Man Allegedly Killed His Family Over 'Cam Girl' Obsession

Grant Amato was reportedly so invested in an online relationship with a Bulgarian woman he'd met on a porn site that his older brother feared he "would kill everybody." Authorities in Florida's Seminole County believe that's essentially what happened Friday, when the bodies of Cody Amato, 31, and his parents, Chad, 59, and Margaret, 61, were discovered in the couple's home in the Orlando suburb of Chuluota. Chad, found on the kitchen floor, had been shot execution-style along with his wife, who was found sprawled over a desk, per the Washington Post and Orlando Sentinel. Cody, found in a storage room, had also been shot with a 9mm handgun recovered from the scene, say police. Traced to a hotel, Grant Amato, 29, denied the killings but said "his family had been blaming him for months for ruining their lives."

Indeed, authorities say Amato stole $200,000 from family members and used it to interact with a woman he met on the "Cam Girls" website. They note things took a turn when his parents kicked him out, finding he'd broken a promise to keep from contacting the woman after dropping out of a treatment program for internet and sex addiction. "He didn't think [the rules] were fair because he felt that the Bulgarian female was his girlfriend and they had a relationship," reads an arrest affidavit. Amato's public defender mentions "some mental health issues," per FOX 35, which notes two recent police reports described Amato as possibly suicidal after he was fired from a nursing job and failed out of graduate school. Charged with three counts of first-degree murder, he's held in Seminole County Jail without bond. (More murder stories.)