Ghost Hunter Makes Big Move in Wife's Alleged Murder-for-Hire Case

the proposed Target of an apparent. murder For Hire request has decided to. divorce his wife because police say. she's the one behind the alleged plot. star of Ghost Adventures Aaron Goodwin. is now dealing with his own nightmare. welcome to sidebar presented by law on. crime I'm Jesse. Weber so I can't say I'm terribly. surprised by this but Aaron Goodwin the. star on Ghost Adventures on Discovery. plus who's dealing with something. potentially even SC barer than the.

supernatural remember his wife of. several years Victoria Goodwin has been. charged with plotting to have him killed. well now the 48-year-old has filed for. divorce this happened on March 12th so. this is about a week after news broke. that 32-year-old Victoria had been. arrested she faces charges of. solicitation to commit murder and. conspiracy to commit murder she's. currently locked up in Nevada where the. couple lived in a $100,000 bail and US. Weekly got a look at these divorce. documents which read the views taste. like and dislikes of husband and wife.

have become incompatible to the extent. that it has become impossible for them. to live together in marital Harmony. there is no possibility of. reconciliation now we'll talk about what. that means but according to the legal. documents that Goodwin filed in Clark. County Nevada he and Victoria had. apparently got married in May of 2020. this was during the covid-19 pandemic. now it's not entirely clear if they. actually ended up tying the knot then or. they waited later on we saw these photos. of this lavish celebration at Disneyland.

Haunted Mansion that were posted on. social media but here's what we know. investigators say just a few short years. later Victoria was allegedly. communicating with an Infamous inmate. and you may know who this is we'll talk. about it in a second but the two were. allegedly scheming to hire a third party. to kill Goodwin those are the. accusations now to talk about this I. want to bring on friend of the show. Randy kler who is a high-profile family. attorney divorce attorney in the Atlanta. area uh Randy it's so good to see you.

first let me I don't I think the last. time I did this I don't remember if I. had a guest I might have had a guest I. might have done it solo but I I think. the people I've spoken to about this I'm. just curious their initial reaction to a. story like this oh it's look Believe It. or Not divorce is a human right and all. despite all the stuff we see you know. this is a shocker and I thought I've. seen it all um every now and then people. joke in our office you know God wouldn't. it be easier or cheaper just to kill my. spouse and sort of an off-the-cuff sort. of a Freudian moment where they say you.

know I really hate this person but never. do we see go this far except when it's. something that law and crime is covering. and those are the extreme cases so in. other words you don't usually see murder. for higher plots in connection with. divorce divorce proceedings no I would. say that would be an exception okay then. walk me through this what does and let. me read it again what does the views. tastes likes and dislikes of husband and. wife have become incompatible to the. extent that it's become impossible for. them to live together in marital Harmony.

there is no possibility of. reconciliation what does that all mean. so that's legal terminology or a lawyer. sense or lawyer speak for the marriages. broken Beyond repair so in every state. in the United States now as opposed to. 50 years ago you can get a divorce by. saying I can't make my marriage work. that's called a no fault divorce it. doesn't mean you can't talk about why. you got divorced or how that affects. property division or custody if to. authorize the judge to Grant you a. divorce you have to swear that your. marriage is no longer viable that it's. broken be repair and the wording differs.

in every state some states it's. irretrievably broken some states it's. irreconcilable difference some states. it's you know broken Beyond repair so. that's what that wording means is that. judge regardless of why they're getting. a divorce in this petitioner's mind his. marriage is over therefore you are. authorized to Grant him a divorce then. you can get into why if you want to let. me let me just back that up a second if. she is currently in jail on these. charges what ability does she have to. contest the divorce in some way or. represent her interests in the divorce.

so she can hire Laur and she can contest. the divorce and you know it's hard to. get somebody on video from from jail. especially for a civil case there's not. not as many protections but she may get. a stay you know we're actually in the. middle of a representation of somebody a. high-profile individual whose spouse was. detained by ice and so they got a brief. continuance but it's not going to last. forever eventually the spouse that's not. in jail has the right to proceed with. their divorce and move forward and that. will ultimately be granted so she can. contest it I'll also tell you this Jesse. there very few things that you can get.

unilaterally in a divorce very few. things that only one side has to say I. want it and they get it one is a divorce. the other one might be your maen name if. a woman wants to restore her maiden name. the husband can't object to that and say. I don't want that to happen but if one. side wants a divorce no matter how much. the other side pleads and begs and tells. the judge he'll come back to me change. his mind all they have to do is convince. the judge that that person the husband. in this case can't make it work and that. person is then entitled to a divorce. okay so what I'm about to say is totally. off topic I'm giving you that fair.

