in Chuluota, Florida, Amato admits that he had a comfortable lifestyle with no complaints.
“My life was easy. I was always taken care of. I never had to worry about money or bills. My family sacrificed a lot to give me that security,” he says, with characteristic composure.
He had a loving mother and a father who, although rather controlling, wanted to do the best for his family, and there was a very close bond between Grant and Cody.
Although Grant’s parents could be controlling, they ultimately wanted the best for him[/caption]
A new BBC Three documentary revisits the brutal crime that left many shocked[/caption]
Amato continues: “Cody was the love of my life. We were so compatible. He’s that person that I could always turn to in both happiness and sadness and I knew that he was always going to be there for me, his little brother.
“He was kind of my angel on this Earth. We didn’t mind staying at the house that we always lived at as we got older because my dad really wanted to stay close to us. He was afraid of letting us go.”
Chad and Margaret worked in medicine and encouraged their sons to follow in their footsteps. Grant and Cody both entered nurse anaesthesia school at the same time in 2018 and everything seemed to be going well – their future set with well-paid jobs.
But when Amato had a row with a superior for giving a patient too high an epidural dosage, his anger led to him being expelled.
It was the start of his downfall and the break-up with his brother.
He says: “Cody was conflicted. He was doing well at medical school and had to maintain his image which was very irritating because I was like, ‘Why aren’t you defending me?’ I started to feel the valley opening up between us.”
Amato found other work as a hospital nurse but got into trouble for his decision to medicate patients himself.
He lost his job and with a criminal charge for stealing medicines, was now unable to find other employment.
A keen computer games player and fan of the Japanese cartoon anime, he took to spending hours in his bedroom online until one day he clicked on a banner at the top of the screen featuring a bikini-clad model.
It took him to a site that featured attractive models performing erotic shows.
Amato says: “That was the first time I ever went to a site like that and I kind of fell in love with the first girl I met. Her screen name is AdySweet but through getting to know her I found out that her name is actually Silviya.”
Paying the price
To gain access to a deeper, more intimate online relationship meant paying more.
Amato says: “It’s like a hierarchy. She did a kind of medieval ranking system where the highest ‘tippers’ rank are called Lords. It became like a competition with other guys to tip the most.
“When you reached the top of the table a bell would jingle and everybody would see your name. That’s why I was tipping the way that I did, for the attention and the glory of it.
“I ended up spending between $12,000 and $15,000 a day on her.
“She had the proverbial power of a Cleopatra. She could get any man she wanted but when you actually interact with her, she isn’t like that.
“We were acting like a couple of high schoolers who had fallen in love. She would teach me Bulgarian. We became so close.”
I ended up spending between $12,000 and $15,000 a day on her. She had the proverbial power of a Cleopatra. She could get any man she wanted but when you actually interact with her, she isn’t like that.
Grant Amato
He presented himself online falsely as a successful BMW-driving anaesthetist, who lived by himself, and came across as cool and charming. Fantasy and reality were blurring.
“At this point in my life I’m at my lowest, yet I’m experiencing one of the most fulfilling interactions with a human being that I genuinely care for,” says the delusional killer.
“Silviya puts on this mask but then she lets you see behind it. Ady is a playful woman but Silviya is a lot more vulnerable. The way I acted in that chatroom was comedic, sarcastic, playful.
“But whenever I came back, and interacted with the physical world, I was distant. I was closed off.”
Angela Jones, PhD, author of Camming, tells the documentary: “A lot of these men are not just looking to log in for immediate sexual gratification. They want the girlfriend experience.
“They want to spend time with the girl, have conversations. They are looking for emotional support. Silviya was just doing her job.”
Romanian cam model Anastasia adds that the girls often genuinely become close to their clients.
She says: “There are boundaries but you begin to care about these members. It can feel like it’s your second family. It’s not just about getting naked.
“Members are looking for intimacy. They want to share their feelings, their experience. Maybe they are going through some rough time and a model just helps them emotionally. It’s like a therapy session.”
Horror scene
He says he was embarrassed when his family revealed his true identity[/caption]
Worried about the mental health of his brother, Cody paid for him and Amato to have a trip to Japan and on the way home, he confessed about Silviya.
Cody had sympathy and even financed more tokens for him to spend on Silviya but back home, he told their parents.
“With everything out in the open it was a very uncomfortable environment,” recalls Amato.
After he asked Cody for $50,000 so he could get away and fly to Bulgaria to meet Silviya in person, the family told him that they were taking him to rehab.
It was discovered that Amato had spent $200,000 by fraudulently opening up separate credit cards in the names of his family without their knowledge.
Chad had to take out a second mortgage on his home and resolved to work longer hours. Managing to find Silviya’s email address, he wrote to tell her who his son really was.
