All language subtitles for Ctrlaltdesire.S01E02.The.Prophecy.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-FLUX

Breaking just
into our newsroom,

a suspicious
death investigation.

Deputies responded
to the house

for a well-being check

when they found
a gruesome situation.

Three dead from
apparent gunshot wounds.

Adding to the mystery,
no sign of forced entry.

One victim is in the garage,
one in the kitchen area,

then another is in
the family office.

- Grant Amato.
- Grant Amato.

Grant Amato.

Armed and dangerous.

Grant Amato is
accused of killing

his parents and his brother.

Just a horrific
experience for everybody.

A crime scene
like that is not

an easy thing to walk into.

It's a family.

They have a story, and you're
there to try and figure out

what the story is.

Whoever did this crime
killed three people

with four bullets.

I don't think it was
something that happened

in the heat of the moment.

I've never interviewed
somebody like him.

Very cold.

We were all just in awe.

There appeared to be
some type of tears,

but I didn't believe
they were real.

My life was easy.

He was obsessed with her.

It's a heinous crime.

I didn't do any of this.

When the Amato case
happened, I was

working at a daily newspaper
for about two years.

We received a notification

from the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office

notifying us
of a triple homicide

just south of Chuluota,
a really rural area

of Seminole County.

Mr. Amato, come forward,
please, best you can.

We got notification that
a new murder case came in,

and then based on that,
we go see the client, which is

our first step in the process.

Raise your right hand
best you can.

Be ready to be sworn.

Do you solemnly swear
or affirm the testimony

you're about to give
will be the complete truth,

so help you God?

Thank you.

We were expecting somebody
to come in that was going to be

very emotional, crying,
things of that nature,

and it was anything but that.

When he described what
was going on with him,

that's when it
appeared very clearly

that he was an abnormal
criminal defense client.

The jury was
seated last night,

and today both sides
delivered opening statements.

Prosecutors say Amato staged
a murder-suicide scene.

Mr. Amato wants
his day in court.

We're going to get it for him.

The Seminole District
Attorney's Office decided

to pursue the death penalty.

The stage was set
for Grant's trial.

He was on trial for his life.

This is a criminal case.

Grant Amato is charged
with first-degree

premeditated murder.

It is your solemn
responsibility

to determine if the state
proved its accusation

beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecution's case
was very clinical.

It sort of laid out the
struggles that this family

had been going through.

This is 2112 Sultan Circle.

Inside that house

are the dead bodies
of Margaret Amato,

Chad Amato,

Cody Amato,

each shot through the head
execution-style.

The Amatos were
a very close family.

They lived at home,
all together.

They spent the majority
of their time together.

Margaret Amato was a
loving and caring mother.

Chad was the provider
for his family

and worked very hard to
give his family a good life.

Cody Amato was a very
good friend to others.

Obviously, he went
out of his way

to help Grant out way more
than you would

expect a normal sibling to do.

This was a good,
wholesome family.

It's just sad that something
like this could have happened.

But why?

What was his motive?

Why did he kill his family?

The answer to that question
lies across the ocean,

in Bulgaria,
and a woman named Silvie.

Silvie is an
internet cam model.

The defendant, Grant Amato,
became addicted to her.

Thank you so much, Grant.

Thank you so, so, so much.

Thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

That's what this
case is about:

his blind obsession
with this woman

and his absolute
contempt for those

that he held responsible.

My relationship with
Silviya was like--

it was like a buoy
in the ocean.

I was not successful
at the time.

You know, I had lost
a lot of traction

with my family,
my career goals,

my life path.

She didn't know
all the negatives

that were going on in
my life, so I could just

get lost in that relationship.

A lot of these men,
they're not

just logging in for immediate
sexual gratification.

They want what in
sexual economies

we often characterize as
the girlfriend experience.

They're not looking for
a wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

They want to spend time.

They want to have conversation.

They're looking
for emotional support.

It's not only about
getting naked on the show.

The members are
looking for intimacy.

You want to offer a full
experience of interaction,

you have to be
genuine, you know.

We have to be more
understanding, more friendly,

more present for the members.

They want to share their
feelings, their experience.

Maybe some of the
members are going

through some rough times,
and the model's job

is to help him emotionally,

like a therapy session.

I've done therapy
with members online

for as long as I've known
myself as a cam model.

And I think that being
a psychotherapist online,

even if it's a role-play, it
can be beneficial to the people

that are looking for this.

This seems like yet another
unfortunate opportunity

to talk about the
rise of loneliness,

especially in isolation on
devices and online and the way

that that can compromise
people's mental health.

Do you still
think about Silvie?

I do.

I think about Silvie
on a regular basis.