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requested that neither he nor his you. know strange wife neither party be. awarded alamon that both he and. Victoria's Community assets and debts I. believe he was saying that they would be. divided in accordance with Nevada law. and at the same time he has requested. that his own separate assets and debts. be determined to be his sole property. his separate property and that he be. awarded reasonable costs and expenses. and attorney's fees break that down for. us and what the like hood is that he'll.

succeed in getting that okay number one. that's very standard right you don't put. your settlement offer into your. documents that you're sending to the. court you don't say judge I would settle. for this or I would take that you put in. there what you want if you can't settle. the case so it's an invisible Preamble. so to speak judge in the event we can't. settle the case or mediate the case or. bring a conclusion outside of court and. we have to appear before you here's what. I'm going to ask you to do and that's. very typical with the statement that you. just read to me was if there's marital. property gets divided according to law. if there's separate property meaning I.

had it before the marriage or I. inherited it or someone gave it. specifically to me I want to keep that. and impliedly she should get to keep. hers that's the starting point then when. you get to court you get to argue but. judge the cost like you mentioned Jesse. she caused this I wouldn't have gotten a. divorce but for her plot to kill me and. I had to file for divorce and I had to. pay a lawyer and I had to come to court. so if we get that far judge I want you. to do everything else that I asked and I. want her to pay my legal cost because. she caused this let me ask you a. question she hasn't been convicted right. but she has been charged does the fact.

that she has been charged in terms of an. evidentiary point of view or what he can. argue in court is that sufficient to. help his cause in a divorce proceeding. or anybody's cause so like you said if. somebody you have two parties one of. them is arrested in charge or facing. charges can they use that the the simple. charges thems not even the conviction. the charges thems in their advantage in. a divorce. proceeding certainly I mean there's two. ways number one even though you're. innocent till proven guilty everybody in. americ when someone gets arrested they.

think maybe he did it maybe she did it. you can't help it that's just human. nature so that's the one way but the. more legal way is that there's a. difference right in standards in the. criminal case in a criminal case they. would have to prove it Beyond A. Reasonable Doubt I know you discuss this. all the time in a civil case you just. have to have enough to tip the scale and. you have to have enough to tip the scale. probably to get her arrested right so if. someone made the decision to arrest her. based on the information they saw then. there's some evidence out there that. persuaded that person to do that meaning. the judge can rely reasonably on the. fact that there's some bad stuff out.

there about her that's probably enough. to get his foot in the door so to speak. is she going to be convicted who knows. does she have to be convicted for him to. be able to use it against her absolutely. not we see that all the time spouse. hurts another spouse there's criminal. accusations we go to court and they. enter a civil protective order right. stay away from the spouse even though. they haven't been convicted of anything. because it's a lower standard in civil. cases I want to lay it out a little bit. more so people might be looking at this. and saying I don't really know what this. case is about well according to the. criminal complaint that was filed. against Victoria in October of last year.

she had apparently started this pen pal. relationship with a Florida inmate an. inmate named Grant Amato now that name. may sound very familiar to you because. first of all he's been the subject of. the popular Paramount plus documentary. Control Alt desire we actually covered. his Florida trial gavl to gaval here on. the law crime Network and his case was. fascinating as it was chilling because. he was accused of killing his entire ire. family mom dad brother because they were.

trying to keep him from spending insane. amounts of money on a webcam girl that. he' never met in real life but swore he. was in love with just to give you an. idea here's a taste of what prosecutors. had to say during his trial in 2019 now. I'm going to tell. you what the state submits is what. actually happened. Grant fell in. love with a woman named sylly.

