Nathan Carman, the man accused of killing his mother at sea to get family and insurance money, has died in federal custody, according to a new court filing from federal prosecutors.
"The United States received information from the U.S. Marshal that Carman died on or about June 15, 2023. Dismissal of the charges against Carman is thus appropriate," the filing states.
No cause of death was given. A spokesperson for the Vermont US Attorney's Office said Thursday they had no further comment beyond the filing.
Carman was arrested in May 2022 and pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and a murder charge in connection with his mother's death. Nathan was found adrift in a life raft in 2016 a week after he and his mother, Linda Carman, began a fishing trip off the coast of New England. His mother's body was never recovered.
Carman was also accused of fatally shooting his grandfather, John Chakalos, in his Connecticut home in 2013. Chakalos made "tens of millions of dollars" through real estate ventures, the indictment says. Carman's alleged crimes were "part of a scheme to obtain money and property from the estate of John Chakalos and related family trusts," according to a news release from the US Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont. Carman was not charged with murder in grandfather's death.
A trial was previously scheduled to begin in October, according to court records. A judge would have handed down a mandatory life sentence for murder on the high seas to Carman, had he been convicted. The fraud charges carried a sentence of up to 30 years in prison each, the Vermont US Attorney's Office said.