She's--she'll always be,
you know, an important

aspect of my life.

You know, it was
very therapeutic

to interact with her.

She was like a lifeline.

So I'm going to call
a friend, a member.

We've been knowing each other
for, like,

five or six years already.

Hey.

I'm so curious what you
were doing this past week

that you were so quiet.

Yeah.

Yeah, you do spoil me a lot
with your presents and all.

Why you didn't tell me?

It doesn't matter.
You should have told me.

It might be anxiety attacks,

because I often
have those too.

Did you actually ever try to
find a psychologist, maybe?

I know there is a lot
of stigma, especially

in the whole world,
about mental health,

and to me it's really
important to bring some light

into that aspect of our lives.

I'm glad that can bring
some positivity there.

Mm-hmm.

And you bring it too.

That's what I say,
it's a two-way street.

Oh, don't start--
don't start crying.

No.
Come on.

This is happy.

Happy moments.
- Yeah.

True.
I agree with that fully.

Unfortunately, so many people
forget that loving themselves

is the most important part.

Grant.

Hey, Tom.

Let me just double-check
that we're recording.

Sorry, I get so paranoid.

No, you're good.

So new phone.

I did get a new phone.

How'd it happen?

It was just an impulse buy.

OK.

And, you know, I hate
to be so dramatic,

but do you mind if
we start off talking

about, you know,
some family members?

No.
That's fine.

How would you characterize
your relationship

with your father?

Hmm.

My relationship with my father.

Well, my relationship
with my old man was--

It was...

taxing.

So he was very--

very polar in, like,
the way that he acts.

He would be an extreme,
positive, happy, you know,

carefree at one moment,
and then he

would be extremely angry,
explosive, you know,

destructive, all of that,
the next moment.

Chad was a very
structured individual.

This is what
you're going to do.

You're going to work.

You know, you're
going to go to school.

You're going to do this.
You're going to do that.

And he was very regimented.

Oh, Chad Amato definitely
came off as controlling,

for sure, and regimented.

Regimented, controlling,
detail-oriented.

He seemed like he
wanted his children

to go in a certain direction,
that if those expectations

were not met, that he
would be very angry.

So I think that
that was always,

like, an internal strife
that my dad had to deal with,

was this constant desire
to always be in control.

A Seminole County man
is accused of killing

his mom, dad, and brother.

Prosecutors say he killed
them after an argument

over $200,000, which they say
he sent to an online

call girl overseas.

A lot of digital evidence
was coming fast and furious,

and none of it was good.

None of it was good.

The contents
of Grant's computer

was mainly financial
crimes and ID fraud.

What he was really doing
is he was committing fraud,

signing up for
false credit cards,

taking out fraudulent
loans, all to finance

his relationship with Silvie.

One, two, three,
four, five, six

transactions, each $599.99.

I started using
my brother's debit card,

my mom's credit cards,
my dad's credit cards.

$20,000 in one night.

20 grand.

That's in here.

I opened up separate
accounts in their names

without their knowledge.

Every count of identity theft
carries a two-year minimum

mandatory prison sentence.

He could have went
away for a long time.

Don't know the explanation,
but his parents covered him.

After the discovery
of the thefts,

the Amatos didn't kick
Grant out to the curb.

They resolved to help him.

They resolved to
be good parents

and to be a good brother
for their family member.

As a result of all
of Grant's spending,

Chad had to basically
upend his life.

He took out a second
mortgage on his home.

He resolved to work longer
hours than he previously did.

And he realized
that the dream of

a peaceful,
successful retirement

would not be possible.

And who's to say what
Chad did or didn't do?

All we know is what
the evidence shows us.

We have the CVS
records that show

that Dad was clocking out.

4:48, he leaves.

And he takes the last
67 steps of his life.

Chad was the second
person that was shot.

The theory is that he was
shot first in the back,

and then he crawled and
was shot again in the back

of the head and collapsed.

The state's theory was somebody
turned Chad over and then

put this holster on him.

Chad Amato's body
specifically looked like it

had been tampered with.

Did you make any observations
as to the positioning

of the holster and
firearm on Chad's hip?

Yes.

The gun itself was placed
inside of the holster,

and it was in this
position on his body.

You would have to pull it
out awkwardly, point it

at yourself, and then
point it towards somebody

to fire it, which just
doesn't make any sense.

According to the
prosecution's case,

Grant killed his entire family,
stayed in the house with some

of their bodies, and
after doing all of this,

after hours of this,
he went to a public

Wi-Fi hotspot to continue
talking with Silvie.

Right.

Grant Amato was so
obsessed with this woman,

after leaving the house,
the defendant

goes to a nearby Publix
parking lot and uses

his dead brother's
checking account

to get onto Silvie's website.

