Judge grants Nathan Carman’s lawyers a delay

Former Conn. resident is accused of killing his mother off the coast of Block Island

RUTLAND, Vt. — A former Connecticut resident accused of killing his mother off the coast of Block Island in 2016 to inherit a cut of the family’s estate asked to postpone his detention hearing set for Monday to give his federal public defenders a chance to “investigate” the allegations.

Nathan Carman, 28, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Wednesday inside a federal Vermont courthouse on first-degree murder and multiple fraud charges in connection with the death of his mother, Linda Carman.

The federal eight-count

indictment, which was unsealed last week, also alleged Nathan Carman shot and killed his grandfather, John Chakalos, at his Windsor home in 2013 to defraud insurance companies. However, Carman has not been charged in that killing.

During a search of Carman's Vermont home last week, federal agents found $10,000 in cash, according to court documents seeking to have him held without bond.

“Carman's alleged conduct clearly illustrates danger to the community: The evidence shows that he killed not once, but twice,” Vermont U.S. Attorney Nikolas Kerest stated in his motion. “Moreover, the individuals Carman killed were his own family members. For an individual to kill his own family members, nothing is off the table.”

A federal judge granted Kerest's request to continue the case for three days, court staff said. But Carman's public defenders were granted a continuance Friday after stating they needed more time to craft an argument against detention without bond while they reviewed the evidence, court documents said.

“Counsel intends to seek out potential witnesses, records and conduct other consultations and investigations, all of which will be of utmost importance to this court's consideration of ... factors at the detention hearing and counsel's argument for release,” federal public defender Michael Desautels said.

The federal assistant U.S. attorneys prosecuting Carman did not object to the continuance, Desautels said in the motion. Carman was seeking a continuance for an “indefinite period” until his attorneys were prepared to argue for his release.

Chief Judge Geoffrey Crawford granted the continuance for 60 days while allowing the defense to file an extension if needed.

The continuance is the latest delay in a complex case that has baffled investigators for nearly a decade.

In 2016, authorities allege Carman took his mother on a fishing trip aboard his boat — named the Chicken Pox — intending to kill her in hopes of inheriting her money, according to the federal indictment.

Nathan Carman, a former Middletown resident, was found alone in a life raft eight days after the boat departed a Rhode Island marina. His mother was never found.

His grandfather's estate is worth $42 million and has not been settled, according to Connecticut probate court records.

“As a central part of the scheme, Nathan Carman murdered John Chakalos and Linda Carman,” the indictment stated.

The alleged scheme began in November 2013 when Nathan Carman purchased a Sig Sauer rifle using a New Hampshire license he had obtained, despite living in a rented apartment in Bloomfield, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleged “Nathan Carman murdered his grandfather, John Chakalos, shooting him twice with the Sig Sauer” while the man was sleeping in his Windsor home on Dec. 20, 2013.

Authorities believe Nathan Carman also discarded a GPS device in his truck and his computer hard drive to cover up that killing, the indictment stated. Windsor police said they have turned the investigation over to the Chief State's Attorney's Cold Case Unit.

Following his grandfather's death, the indictment claimed Carman received around $550,000 between a beneficiary-on-death account and a college account set up by Chakalos.

After moving to Vermont in 2014, Carman depleted most of that money by 2016, according to the indictment.

“By the fall of 2016, he was low on funds,” the indictment stated.

“In September 2016, Nathan Carman arranged to go on a fishing trip on the Chicken Pox with his mother, Linda Carman,” the indictment stated. “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.”

The indictment claimed Carman killed his mother, then hid from search-andrescue teams after the vessel failed to return. He was eventually picked up by a commercial vessel.

The following month, he filed an $85,000 insurance claim for the Chicken Pox, the indictment stated. He lost the claim after a nearly three-year court battle. His mother's sisters have also been battling in probate court to prohibit Nathan Carman from inheriting his mother's share of the estate.