not only did he fall in love with her he. became obsessed with her to the point. where that was all that mattered to. him he had lost his job he was depressed. he was having a contentious relationship. with his father and his. brother he finds. Sylvie and becomes consumable. there now you haven't. seen these they're in evidence.

but these are bank. records from the. amados okay credit card statements. checkin account. statements and you're going to and You. by all means I implore you to look. through these and when you do you will. see a compendium a compendium excuse me. of. charges to the my free cams website I.

just picked here's a random. page and for the record this was exhibit. 350 it's dated this particular page is. dated November 20th and on November. 20th there were 1 2 3 four five six. transactions each. $599.99 it's hundreds by the way not. $5 for this particular website to tip. this woman on the 21st the next day 1 2.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 transactions for. almost 600 bucks a piece. $599.99 and it goes on guys I mean I'm. not going to BL labor the. point but look at. it according to my notes I'm not good at. math fair. warning $20,000 in one night now his. defense at attorneys argued that the.

lack of physical evidence against him. was enough to raise Reasonable Doubt. don't check your common sense at the. door okay a lot of families have crisis. whether it be drugs whe whether you know. it could be a lot of things this is kind. of an unusual thing granted this is. something you know to do with this. Bulgarian lady but nevertheless Grant. was part of the family the family was. pulling together Jason testified to that. Jason testified that everybody was. coming back together. no his significant other not wife but.

basically his wife chrisy Vernell you. know once again I'm sorry for her loss. but she was forthright there was a time. during her testimony though that she did. say that he um Jason received a phone. call from Chad she kind of mumbled a. little bit no no it wasn't that night. but the gist of it was is that the phone. call was normal the family was coming. together here okay now Arthur rhubart.

the crime scene investigator testified. again for the second time and this time. was the hotel and the hotel the first. hotel that Grant went to that's an. important crime scene that is a very. important crime scene because that is. where Grant went from his car to the. hotel and that's what he testified to. and we know that's the truth we know. that's the. truth nothing was found no blood no no. blood no DNA of anyone else no nothing. incriminating was found and that goes. back to the scene that was a bloody mess.

you you know it is what it is and I. don't want to show you pictures of it. how in the world was Grant Amato able to. do all these things without getting a. Cilla a cintilla of blood on himself in. the end though granato was found guilty. of all counts and because the. prosecution was also seeking the death. penalty against him the trial then went. into a penalty phase where it was up to. the jury to determine if aato would get.

death or a sentence of life in prison. these deliberations by you as individual. jurors are. moral in. nature there's no right decision or. wrong decision if two of you disagree as. to what the sentence should be guess. what you're both right there is no wrong. decision and you will have fulfilled. your duty.

so so your job is to find the right. answer Mr stone is going to be making. his. arguments that the right answer is death. we on the defense we are going to be. making the argument that life is the. appropriate sentence life without the. possibility of parole meaning that Grant. mot will be behind prison. bars for the rest of his his.

life he sits here today 30 years. old that means he's probably looking at. 40 50 years behind bars and he'll never. get. out and that's a consideration that you. should think about now here was. something interesting Amato's only. surviving brother Jason just imagine. what it's like for him testified during. the penalty phase I cannot give an exact. number of how many people have felt the. loss in my family but there were. hundreds of people at their funeral the.

minister that led the service told me in. his 50 years he has never seen a funeral. with three. caskets it has been very hard to devote. reflection to either my father mother or. brother as I start to think of one it's. hard to not think of the. others there are so many memories. stories and special times that I will. never. forget however I will never be able to. make new ones. the toughest thing in all this is how it.

continues to affect my girls especially. the girls or especially the. kids Christina misses the stories and. comfort my family gave particularly my. mom who always made her feel like a. daughter there are certain things. Christina adored about my mom she could. light up a room with her smile and go. with the flow. personality our daughters they they're. troubled daily. nightmares depression confusion fear and.

having to live lives in the public eye. they missed the days at the barn with my. mom who taught them both how to. ride H there are numerous occasions I. can think of but to get to the real. question or how this has affected me. plain and simple 2019 has been a TR. gear too many tragedies for anyone to. handle let alone the children it's just. so hard to go through the grieving.