Websites that were accessed
starting at about 3:02.

It was MFC or MFCams.

It's a Google search.

Around the same time
as MyFreeCams contest.

AdySweet's home page
on myfreecams.com.

So you have these
boundaries, of course,

but you begin to care about
the members eventually.

It can feel like it's
your second family.

It's important for you
to kind of get to know them.

People, you know,
crave that closeness.

Well, hello, Bobby.

How are you doing?

It's normal to get attached to
people you talk to every day.

You eventually kind of
care about them,

because we're humans.

The fine line between reality
and fantasy is always crossed.

You want me to get
both of them off?

Or just the latex?

Or just the bra?

Even if you don't want to cross
it, you cross it eventually.

OK, I thought so.

So, yeah, a lot
of guys can become

obsessed with the models.

But, of course, it can
happen to the cam girl

as well, to be obsessed
with the member.

Welcome back, Grant.

People love binaries,
but most

of the world and most
of human experience

exists on some continuum.

And it's messy,
and there's gray area.

And my sense is this case
sits in that gray area.

One thing that I
think Grant should take

away from this tragedy
is that he always

had a void in his heart.

He always felt lonely,
and he always

wondered whether
he would receive

affection from any woman.

The truth is that there was
only one woman in his life

who loved him unconditionally,

and that woman
was Margaret Amato.

She had a really
soft spot for animals.

She had rescued
and rehabilitated horses.

The stables were
just down a couple of blocks

from their house, and she
would go down there daily.

She was a deeply
devoted caretaker.

You can run that
parallel with Grant, where

she knew Grant was
in deep trouble,

but yet she supported him.

Grant, how would you
describe your mother?

My mom was always
completely selfless.

She sacrificed a lot
of her time, her life

for the benefit
of other people.

She was always caring,
always funny,

laid-back, the quintessential
coolest mom.

Even through all that--and
we're talking January now,

right, days before her death--

she still allowed him
to contact Silvie

via her cell phone.

So why?

Why Mom?

Why Mom?

Because she was there.

And there was no other way
to get to Chad and Cody

without getting to Mom.

That's where her body
was found,

shot in the back of the head
by the defendant.

Prosecutors say
Grant murdered

his family members
all over this woman,

an online Bulgarian call girl.

On a pornographic website.

In much of the reporting,

there was a very significant
amount of this almost veiled

sexism focusing on Silvie.

How many of us haven't had,
you know,

a Bulgarian cam girl
from a porn site?

I mean, if I could have
a dollar for every time

I've heard that story, I could
pay for a minute with her.

Every story kept
focusing on her

and focusing on that narrative.

So she is really key
to this case, if she's real.

You know, we're not
even sure she's real.

In some ways,
I feel like we're not

seeing the forest
for the trees,

and the ways in which
so much of what

was appealing to Grant
about this space

was that community of men.

On January 22, 2019, just
two days before the murder,

Grant Amato typed
an eight-page letter

to six other men
that were in that

internet room with Silvie.

Hey, guys.

The purpose of this
letter is an apology.

With each of you, I forged a
different form of "friendship."

I think it is
safe to say by now

that everyone here
knows that I made

a drastic mistake with Silvie.

I lied to her and you guys from
the beginning about myself.

I can simply plead that I was
human, made a terrible error,

and hurt the ones
I grew to care for.

"Don't lose her.

"I hope I can be
with her again,

"and I hope I can be a part
of that community again.

And I'm sorry for what
I did to her and to you."

These are his words.

This was about a man
who felt disempowered

in his everyday life
and found a space

that made him
feel good about himself

and not just good
about himself as a human

but good about himself
as a man, right?

I'm in control, right?

I can pay for access
to this woman.

I can pay for access
to this community.

And for me, it's so typical
that so much of this reporting

would really use Silvie
as a scapegoat.

Silvie did not steal
Grant's family's money.

Silvie was at work,
and Silvie was doing her job.

Attempts were made to
contact Silvie in Bulgaria

to talk about this, and nobody
ever returned a phone call.

I would love to know what
Silvie thought about this,

but, no, we never got
any answers from her.

Hi.

Can you see and hear me?

I can.
Hold on.

I'm just setting up
the recording.

OK.
Well, let's backtrack a bit.

Can you tell me
who you are and give us

an idea of your
background as a reporter?

I'm Teodora Barzakova.

I am a Bulgarian journalist.

Can you tell me
a little bit what

you were able to learn
about Silviya from poking

around on the internet?

The only information,
basically, I managed to find

is from what you
shared with me.

No one knows anything
more about her.

What surprised me as well is
that Bulgarian media would

have been all over this story.

