A look at who’s who in the Nathan Carman case

Hartford Courant (CT)

Aug. 13--A federal trial pitting Nathan Carman against the insurance company that refuses to pay off its policy on the sinking of his boat that cost his mother her life opens Tuesday in federal court.

Here's a look at some of the players in the ever-surprising saga.

Nathan Carman

Nathan Carman is suspected by his mother's sisters of having first killed his wealthy grandfather John Chakalos, who lived in Windsor, in 2013. They allege that he later staged his mother's disappearance at sea three years later to claim his mother's share of his grandfather's estate -- as much as $7 million. Carman denies this and has testified his boat, which he had earlier tried to repair, rapidly took on water and sank, pitching his mother, Linda Carman, into the sea. He said he never saw her go in.

Linda Carman

Linda Carman, a Middletown resident, disappeared in September 2016 while on a fishing trip with her son Nathan. After their boat sank, Nathan managed to climb onto an emergency life raft and was rescued eight days later and hundreds of miles from where he said the boat went down. Nathan told authorities he could not find his mother after the boat sank.

John Chakalos

John Chakalos, Nathan Carman's grandfather and Linda Carman's father, was killed in his home on Dec. 20, 2013 -- shot several times in the back of the head at close range. At the time, Windsor police focused on Nathan Carman and tried unsuccessfully to get an arrest warrant charging him with the murder. The nursing home magnet and real estate developer was worth more than $40 million. Since Nathan is Linda Carman's sole heir, he could receive her $7 million share of that estate unless her sisters convince a judge to label him a murderer and bar him from getting the money.

Valerie Santilli, Charlene Gallagher and Elaine Chakalos

Under what is known as a "slayer petition," Nathan's three aunts -- Santilli, Elaine Chakalos and Charlene Gallagher -- wanted New Hampshire Probate Court Judge David King to rule that Nathan Carman wasn't eligible to receive as much as $7 million that he stands to inherit from his grandfather's estate as Linda Carman's only heir. The aunts have accused Carman of killing his grandfather in 2013 and say he also was responsible for the death of his mother, in order to get the money.

The Chicken Pox

The Chicken Pox is the name of Nathan Carman's boat that sank off the coast of Long Island while he was tuna fishing with his mother in September of 2016. Carman has acknowledged making changes to the boat, such as removing the trim tabs and replacing a bilge pump before leaving from Point Judith, Rhode Island, on the ill-fated trip. He is in a protracted battle in Rhode Island federal court trying to get his insurance company to pay an $85,000 policy. The company is fighting the claim, alleging the boat sank because of his actions and that his story about how it sank does not make sense.

"Mistress Y"

According to court documents, a 25-year-old woman, referred to as "Mistress Y," spent the weekend with John Chakalos at a Connecticut casino just days before his death. An attorney of Carman's was looking to interview her about the weekend she spent with Chakalos at Mohegan Sun, the $3,500 he gave her for breast enhancement surgery, and a 19-minute phone call she had with Chakalos on the night of the murder just as Nathan Carman was leaving his grandfather's Windsor home.

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