process when there are multiple losses. and uncertainty in the future despite. everything that's happened and all the. loss that you've suffered and everything. do you love your brother. granato yes okay and the jury sentenced. granato to three life sentences without. the possibility of parole one for each. of the victims and as I mentioned a. Mod's case was featured in this. Paramount plus documentary which. apparently LED Victoria to reach out to. him in Florida in October of last year. according to court records and this. alleged plot to kill Aaron Goodwin came.

to light when a corrections officer. confiscated a cell phone that Amato. apparently had in his prison cell. searched it found these messages or. these alleged messages between Amato and. Victoria in fact according to the Daily. Mail and one message Victoria appears to. have written am I a bad person because I. chose to end his existence not divorce. Randy going back to you you may have a. particular feeling on that as you. mentioned uh in your circle in your. industry I mean she if these allegations.

are true this is not the first time. somebody would resort to drastic. measures as opposed to divorce. proceedings so that's quite the. statement right there your your take on. this yeah that's that might be the. proverbial Smoking Gun you know if you. say something like that in therapy and. that's why therapy is you know. privileged that's why you can talk to a. psychologist and say I hate my spouse. sometimes I just want to kill my spouse. you know you're trying to work through. stuff to get over those feelings and you. know you want to be able to talk about. that stuff in therapy but when you're. saying to a felon am I bad person.

because I've done that that's going to. be used against her how convicted. murderer yeah how do you get around that. she's going to have to plea I mean this. I don't I don't understand how she's. going to go to trial with that hanging. out there she she's of the opinion and. maybe we'll get into this a little bit. more that she never was serious about. this that she never really wanted the. wheels in motion she was fantasizing. about it but let me ask you generally I. mean in your practice I'm sure you see. where one of the reasons people get. separated or divorced is they're looking. for something outside of their marriage. physical emotional what can you tell us.

about that I think that is the reason. for divorce I don't mean Affairs but in. general people are looking you know for. happiness there's that old joke that. divorce isn't about money it's about. happiness or as one of my clients once. told me it's just about being less. miserable right so people try things. they'll try diets and working out and. vacationing and when all that fails. eventually they'll say well maybe if I. didn't have my spouse I would be happy. maybe that would bring me happiness. maybe getting rid of that thing that's. causing me unhappiness will help help me. be happy and you know there are two.

basic ways to get rid of your spouse. right there's the divorce way which is. the preferred way and there's murder or. running away and stealing your children. and going to another country which I. guess is a third way and people say. divorce is bad but considering those. three options divorce is a pretty darn. good way to solve that problem and. sometimes they're right and sometimes. they're wrong sometimes getting rid of. the spouse by divorce does bring. happiness sometimes it doesn't but you. know that's usually the last resort. people tried everything else to get rid. of what they think causes them to be. unhappy and what's shocking is and we're.

going to get a more into the this. criminal case in a second but what's. shocking is when we first brought this. story to everybody and talked about it. you look at their social media history. you would have no idea that there was. problems in the marriage you would have. no idea that this was allegedly going on. how many times do you see that in your. practice where you see two people they. look like the happiest people on Earth. and you have no idea the issues that are. surrounding that marriage every day. every day every day and they people say. nobody in our family nobody in our. community would ever think they were're.

going to get a divorce um but I've been. unhappy for years you know and there are. hundreds of reasons sometimes somebody's. gay and they can't stay in a. relationship and be dishonest and nobody. knows and and they've been covering it. up there are a whole bunch of reasons. also we represent a lot of people that. are on TV people that have public. following and they've got to present. well to the public they've got to. present an image of Happiness content. because that's what the public wants. public consumes so when it happens it's. not just a shock to their family and. friends it's a shock to everybody but. usually they know and their spouse knows. and both of them usually know that. something's not right in this case. it seems like only one of them knew that.