But clearly they
also didn't find her,

because they're
just the same thing

that was reported in the U.S.

Do you think we
have her real name?

She's called Silviya.

I have no idea
about the surnames.

I tried googling her name.

I also, you know, tried looking
on Facebook, on Twitter,

in Cyrillic as well,
on Instagram.

No one that even looks
remotely like her popped up.

And based on her accent,
do you think she's

a native Bulgarian speaker?

Yes, definitely native
Bulgarian speaker,

and I saw pictures
of letters that she sent.

There is a return address
on three of them, I think.

But it's not complete.

I mean, the return address
is for a neighborhood

in Sofia which is a really
massive, huge neighborhood.

It's not a specific
address, so you

wouldn't be able to
send a letter to her

if you wanted to.

Today prosecutors
said that Grant Amato

actually staged what appeared
to be a murder-suicide.

Do you remember in the
beginning of this case,

if not Grant, then who?

Right?

So how does the state prove

that the defendant is the one
that committed the crime?

How do we meet this burden?

Well, these three dead bodies,

they tell you a story,

and I'm going to explain how.

The prosecution argued
that it was a staged

murder-suicide,
but they made the case

that it was sort of a botched
stage of a murder-suicide.

There was a lot of factors
that just didn't

seem to make a lot of sense.

The crime scene was staged
to look like Cody had done it.

A gun was placed
next to Cody Amato,

but the ballistics on that gun
did not match the bullets

that killed the family.

So detectives immediately
had their suspicions.

Grant Amato is
accused of killing

his parents and a brother.

Today his only
surviving brother

testified about the last time
he saw his family alive.

Jason Amato was Cody
and Grant's half brother.

He had moved out of
the home a while ago

and created his own path.

Jason seemed very
separated from the family.

He wanted to live
on his own and get out

from under the controlling
nature of Chad Amato.

During the course of the
conversation, were there

times where you accuse him
of killing your family?

Yes.

I did go into
meeting my brother,

just trying to find out
what happened to my family.

And he was the last one
that I knew was there.

No. No. No.

I just--

just remember him
mostly being silent

and just saying
he understood how I felt.

If you're asking if he denied
any of my accusations,

I only remember him
saying he didn't have

anything to do with it
when I first walked in.

When he asked him whether
he loved his brother,

you know, Jason could
have said, no, screw him.

Instead, the answer was yes,
and I think that was a really

important piece of evidence.

You're the big brother.

You love your little brother.
- Yeah.

I love both of my brothers.

The case was going,
we thought, pretty well.

I mean, we were--
you know, we were,

like, three weeks in,
and say, hey, man,

we got something here.

They didn't have
the murder weapon.

They know they
don't have the gun.

We were wondering,
where is the murder weapon?

What murder weapon is used?

This is what they
started out with.

This is a play gun.

That's all they had.

During the middle
of the trial,

sort of an 11th-hour
moment, they

brought in a possibility of
where that weapon came from.

Mr. Turpin, raise your right
hand and be ready to be sworn.

Next thing we know,
Blake's on the witness stand,

telling his bizarre story,
which is so convenient,

the way it unfolded.

Right in the middle of a trial,
you--all of a sudden,

you have this ha-ha moment.

How long have you
known Grant Amato?

I've known Grant since
we were in high school,

about 15 years.

And specifically,
did you own an IWI Jericho

9-millimeter 941 firearm?

I did.
Yes, sir.

All of a sudden,
the prosecution

goes from not having
a murder weapon

and not knowing
where one might be

to having
a potential murder weapon,

not physically
but still the idea of one.

At the end of May,
I decided to kind of

do a bit of spring cleaning.

I picked up the gun boxes
and noticed

that the gun was missing.

Grant had used the bathroom,
and adjacent to the bathroom,

there was a closet where
Blake kept all his ammunition

and his guns,
things of that nature.

And I really
questioned the story,

because six months later,
Blake's saying,

I went upstairs.

I noticed--I opened up
one of my gun cases,

and the gun was missing.

And this came out of nowhere.

How often had he checked
that closet

to see if it had been gone?

Unclear.

What kind of handle does

Blake Turpin have
on his firearms?

Doesn't seem like a lot of it.

I tend to think it might
have been fabricated.

Timing's just
too incredulous.

I just don't buy it.

So just out of nowhere,
6 months later,

30 days before
the trial starts,

you can't find a firearm that
you haven't seen in 12 months?

That's correct.

Would you call that
responsible gun ownership?

There was no Jericho
pistol ever found.

Where that pistol is,
if it does exist,

is completely a mystery
at this point.

Today prosecutors
and the defense

delivered closing arguments.

Grant Amato did not
testify this morning.

If found guilty, he could
face the death penalty.