Nathan Carman, the Vermont man charged with killing his mother at sea during a 2016 fishing trip so he could inherit his late grandfather’s millions, will remain jailed without bail until his trial, a federal judge ruled.
US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford on Tuesday denied Carman’s request to be released, saying the 28-year-old man is a possible flight risk.
Crawford also pointed to the “acrimonious dispute” with his aunts over the fortune that he stands to inherit, as well as his purchase of AR-15-type weapons as “evidence that this is a volatile situation.”
Carman’s own relatives had begged the court to keep him behind bars pending trial.
“We strongly support the actions of the US Attorney’s Office to have Nathan remain in custody as we firmly believe, knowing Nathan better than anyone, that he is both a danger to this family and a flight risk,” Carman’s aunts, Elaine Chakalos and Charlene Gallagher, wrote in a letter to the court, according to the Boston Globe.
Nathan Carman will stay behind bars before his trial, a judge ruled Tuesday. He is charged with killing his mother in 2016. APCarman was charged in May with first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman, as well as four counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud stemming from his alleged inheritance scheme aimed at cashing in on $7 million.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted at trial, Carman faces a mandatory life sentence.
In September 2016, Carman was found alone floating in a raft off the coast of Rhode Island after the boat he and his mother had gone fishing in eight days prior sank.
Federal prosecutors argued that Carman had tampered with the boat before taking it out to sea.
In his initial statement after being rescued, Carman told members of the US Coast Guard that he tried to save his mother from the sinking boat, but failed. However, witnesses later testified that they saw the son deliberately sabotaging the vessel by making holes in it.
Nathan Carman is accused of killing his mother, Linda, during a boating trip. © Facebook
Nathan Carman and his mother, Linda, were in this boat when it sank off the coast of Rhode Island © United States Coast Guard“Nathan Carman planned to kill his mother on the trip,” read his indictment.
Prosecutors also have accused Carman of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, who they say was shot in his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013, as part of a plot to get his hands on money and property from his grandfather’s estate.
Carman has not been charged in that case and has denied any involvement in his grandfather’s death.
With Post wires