something wasn't right that's what's. bizarre to me so let me get a little bit. more into this uh and about the case so. there are court documents that lay out. these messages that Victoria allegedly. sent when Goodwin was in California. filming Ghost Adventures and police say. they alleg that Victoria gave Amato her. husband's filming schedule and his hotel. location and that way Goodwin would be. killed outside of Nevada and it would be. less likely to connect back to Victoria. at least that's arguably what seems to. have been the thinking based on these. allegations and the criminal complaint.

revealed some of these texts as reported. by The Daily Mail where the inmate Gran. Amato messaged this alleged Hitman. saying he's asleep right now in the. hotel room I need to know what's going. on can I get an update was it done and. authorities claim Victoria agreed to pay. this Hitman a total of. $1,515 very specific there with an. upfront payment of $2500 and despite his. alleged role in this scheme Amato has. not been charged by Nevada prosecutors. in connection with the alleged attempted. contract killing now A source told US.

Weekly that Goodwin was stunned by the. charges against his wife and what was. allegedly going on and so were his. fellow cast and crew members and ghost. adventur according to the source there. had been no indications that there were. any problems in their marriage by the. way in case you're not familiar with it. Ghost Adventures follows Paranormal. Investigator Zack Baggins and his team. which includes Goodwin as they explore. haunted locations all over the world. baggin's a goodwi have been part of the. show since 2008 now Randy would you. expect friends co-workers that you've.

been close to for decades long periods. of time to be able to pick up on tension. strangeness in a. relationship you know you would think. but marriage is a strange thing you know. they could be going through a hard time. uh this isn't if it wasn't obvious to. her husband and and also by the way the. spouse is usually the last one to know. that the other spouse is not happy or. the other spouse is cheating because if. you're living in that fog of you know my. marriage is good and we're reality TV. stars but there's so many things here. Jesse there's so many issues I mean. following up on is it done yet that.

might be the last draw if her defense is. really this was a fantasy like an affair. we hear all the time it was just an. emotional affair we were just flirting I. would never follow up on it you know if. this is the equivalent of that I just. wanted to see because I'm in this. reality world where we see strange. things and I want to see if somebody. actually would kill my husband for money. when she writes and says is it done yet. or am I bad for not divorcing him let me. give you what she said okay what she. allegedly said so by the way per. reporting from Fox News according to an. arrest report after that doc aired. Victoria had allegedly reached out to.

aato wrote him described to him that she. was lonely she was connecting with him. but this is what's interesting so she. apparently denies trying to kill Aaron. in the arrest report she says that she. described herself as sometimes. daydreaming of being in a different. situation but she no longer felt that. way she also stated she didn't remember. sending these particular messages and. Victoria expressed her feeling of. wanting to be without Aaron and with a. motto which she described as fantasy and. Daydreams Randy your.

thoughts I think that plays right into. what I was saying that's exactly it it. might and that's going to be her defense. that she was fantasizing about it or. that she was daydreaming about it but. you know daydreaming with him you know. putting it in text messages this is not. in therapy this is not amongst your. friends where you're gossiping with your. best friends or your BFF saying hey you. know what do you think about this this. is you know offering to pay money this. is dangerous I mean the best thing that. happened in her criminal case and again. I don't do a lot of criminal law is that. the murder didn't happen right I mean. she's going to say this was something.

that didn't happen it was obviously a. fantasy and why would I pick somebody. like that who really he's not known for. going out and and hiring Hitman he was. known for killing his own family also I. think that she probably thought he was a. good Target for her because he liked to. have these virtual relationships he was. into getting online and and talking to. people virtually and figuring out maybe. fantasies for him would be that he could. have a fantasy relationship with her so. she was going to use that to her. Advantage she's got a lot of stuff there. that she can use but there's going to be. some serious psychological testimony. needed to explain why she did what she. did because she did something right she.

communicated with them she can't hide. from the text she can't hide from the. communications why why did she do it I'm. waiting for the mental health defense to. come up but it's not an insanity defense. right it's not a murder defense she's. just off the deep end and the fact is it. doesn't seem like she has a big. psychological history right she's not. been institutionalized she's not been in. a facility for mental issues I would. imagine that's coming I imagine her. lawyers are looking at that as a. possible out for why she would even say. things like this because you have to. explain it to a jury or break that. connective tissue right try to say Hey. listen I might have said these things.

