Nathan Carman ignores questions from the media upon his arrival at U.S. District Court for his federal civil trial in Providence, RI on Aug.
21, 2019. (Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe via Getty Images) HARTFORD, Conn. - The circumstantial evidence against Nathan Carman had been lying in plain sight for years before his surprising indictment and arrest this month on allegations he killed his mother at sea off New England in a plot to inherit millions of dollars.Federal prosecutors in Vermont are not commenting on the timing of their decision to put the case before a grand jury, and the indictment offers no clues and no new information on the case, which included a dramatic rescue at sea and the suspicious deaths of two members of a wealthy New England family.Legal experts and other law enforcement officials say the delay in bringing a criminal case could be the result of several factors, including that his mother and his boat have never been found."It’s very difficult to charge murder federally ...
so I think what the government has been doing for the last six years is to build its case to charge him with mail fraud and wire fraud," said Jessica Brown, a former state and federal public defender who is now an assistant professor at Vermont Law School.The grand jury indictment accuses Carman, 28, of Vernon, Vermont, of murder and fraud in the killing of his mother, Linda Carman, during a fishing trip that began in Rhode Island.
Carman made international headlines when he was found alone in a life raft near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, eight days after he and his mother left port.The indictment also accuses him of fatally shooting his millionaire grandfather, John Chakalos, in 2013 in Connecticut, but does not charge.