Man accused in grandfather’s killing blames ‘mistress’

HARTFORD — A Vermont man accused by relatives of killing his millionaire grandfather in Connecticut for inheritance money filed new court documents Monday alleging there is much stronger evidence that a woman he describes as his grandfather’s “mistress” was involved in the killing.

Nathan Carman alleges his 87-year-old grandfather, John Chakalos, had a 25-yearold mistress who knew he had a lot of money, and she talked to him on the phone shortly before he was shot to death at his home in Windsor in 2013. Carman suggests his grandfather could have become a robbery target for the woman or others.

Carman, 24, of Vernon, Vt., denies any involvement in his grandfather’s death. Police have called him a suspect in the killing, but no charges against anyone have been filed.

Chakalos, a real estate developer, left his four daughters, including Carman’s mother, an estate worth more than $42 million. Carman’s mother, Linda Carman, of Middletown, disappeared during a 2016 fishing trip with her son and is presumed dead. Nathan Carman’s boat sank and he was found alone in a life raft at sea eight days after he and his mother left a marina in South Kingstown, R.I.

Nathan Carman also denies any role in his mother’s death. Linda Carman’s three sisters believe her son killed her and are fighting him in a New Hampshire probate court to try to prevent him from inheriting her share of her father’s estate.

A lawyer for Nathan Carman filed the new court documents in federal court in Providence, RI.. That’s where an insurance company is fighting Nathan Carman over his $85,000 claim for his boat.

The documents name the 25-year-old woman only as “Mistress Y” and ask a judge for permission to depose her for the insurance case.

Chakalos gave the woman several large cash gifts, including $3,500 during a trip they took to a Connecticut casino the weekend before his death, the documents say. The documents also say the woman knew Chakalos always had large amounts of cash in his possession, often in the form of stacks of $100 bills, which could have fueled a robbery motive by her or others.

Police have said Nathan Carman was the last person to see his grandfather alive, and he owned a semi-automatic rifle similar to the one used to kill Chakalos. But the firearm has disappeared. The insurance company has been trying to ask Carman about the rifle.

Dan Small of Holland & Knight LLP, a lawyer for Carman’s three aunts, bashed the court filings Monday. “Nathan’s shameful attack on his grandfather today shows there is no depth to which he will not sink,” Small said in a statement on behalf of the family.

The court documents also suggest that one of his aunts had a stronger motive to kill Chakalos, which Small also criticized, and that surveillance video shows Carman could not have been at his grandfather’s home at the time of the shooting.

Elise Amendola / Associated Press Nathan Carman, formerly of Middletown, is accused by family of killing his grandfather and possibly his mother in an attempt to collect inheritance money.