Search for gun used in slaying continues

Police found several guns in the house.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

WELLSVILLE — The gun a man said he used to shoot and kill his wife isn’t the weapon that killed her.

That information came to light Thursday when a search warrant was returned in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

Jack C. Amato Jr., 35, had told investigators that he shot his wife July 1 after they argued at their home at 1200 Commerce St. Authorities were notified about 1:40 p.m. that day.

Tonia Brundage Amato, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Amato said she had fired at him and he returned fire, shooting her once between the eyes. She was found face down on the floor in a living room area.

Authorities seized a .22-caliber pistol and a spent shell and a .45-caliber revolver and a spent shell.

There were a number of other guns in the house.

Detective Andy Sweeney of the sheriff’s office stated in an affidavit that, during a search shortly after the shooting, a projectile was found in the house “lodged inside a box in the kitchen area.” Authorities believed it may have been fired from Amato’s gun.

What tests revealed

But forensic scientists at the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation found the projectile was not fired from the gun Amato said he used, according to Sweeney’s request for a new search warrant.

Authorities searched the house again Sept. 7 and took three .45-caliber shell casings.

One casing was found in a drawer of a coffee table, one was found on the coffee table, and a third was in the fireplace.

Authorities also took two swabs of unspecified trace evidence from the fireplace.

A cardboard box that contained kickknacks from a shelf in the kitchen was also seized.

Sheriff David Smith declined to comment on the whereabouts of the gun that was used in the shooting or any other part of the investigation.

“We’re not commenting,” Smith said.

Atty. James Hartford, who represents Amato, also declined to comment.

wilkinson@vindy.com