On Wednesday, the Federal Court prosecutor in the United States accused a 28-year-old Vermont man of killing his grandfather and mother to obtain trust fund money. The authority stated that the accused Nathan Carman, killed his mother while they were at sea for a purported fishing trip to access millions of dollars in inheritance. Carman will face life in prison if convicted.
The case dates back to the year 2016 when Carman was rescued from a raft off the coast of New England after his boat sank in Rhode Island. He had taken his mother Linda on a fishing trip and she was later reported missing. The US prosecutor alleged that Carman lied to Coast Guard officials and other law enforcement officials about his mother’s disappearance and that he purposefully sank the boat off Rhode Island leading to his mother’s death.
The prosecutor said that Carman also killed his grandfather John Chakalos (87) by shooting him twice while he slept in his home in Connecticut’s Windsor. “Both killings were part of a scheme to obtain money and property from the estate of John Chakalos and related family trusts,” the prosecutor alleged.
According to the reports, the defender representing Nathan Carman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He said that Carman had nothing to do with his mother’s disappearance or his grandfather’s death and that he had not killed the duo. The accused has also been consistently denying the allegations.
Explaining the case, the prosecutor said that Chakalos had named his four daughters including Linda Carman in his will. He wanted his daughters to look after his USD 42 million estate after his death. Chakalos also amassed USD 10 million by building and renting nursing homes. Grandson Nathan who spent significant time with Chakalos in 2012 and 2013 came to know about the will and persuaded his mother Linda to designate him as a beneficiary of her inheritance.
“Chakalos deposited USD 550,000 into Nathan’s bank account as he learned about his grandson’s request to mother Linda. On November 11, 2013, Carman then purchased a rifle using the same money and murdered grandfather John Chakalos in December”, the prosecutor stated on May 11.
The prosecutor also alleged that Carman, after killing his grandfather destroyed his computer hard drive and the GPS unit as a part to cover up his involvement in the crime. Carman stayed unemployed for many years and felt the pinch of lowering funds. He moved from a New Hampshire home built by Chakalos to an apartment in Bloomfield, Connecticut, Vermont, in 2014.
In September 2016, he planned to go on a fishing trip with his mother Linda on his boat named ‘Chicken Pox’. “Nathan Carman planned to kill his mother on the trip. He also planned how he would report the sinking of the ‘Chicken Pox’ and his mother’s disappearance at sea as accidents. Before the trip, Carman removed two forward bulkheads. He killed his mother and eventually sank the Chicken Pox,” the indictment read.
The Federal prosecutor further demanded Carman’s arrest saying that he poses a flight risk and is a danger to the community. He said to the court that the accused was being treated for mental health issues since his childhood and had been avoiding medication since he was 17. “For an individual who would kill his own family members, nothing is off the table,” prosecutors wrote.
If convicted, Carman will face life imprisonment in the case. The Federal Court is scheduled to hear the case on Monday, May 16, 2022.
