Man charged with killing mother at sea to inherit estate

A man found floating on a raft in the ocean off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016 after his boat sank has been indicted on charges alleging he killed his mother at sea to inherit the family’s estate

Missing Boaters (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A man found floating on a raft in the ocean off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016 after his boat sank has been indicted on charges alleging he killed his mother at sea to inherit the family's estate, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The eight-count indictment released in federal court in Burlington 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 he went fishing with his mother, Linda Carman, who was never found.

Carman was arrested Tuesday. He’s due in court in Burlington on Wednesday. His attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

In 2019, a federal judge in Rhode Island decided that Carman contributed to the 2016 sinking of the boat from which his mother was lost at sea.

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.

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.