Expert testifies in federal trial that the Chicken Pox was ‘not seaworthy’ after Nathan Carman drilled holes in hull before ill-fated fishing trip

Aug. 15--An expert witness for the insurance companies suing Nathan Carman offered more evidence Wednesday that the Chicken Pox was "not seaworthy" before it sank into the Atlantic and his mother disappeared.

Carman "put four holes in the boat an inch or two from the water line," Bernard J. Feeney, a marine surveyor, testified during the federal civil trial taking place in Providence. "The boat was taking on water the whole time it was on the ocean and he never checked the bilge pump."

Under questioning by Judge John J. McConnell, Feeney said the boat was "seaworthy" when Carman bought it, but "not seaworthy after ... what he did to this boat."

The insurance companies are suing Nathan Carman in federal court over his attempt to recoup $85,000 from the sinking of the Chicken Pox. Carman's mother, Linda Carman, disappeared after the sinking on Sept. 16, 2016 near an area off Long Island known as "Block Canyon." Nathan Carman was rescued from a life raft eight days later.

After his rescue, Nathan Carman told the Coast Guard that he realized the boat was quickly filling with water so he told his mother to take in the fishing lines while he grabbed emergency gear. Carman said the boat sank quickly and he swam to a life raft and climbed aboard and called for his mother but never saw her again.

Nathan Carman is also entangled in a long-running family controversy that began after his grandfather was murdered in 2013. His mother's three sisters allege that Nathan Carman is responsible for the deaths of both his mother and grandfather.

Feeney said water was likely coming in to the boat because Carman removed "trim tabs" from the hull after he bought it. The tabs are a key part of the case because Carman removed them and left holes that insurers say he didn't properly fill. Trim tabs assist in stability and control of the boat.

During cross examination, David Anderson, Carman's lawyer, questioned Feeney about the history of the boat and the wear and tear on it.

Feeney said the boat was about 45 years old and at one point in the 1980's was operated as a lobster boat. Feeney acknowledged he didn't know what had happened with the boat from when it was a lobster boat until Brian Wood's purchased it and refurbished it.

"Over 41 years people took the boat and did whatever they wanted to it isn't that correct," Anderson said. "Bulkheads were removed and added numerous times and it was never inspected or approved by an architect isn't that correct?"

Feeney said he didn't know if a boat architect had ever reviewed any of the changes to the boat.

Feeney was the second witness on the second day of the federal trial in U. S. District Court in Providence involving Nathan Carman and the insurance companies that have refused to pay his claim for the loss of the Chicken Pox. The insurance companies say that Carman caused the boat to sink by removing the trim tabs and installing a new bilge pump himself before the ill-fated trip.

On the first day of testimony, Brian Woods, who sold the Chicken Pox to Carman, admitted under cross examination that he didn't remember how he installed the trim tabs that Carman later removed from the boat before the ill-fated trip.

"I remember installing the trim tabs but the exact fittings I used and exactly how I installed them I can't recall," Woods said. "I have a very good memory so I'm stumped why I can't remember how I installed the trim tabs."

Carman has acknowledged drilling holes dangerously close to the water line to remove the tabs and filling them with an epoxy. He also has said he replaced a bilge pump before that trip.

Carman didn't activate the emergency beacon on his boat, despite having opportunity to do so.

David Farrell, a lawyer for one of the insurance companies, the Boat Owners Association of the United States, plans to call three witnesses who are expected to cast doubt on Carman's version of how and where the Chicken Pox sank.

The witness list includes a tide expert who will challenge where Carman says his boat sank; a lobsterman who sails out of the same marina as Carman who was fishing in Block Canyon the day the Chicken Pox sank and never saw it or the raft; and a physician who is a hypothermia expert who will testify that there's little chance Carman was adrift at sea in a raft for eight days.

Police in Connecticut still consider Carman a person of interest in the murder of his grandfather, John Chakalos, in December of 2013 in his Windsor home. The investigation is now being led by the cold case squad at the Chief State's Attorney's office.

Judge McConnell has barred any evidence about the murder of Chakalos in Dec. 2013 in his Windsor home. After the murder, Carman was considered a suspect by Windsor police, who tried to get an arrest warrant but a judge would not sign it.

His three aunts have accused Nathan Carman of sinking the boat to kill his mother, and the murder of their father John Chakalos three years earlier, under a scheme to inherit $7 million from the Chakalos estate.

In June, a probate judge in New Hampshire dismissed a "slayer petition" filed by the aunts -- Valerie Santilli, Elaine Chakalos and Charlene Gallagher -- that accused Carman of killing his grandfather in 2013 and of orchestrating the disappearance of his mother in 2016, in order to get all of the inheritance.

Chakalos was found in his Windsor home shot in the back of the head. The bullets used in the murder are similar to what a Sig Sauer rifle would fire. Carman paid more than $2,000 for a Sig Sauer rifle a month before the murder and has said that he has since lost it.

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