BURLINGTON, Vermont — A former Middletown man who was found floating on a raft off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016 after his boat sank was indicted in Vermont Tuesday on charges alleging he killed his mother at sea to inherit the family's estate.
Nathan Carman, 28, who now lives in Vernon, Vermont, was arrested on Tuesday. Officials charged him with eight counts in the 2016 murder of his mother, Linda Carman, on the high seas. He will be arraigned Wednesday.
The eight-count indictment released in federal court in Burlington also says 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. He was not charged with that killing.
"The indictment alleges that both killings were part of a scheme to obtain money and property from the estate of John Chakalos and related family trusts. The indictment further alleges Carman attempted to defraud the company that insured his fishing boat," officials said in a release.
If convicted of murder on the high seas, Carman faces mandatory life imprisonment.
The fraud charges each carry a potential penalty of up to 30 years of imprisonment.
Nathan Carman and his mother, 54-year-old Linda Carman, of Middletown, left on a fishing trip. Nathan Carman was found alone in a life raft eight days later. His mother is presumed dead.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a written decision in favor of an insurance company that had refused to pay an $85,000 claim to Carman for the loss of his 31-foot fishing boat, The Chicken Pox.
The National Liability & Fire Insurance Co., and a marine insurer said at the time Nathan Carman made “incomplete, improper, and faulty repairs” to the vessel on the day before it sank, and that he knew the vessel was “unseaworthy.”
Carman denied doing anything to intentionally make the boat unseaworthy. He told the Coast Guard that when the boat filled quickly with water, he swam to the life raft and called for his mother but never saw her again.
Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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