“It was just embarrassing,” remembers Amato. “Silviya gave me one chance to come clean with her and I decided just to tell her everything. Afterwards, she said that the room was closed to me.”
Amato didn’t complete his 60-day stay in rehab. His mum came to pick him up after only a few weeks and took him back home but, incensed by what he thought was his family’s betrayal, his dark mood turn to murder.
When Cody failed to arrive at work, on January 25 2019, a work colleague contacted police, who drove to the house.
They were greeted by a grim scene. Cody, Chad and Margaret had all been shot dead in the back of the head.
Amato, who had fled the scene, was arrested at a hotel in Orange County, Florida, after his car was recognised.
Others who killed their family
- Michael Bender brutally murdered his wife, Janet, and their two children, Sarah and Stephen, in the family home in Bradford in 2002. The killings were sparked by Michael’s ongoing mental health issues and his volatile behaviour. After slashing their throats, he staged the crime scene to make it appear as if a burglary had occurred. Michael was arrested shortly afterwards and confessed to the murders. His case drew widespread attention due to his complete collapse of mental stability before the crime. He was later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- In August 1985, Jeremy Bamber murdered his adoptive parents, Nevill and June Bamber, his sister Sheila Caffell, and her six-year-old twin nephews, Daniel and Nicholas, at their farmhouse in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex. Bamber attempted to frame Sheila, who had schizophrenia, by making the scene appear as a murder-suicide. However, evidence, including a silencer with Sheila’s blood, pointed to Bamber’s guilt. He was convicted in October 1986 and is serving a whole-life sentence.
- Stephen Seddon shot and killed his parents, Robert and Patricia Seddon, at their home in Sale, Greater Manchester in March 2012. Four months earlier, he had attempted to murder them by driving their car into a canal, but they survived. Seddon committed the murders to inherit a £230,000 fortune. He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole-life order.
- Peter Blackwell, a 44-year-old man from Bedfordshire, killed his wife, son, and daughter in 1997. The tragedy occurred after a period of escalating family tensions and Peter’s mental health deterioration. He first killed his wife, followed by his children, before attempting to take his own life. His actions were reportedly triggered by financial difficulties and relationship problems. Peter survived his suicide attempt and was arrested. The case drew public outrage, with many questioning the failure of mental health services in preventing the tragedy. Peter was convicted of murder and given a life sentence.
- In 1997, Mark Fulcher, a 37-year-old father from Essex, killed his wife, two daughters, and son. Fulcher’s mental state had been deteriorating for months, fueled by unemployment and depression. On the night of the murders, he shot his family members while they were asleep in their home. After the killings, he set fire to the house, attempting to destroy the evidence. Fulcher was arrested and charged with multiple murders. The case highlighted the risks of untreated mental health disorders and their potential to escalate into violent acts of familial destruction. He was sentenced to life in prison.
- In March 2012, Stephen Seddon shot and killed his parents, Robert and Patricia Seddon, at their home in Sale, Greater Manchester. Four months earlier, he had attempted to murder them by driving their car into a canal, but they survived. Seddon committed the murders to inherit a £230,000 fortune. He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole-life order.
He was charged with murder, which he denied and continued to deny, even after he was given a life sentence in August, 2019.
But, after his appeal was rejected 18 months later, in a startling confession to filmmaker Colin Archdeacon, he calmly tells him the truth of what happened.
Chilling confession
“I don’t want to keep wearing masks or keep up anything false,” he says, calmly.
“That’s the realisation I’ve come to. Basically, this whole time I’ve been protecting my innocence for the sake of my future with the appeals process, but the truth is I did commit those murders.
“I was very resistant to therapy and I felt so betrayed when my family said I was going into rehab. I was told that I could not have my cell phone or any electronic device for 60 days.
“Being detached from the online world was all the more traumatic. My one outlet that had brought me joy, this alternate lifestyle that I had developed, was gone.
“So now, this life that I was left with was pointless. That was when I thought about killing my family. I am remorseful. I wish I could go back in time and have my family back.”
Amato later revealed he had shot his mum in the back of the head as she sat at her computer the waited for dad Chad to arrive, shooting him twice in the garage.
He then used his dad’s phone to summon Cody home from work – before shooting him in the kitchen.
Archdeacon employed an investigative journalist in Bulgaria in the hope of getting Silviya’s side of the story.
She eventually managed to track her down in Sofia but Silviya told her on the phone: “This thing has caused me extreme stress. Literally almost ruined my whole life.
“I can’t bring myself to talk about it. I’ve barely managed to feel normal again and survive.”
The Man Who Murdered His Family airs on BBC Three tonight
