Man Allegedly Killed His Mom at Sea for Inheritance Money

A man found floating on a raft off the coast of New England in 2016 after his boat sank was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with killing his mother at sea to inherit the family's estate, the AP reports. The eight-count indictment released in federal court in Burlington, Vermont, also says Nathan Carman shot and killed his grandfather, John Chakalos, at his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013 as part of an effort to defraud insurance companies, but he was not charged with that killing. Carman was found in an inflatable raft eight days after leaving a Rhode Island marina to go fishing with his mother, Linda Carman, who was never found. The 28-year-old of Vernon, Vermont, was arrested Tuesday. He’s due in federal court Wednesday in Rutland, Vermont.

The indictment that was handed down May 2, but made public after Carman’s arrest, describes what prosecutors said was a scheme to defraud the estate of Chakalos. “As a central part of the scheme, Nathan Carman murdered John Chakalos and Linda Carman,” the indictment says. Authorities claim in the indictment that on Nov. 11, 2013, Carman used his New Hampshire driver's license to purchase a rifle that he used on Dec. 20, 2013, to shoot Chakalos while he slept. After Chakalos’ death, Carman received $550,000 from different accounts. He moved to Vermont in 2014 where he was unemployed and by the fall of 2016 was low on funds. In September 2016, Carman arranged to go on a fishing trip with his mother on his boat named the “Chicken Pox."

“Nathan Carman planned to kill his mother on the trip,” the indictment says. “He also planned how he would report the sinking of the ‘Chicken Pox’ and his mother’s disappearance at sea as accidents.” Chakalos, who was a real estate developer, left behind an estate that was worth nearly $29 million, which was to be divided among his four daughters. Carman is in line to get about $7 million of the estate, as his mother’s only heir. Chakalos’ three surviving daughters sued Carman in New Hampshire probate court, seeking to bar him from receiving any money from Chakalos’ estate. A judge dismissed the case in 2019, saying Chakalos was not a New Hampshire resident. The probate case was refiled in Connecticut, where it remains pending.

(More Nathan Carman stories.)