Lost at Sea, Charged With Mom’s Murder: What Happened to Nathan Carman

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After being lost at sea for seven days in 2016, Nathan Carman’s survival was considered a miraculous rescue.

Okay, so after he was rescued, people started questioning how well he was doing, you know? Like, it was weird! They were looking at him so closely after the Orient Lucky – that cargo ship! – picked him up way out there, a hundred nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. It just didn’t add up, and they were clearly suspicious. I mean, he was too okay, if you ask me…

I’ve watched that documentary, The Carman Family Deaths, like, a million times, and when Eric Gempp, the Coast Guard investigator, said that… it just stuck with me. He was explaining how Nathan didn’t look like he’d been exposed to the weather at all – no dehydration, no shivering, nothing! And then he said, in his entire 26-year career, he’d never seen anything like it. Never! It’s just… so strange. It really makes you think, you know?

And there was the fact that Nathan’s mother, Linda Carman, was nowhere to be found.

On September 17, 2016, a 54-year-old woman and her son began what they planned to be a short, overnight fishing trip on a boat named Chicken Pox.

Nathan bought the boat using money from his grandfather, John Chakalos, who was tragically murdered in 2013.

Although Nathan was never arrested or charged in connection with his grandfather’s death, prosecutors alleged he was responsible. They built a case against him, outlined in a 2022 federal indictment, claiming he murdered his mother to inherit her share of the $42 million estate left by his grandfather, John.

He denied having anything to do with either death.

Nathan couldn’t have killed his mother,” his father, Clark Carman, stated in the documentary. He explained that Nathan was diagnosed with autism when he was around four or five years old and had never hurt anyone.

Nathan died in jail in June 2023 before his case could go to trial, and the charges against him were dismissed afterward.

Here is what to know about the pile-up of tragedy unpacked in Netflix’s The Carman Family Deaths: 

Nathan Carman was born on January 21, 1994, to Clark and Linda Carman (formerly Chakalos). His parents divorced when he was ten years old, and he is their only son.

In the 2025 Netflix documentary The Carman Family Deaths, Clark revealed he was diagnosed with autism when he was around 4 or 5 years old and grew up in Middletown, Connecticut.

Nathan enjoyed spending time outside, but he was a bit of a loner and felt more comfortable around adults than children his age, his father explained.

Clark shared with Wired in 2021 that he was bullied in high school, despite being over six feet tall.

Nathan’s closest companion was likely his horse, Clark explained in the documentary. When the horse passed away, Nathan became even more withdrawn and began living in a camper parked on his mother’s property.

Linda’s father, John Chakalos, was described by family as both financially generous and controlling, with a history of physical abuse. He loved his grandson very much, but frequently argued with Linda about how to raise him.

In an interview with detectives following her father’s death, Linda explained, “He always meant well, even if his approach wasn’t always the best.”

John was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head at his Windsor, Conn., home on Dec. 20, 2013.

According to the documentary, his oldest daughter, Elaine Carman, discovered him dead in bed, as Clark described it.

As a longtime follower of this case, I remember retired Windsor Police Lt. Mark Francis clearly stating in the report that officers immediately realized this wasn’t a robbery gone wrong. It was clear from the start that someone intended to hurt John, not steal anything.

According to court documents related to the charge that Nathan murdered his mother, the victim, an 87-year-old real estate developer, left an estate worth $42 million to be split between his four daughters. The documents also show that between 2012 and 2013, while spending a lot of time together, the victim deposited $550,000 into bank accounts for Nathan, according to NBC News.

In the Netflix documentary, Windsor Police Detective Scott MacGregor explained that Nathan claimed he had dinner with his grandfather until 8:30 p.m., and then left with his mother for a fishing trip at 3 a.m. However, Detective MacGregor pointed out that there were gaps in Nathan’s timeline, leaving open the possibility he could have committed the murder during that unaccounted-for time.

Investigators discovered a receipt six months later showing Nathan bought a Sig Sauer 716 Patrol Rifle in New Hampshire on November 11, 2013, for $2,100. Prosecutors claimed in a 2022 indictment that he later used this rifle to kill his grandfather.

