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After Middletown boater found safe, relief turns to worry as mother still missing

BOSTON  – One of two Middletown missing boaters has been found alive, but the other is still missing, the U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed. Nathan Carman, 2...
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BOSTON  - One of two Middletown missing boaters has been found alive, but the other is still missing, the U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed.

Nathan Carman, 22, was found Sunday drifting at sea by a freighter. He was in good condition and will be arriving in Boston Tuesday night, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard said Monday morning. When Nathan was found, there was no sign of his mother, Linda, 54. The Coast Guard in Boston says Nathan Carman was found by a freighter on Sunday about 100 nautical miles south of Martha's Vineyard.

Nathan was not suffering from life threatening injuries when he was found. A freight crew spotted him alone on a four person inflatable life raft.

After Middletown boater found safe, relief turns to worry as mother still missing

Saturday night, friends held a vigil for the Carman's at Linda's home.

For about a week, the Coast Guard searched roughly 60,000 square miles for  Linda Carman and her son Nathan.

On Sunday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m., the Coast Guard got a report that Linda Carman, 54, and her son Nathan, 22, both from Middletown, Connecticut, didn't return from an offshore fishing trip. They were due back Sunday at 9 a.m., a friend of Linda's said.

The Coast Guard said it did not receive a distress call when the 31-foot boat sank. Nathan told the Coast Guard that when it started to sink, he looked for his mother but didn't see her. The Coast Guard doesn't plan to restart the search for her because she is presumed dead.

Nathan now lives in Vernon, Vermont, but grew up in Middletown. They left from Ram's Point Marina in Point Judith, Rhode Island on the evening of September 17. According to Monte Montegrio, a friend of Linda's who also lives with her, Linda and Nathan frequently meet up to go fishing since Nathan moved out, and the pair are very experienced fishers. They've traveled as far as Alaska for fishing trips in the past.

Nathan has Aspberger's syndrome and previously went missing in 2011 after the loss of his beloved horse. He was found in Virginia a few days later and was unharmed.

After that incident, Gov. Dan Malloy declared August 23 "Missing Persons Day" in the state to support families of those who have disappeared. The day was in honor of Nathan, as well as Isabella Oleschuck, another person who went missing but was found safe in 2011. The Office of the Victim Advocate said the day is intended to remind people that you do not have to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report.

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