BURLINGTON, Vt. — Vermont man found floating in a life raft off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016, after his boat sank with his mother allegedly on board, he was indicted on charges alleging he killed her on the high seas to inherit the family property.
A federal grand jury handed down an eight-count indictment Tuesday in Burlington federal court, charging 28-year-old Nathan Carman with the death of his mother and shooting and killing his grandfather, John Chakalosat his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013 as part of an effort to defraud insurance companies. He, however, was not charged with the Chakalos murder.
Carman was found in an inflatable raft seven days after he and his mother, Linda Carman, 54, left Ram Point Marina in South Kingstown for a fishing trip.
While Carman was rescued by crew aboard the freighter Orient Lucky on September 25, 2016, a week after he said his ship sank. His mother was never found and is presumed dead.
Carman was arrested Tuesday. He is due to appear in US District Court in Burlington on Wednesday. His attorney did not return a call seeking comment.
Plus:Carman loses lost boat insurance case
In 2019, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. found in a non-jury trial in Rhode Island that Carman’s faulty repairs contributed to the sinking of the ship in 2016 that led to his mother being lost at sea.
McConnell ruled in favor of an insurance company that had refused to pay Carman an $85,000 claim for the loss of his 31-foot Chicken Pox fishing boat.
Evidence showed Carman removed bulkheads from the front of the boat that experts said provided structural support and buoyancy. Carman told the court that he also removed the trim from the rear of the boat the day before he left on the fishing trip with his mother, creating holes that he covered with caulking. He also replaced a bilge pump that same day after finding water in the boat.
Carman testified at trial that he and his mother set out to fish on Block Island before heading to Block Canyon, the main offshore fishing grounds. They planned to return at sundown the next day.
Carman described the moments before the sinking. He discovered water in the bilge and turned off the engine. He asked his mother to pull the fishing lines. He prepared a life raft and grabbed three packs of survival gear from the wheelhouse. The floor felt spongy and seconds later the boat sank. He hadn’t made a distress call or alerted his mother that they were in danger.
“But didn’t you yell at your mother to get ready?” McConnell asked at trial.
“I didn’t know the boat was sinking until I was in the water,” Carman said.
“I treated my mother like a passenger,” Carman said. “She was more of a problem than a solution.”
Carman said he got on the life raft, which was stocked with 30 days’ worth of food, and called his mother, but got no answer.
Carman, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, filed an insurance claim weeks after the boat went missing. The insurers denied her claim after reviewing the case.
Carman denied doing anything to intentionally make the ship unseaworthy. He told the Coast Guard that when the boat rapidly filled with water, he swam to the lifeboat and called her mother, but he never saw her again.
In his ruling, McConnell rejected Carman’s arguments that the insurers operated in bad faith and breached their coverage contract.
Carman’s aunts have long tried to prevent her from receiving millions of dollars in inheritance, claiming her actions contributed to her mother’s death. Carman had remained a person of interest in the fatal shooting of his grandfather, a developer in Connecticut.
For years, Carman has denied her aunts’ accusations.
If convicted of murder on the high seas, Carman, of Vernon, Vt., faces mandatory life in prison, according to the US Attorney in Vermont. He could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison on the fraud charges, the US Attorney said.
With Associated Press reporting
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Reference-www.providencejournal.com