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Man Accused Of Murdering Mother At Sea To Gain Family Inheritance Will Stand Trial In October
Nathan Carman is also a suspect in his grandfather John Chakalos' 2013 shooting death. Federal prosecutors say getting access to Chakalos' sizable estate was the key motive in both deaths.
A man accused of murdering his mother on the high seas off the New England coast during a 2016 fishing trip, all so he could inherit her share of his deceased grandfather’s estate, will stand trial in October.
Nathan Carman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman, 54.
Authorities allege Carman devised a scheme to obtain the millions of dollars that his mother inherited after the murder of her father, John Chakalos, years prior, the Associated Press reported.
An eight-count federal indictment alleges Carman, of Vernon, Vermont, is also responsible for his grandfather’s death, though he hasn’t been charged in that case.
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On Dec. 20, 2013, Chakalos, an 87-year-old World War II veteran, was shot twice with a rifle while asleep in his Connecticut home. The successful real estate developer left an estate worth more than $42 million to his four daughters, one of whom was Carman’s mother, the AP reported.
Carman received about $550,000 in inheritance after his grandfather’s death, though prosecutors say that by the fall of 2016, he’d spent most of it.
That’s when he arranged to take his mother on an overnight fishing excursion on Sept. 17 of that year in his boat, the Chicken Pox. The vessel departed Ram Point Marina in South Kingstown, Rhode Island at 11:13 a.m. that day and was expected to return at around noon the following day. The boat never made it back.
The Coast Guard launched an extensive search and, after a week, Carman was found in an inflatable raft by a commercial ship, the Orient Lucky, according to previous Oxygen.com reporting.
Linda Carman was never found.
Carman told authorities there had been a malfunction on the boat that caused it to quickly take on water. He managed to get to the life raft and called out for his mother, but couldn’t see her.
He said that, prior to the purported malfunction, he heard “a funny noise in the engine compartment” of his boat, but investigators allegedly found a series of alterations made by Carman that rendered the boat “unsafe for operation,” CBS News reported.
A federal judge set an Oct. 2 trial date, to take place in Rutland. It will include expert testimony, including marine survival and draft analysis, that is set to be disclosed to the court by May 1.
Chakalos’ murder is also an ongoing investigation. Carman has denied all allegations.
