Nathan Carman, pictured, right, his mother, Julie Carman, top left inset, Nathan Carman’s grandfather John Chakalos, bottom left inset. (Julie Carman is a screengrab from CBS Providence, Rhode Island, affiliate WPRI-TV; Chakalos photo from his obituary; photo of Nathan Carman rescue from Michael Dwyer/AP)
Nathan Carman, the real estate heir who was facing an upcoming murder-on-the-high-seas trial in his mother’s death, has died in his jail cell.
Carman, 29, is believed to have died “on or about June 15, 2023,” according to a notice of dismissal filed Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont. He was being held in pretrial detention at the Cheshire County Department of Corrections in Keene, New Hampshire, at the time. The filing did not say how Carman died.
Carman was set for trial in October in the murder of his mother, Linda Carman, who died while on a fishing trip off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016. Nathan Carman had pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and fraud.
The Vermont real estate heir had also been suspected of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, for millions in inheritance money in 2013, although he never faced charges. Prosecutors said the killings were part of a scheme to obtain money and property from Chakalos’ estate and related family trusts.
Cheshire County officials said in a news release that Carman was found unresponsive overnight in his cell on a routine round completed by correctional staff. Carman was the sole occupant of the cell, the news release said. Keene police officers, overseeing the initial investigation, processed the scene, but the manner of death was deemed undetermined.
An autopsy is expected to determine how Carman died.
“We were deeply saddened to hear of Nathan’s death this morning,” attorney Bill Michael, who represents Linda Carman’s family, said in a statement. “While we process this shocking news and its impact on the tragic events surrounding the last several years, we ask for your understanding and respect relative to our privacy.”
Carman’s lawyer Martin Minnella didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment, but he told Manchester, New Hampshire, ABC affiliate WMUR that he’s in shock.
Chakalos, 87, served with distinction as a paratrooper in the Philippines during World War II and participated in numerous high-risk missions, according to his obituary. His wife, who he had been married to for 59 years, died from cancer 29 days before he was killed.
Court records spell out the alleged murder scheme that stretched back to 2013 when authorities say Carman devised a plan to defraud the estate of Chakalos, who made tens of millions of dollars by building and renting nursing homes and other real estate ventures.
Carman allegedly shot Chakalos twice with a rifle while the older man slept in his Connecticut home on Dec. 20, 2013, the indictment said.
Carman received about $550,000 in inheritance but spent much of it between 2014 and 2016, a time he mainly spent unemployed, court records state.
By the fall of 2016, he was low on funds.
In September of that year, he arranged a fishing trip with his mother, court documents state. The boat sank, and Carman was rescued at sea. His mother was nowhere to be found.
Carman planned to kill his mother on that trip and report the sinking of the boat and his mother’s disappearance at sea as accidents, authorities stated in court documents.
Prosecutors allege he then covered up the killings.
“As part of his cover-up, Nathan Carman misrepresented his involvement in and responsibility for those deaths to law enforcement, to his family, to others who made inquiries about the deaths and their circumstances, and to others who challenged his cover-up or challenged his rights to his grandfather’s assets,” the indictment said.
A federal grand jury indicted him in May 2022 with three counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and murder on the high seas.
David Sullivan, another Carman attorney, said the investigation into Chakalos’ death is ongoing and has not been closed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf said Chakalos’ murder is part of the fraud charge.
In arguing for Carman to be jailed while awaiting trial, prosecutors said he was a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Noting that the charges involved detailed planning over the years, including allegedly evading aerial reconnaissance teams during the search at sea, prosecutors also said that Carman had a stash of $10,000 in cash that could easily fund his flight.
“Carman’s alleged conduct clearly illustrates danger to the community: the evidence shows that he has killed not once, but twice,” court documents state. “Moreover, the individuals Carman killed were his own family members. For an individual who would kill his own family members, nothing is off the table.”
“Carman’s history and characteristics include the obvious fact that, in addition to having little or no human connections, he has little or no empathy for others,” prosecutors added.
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