Judge: Petition may be premature as mom not legally dead
The petition to declare Nathan Carman a killer may be premature because his mother is not considered legally dead, a New Hampshire judge has ruled.
Carman’s aunts have filed a petition accusing him of killing his millionaire grandfather and causing the high-seas disappearance of his mother in order to receive a multimillion dollar inheritance. They are seeking a judge to declare him responsible for the deaths and to block him from accepting the payout.
Nathan Carman denies any wrongdoing and has never been charged.
A judge ruled on Friday that since his mother, Linda Carman, has not been declared legally dead, he may not be able to act on the petition, according to the Hartford Courant.
The next hearing is May 21.
Nathan Carman, of Vermont, is also accused of lying about repairs made to his fishing vessel and misrepresenting where the boat plunged into the sea in order to hide evidence.
Lawyers representing the National Liability and Fire Insurance Co. and Boat Owners Association of the United States — who are trying to void the $85,000 insurance claim on the boat — argued that hours before he left Rhode Island with his mother, Linda Carman, he was seen enlarging holes near the boat’s waterline to the size of a half dollar, according to court records.
Carman “omitted telling plaintiffs he removed the boat’s two forward structural bulkhead halves and he removed the boat’s trim tabs before departing on its final voyage,” wrote the attorneys. “He did so with the intention of sinking his boat.”
Carman was rescued about 100 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard about one week after he claims his boat, the Chicken Pox, sank.
Carman’s aunts also want him declared the killer of his grandfather John Chakalos, an 87-year-old real estate developer who was shot three times at his Connecticut home in 2013.
The judge on Friday ruled that several documents can remain sealed in the lawsuit. The family had argued that unsealing certain documents would impede the investigation into Nathan Carman.