Nathan denied having anything to do with John’s death and was never arrested or charged.

In 2014, Nathan purchased a boat named Chicken Pox for $48,000. He also bought a three-story farmhouse in Vermont and began renovating it himself, living there even while completely stripping it down to its basic frame.

Clark explained in the documentary that he thinks the person wanted to fully dedicate himself to a project and focus on improving his land.

By 2016, Nathan was facing financial difficulties, and authorities claimed he decided to harm his mother in order to inherit her money.

According to court documents, on September 17th, Linda and Nathan set out on their boat, named “Chicken Pox,” for a night of fishing off the coast of Rhode Island. When a friend couldn’t reach Linda the following day, they contacted the U.S. Coast Guard.

According to the Coast Guard, the last signal from Linda’s cell phone showed the boat was southwest of Block Island roughly an hour after leaving Ram Point Marina in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

In an interview, Nathan explained to a Coast Guard rescuer that he and his mother were fishing at Block Canyon when they noticed something was wrong with the engine. He said he heard a strange sound and then saw water flooding into the boat.

When the boat began to go down, Nathan reported he couldn’t find his mother. He explained that from the life raft, he whistled and shouted for her, but she never reappeared.

He wondered if he’d made the right decision. He explained that when it happened, his main concern was keeping his mother distracted while he worked on the issue.

The search for Nathan and Linda was called off by the Coast Guard after six days.

On September 25th, eight days after the boat Chicken Pox departed the marina, the crew of the cargo ship Orient Lucky saw Nathan and threw him a life ring. Nathan swam over to it.

The Netflix documentary claims Nathan seemed surprisingly fit after being at sea for a week. However, a former Navy SEAL, hired by Nathan’s lawyers, explained that extreme stress can make someone seem energetic, even when they’re exhausted and facing a life-or-death situation.

Nathan told the USCG he had 30 days’ worth of food with him, as well as an emergency water maker.

Although officials thought the amount of supplies was excessive for such a brief journey, autism specialist John Elder Robison explained in the documentary that a need for structure and detailed planning is common among people with autism.

Two weeks after his rescue, Nathan filed an $85,000 insurance claim over his lost boat.

In 2019, a federal judge dismissed the claim, finding that the plaintiff’s own actions had led to his boat sinking.

The 2022 charges stated that Nathan changed the Chicken Pox boat by taking out two internal supports at the front and removing the small control surfaces at the back.

Officials also expressed doubt that Nathan really was lost at sea.

Coast Guard investigator Eric Gempp, in the Netflix documentary, stated that he believes the man was only in the life raft for a few hours, despite the man’s claim that it was several days.

According to NBC News, Nathan was formally charged with first-degree murder and several counts of fraud on May 2, 2022. Each fraud charge could result in a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

Nathan denied all charges against him. While the indictment included details suggesting he was responsible for his grandfather’s death, that investigation is still ongoing.

Nathan’s murder trial was set to begin in October 2023.

I still can’t believe it. The official reports say Nathan died while he was in custody… around June 15th, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Vermont. It just feels…wrong. I keep replaying it in my head, trying to understand how something like this could happen to him.

Initially, officials stated they wouldn’t release details about how Nathan died. However, his father, Clark, later revealed in a Netflix documentary that Nathan took his own life.

“He was upbeat up until that point,” Clark said, “so I was totally in shock.”

Attorney David Sullivan told NBC Connecticut that his client, Nathan, desperately wanted to resolve the difficult situation he was facing. Sullivan spoke with Nathan for an hour the night before and said he seemed positive and hopeful. They discussed specific steps to take that day and had planned to talk again that afternoon.

As a legal observer, I’ve seen many cases, and in this one, my colleague Martin Minnella and his team truly believed in their client’s innocence. They were very confident they’d win a ‘not guilty’ verdict, and thankfully, that’s exactly what happened.

Prosecutors have dismissed the charges against Nathan, and the investigation into Linda’s death is now considered complete.

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2025-11-22 17:18