but you know it's tough with the. payments if they could track it back to. her but basically say I never wanted it. to go this far you hear that defense. right I never wanted to go this far it. was Grand Amato or it was a third party. who took it to that next level I was. shocked that that happened we call it. buyers remor oops I got caught now I'm. sorry I did it yeah again if all the. allegations are true right the money. giving the travel schedule the messages. it's it's it's a problem it's a. problematic case but she is innocent. until proven guilty we we'll see what. the cases there I did want to do one. more thing I wanted to take a look at.

how people online are reacting to this. story so we checked out the ghost. adventor subreddit to see what fans had. to say and for example you had one fan. who wrote I'm still confused about all. this I remember staying pretty up to dat. with their socials a few years ago and. even though I believe there was a pretty. big age gap between them they really. seemed to be so in love always going to. theme parks and conventions and geeking. out over the same things together and. now she wants him dead by the way Randy. we talked about the idea of social media. Maybe not reflecting real life issues if.

you want to touch on that but also I. think there was a 16-year age Gap there. is that anything that we should be. thinking about I mean i' I've heard you. know relationships that distance but. also is it interesting to you it's. interesting to me I see age differences. much greater I see him you know much. smaller I don't think the age difference. in and of itself matters so much in the. divorce um except that why would you do. something like this and people are going. to say she was young and foolish and not. mature I that's the only thing I can. think the age difference does was she in. it for the money for the fame is she. always looking for the next big thing.

you know oh shiny there's something new. out there first it's the older guy then. it's the reality TV now it's this guy. who's in jail for murder maybe he helps. her so there's something wrong with her. clearly maybe the fact that she's a lot. younger than him plays into the fact. that maybe he should have seen warning. signs when you marry someone that's in a. born in a different generation you need. to get to know them a little better but. I I couldn't attribute who she is or. what she's done simply to her age but. yeah that's a little warning sign that. there certainly age difference does. trigger some antenna. uh in my mind there's uh there's a.

couple other Reddit comments I wanted to. point out you had one that said shout. out to the corrections officer who did. his job confiscated the inmates. Contraband took the time to look at his. correspondences he's our hero of the. hour without them we could have lost. Aaron in a terrible way so thank you. corrections officer that's a really good. point there and here's another comment. this is so sad honestly imagine the. person you would think loves you the. most in the world the person that you. most likely love the most doesn't want. to just leave you but actually wants for. you to not even exist in this world. anymore and take steps to extinguish.

your life rather than just leave I. really feel for Aaron in this mess I. hope he can find real happiness with. somebody else soon so I mean look that's. a good point aside from the sad nature. of this and obviously we go back full. circle about why he's filing for divorce. in light of this but also yeah got to. call it to directions officers for. seeing this and alerting authorities to. this right uh right Randy yeah both of. those and congrats and thank you to the. corrections Authority and to that uh. viewer that the person who wrote that.

look that's why divorce lwes exist and. people can bad mile divorce lwes and. we're dealing with misery but that's the. Civil way out right I mean people are. going to not like each other people are. going to hate their spouse people are. going to do bad things to their spouses. there's a way civil that we're allowed. to separate disentangle ourselves and it. is through a divorce and divorce might. sound like a terrible process but if you. need to get away from your spouse that's. the way to do it you do it civil you do. it cooperatively and believe it or not. Jesse there are thousands and thousands. and thousands of divorces that are done. very amicably people just come to that. point in their lives where they know.

they're better off moving in their own. separate directions they work it out. they share their children they move on. and they're happier and it can be done. and it should be explored if you feel. that way about your spouse well before. you get to the point of God I just want. him or her dead it's the right. alternative to that kind of outcome so. Victoria Goodwin is due in Clark County. court next week for her preliminary. hearing where we might learn more about. the evidence investigators say they have. against her we'll keep everybody updated. we'll keep a careful eye on it Randy. Kessler thanks so much for taking the. time good to see you. good to see you Jesse all right.

everybody that's all we have for you. right now here on sidebar thank you so. much for joining us and as always please. subscribe on YouTube Apple podcast. Spotify wherever you should get your. podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].