BOSTON - One of two Middletown missing boaters has been found alive, but the other is presumed dead, the U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed.
And - this isn’t the first time this family has been in the news: another family member's murder is still an active cold case.
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.
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 the pair 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.
“She was unprotected from the elements. She had no food, no water, and there were also no other life rafts aboard the Chicken Pox,” said Petty Officer, 3rd Class, Nicole Groll.
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.
The murder of Linda Carman’s father is an active cold case. As you drive down Interstate 91 in Windsor, there’s a billboard of 87 year-old John Chakalos, along with a reward offered for information in his 2013 murder. In July 2014, Windsor Police Officer, Russell Wininger, was demoted from a detective to a patrolman after withholding information in the case.
FOX 61 asked Windsor Police if they could comment. All they would say is the case is under investigation.
The Coast Guard says Nathan Carman will arrive in Boston sometime Tuesday night.