New evidence unveiled in disappearance

Dec. 09--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Nathan Carman -- the Vermont man who is a suspect in his grandfather's killing and whose mother disappeared at sea under mysterious circumstances -- now stands accused of enlarging four holes in the doomed boat that sank with him and his mom on board, according to court documents.

"In removing his boat's trim tabs hours before departing on its final voyage, Carman not only failed to properly seal four thru-hull holes he thereby opened at the transom's waterline ... but two recent depositions establish Carman enlarged those four holes," wrote David J. Farrell Jr., an attorney for the company that insured Carman's boat.

Carman went on a fishing trip with his mother, Linda Carman, in September 2016. The boat, named the "Chicken Pox," sank, and Nathan Carman was alone when he was rescued in the life raft more than 100 miles off Martha's Vineyard days later. Linda Carman is presumed dead.

The boat's insurer, National Liability and Fire Insurance Co., and Boat Owners Association of the United States, the business that sold Nathan Carman's policy, refuse to pay for the lost vessel. They claim that its sinking wasn't an accident.

"As the transom holes have gotten bigger, Carman's problems in this case have also grown," Farrell wrote. "This is evidence plaintiffs did not know about until the fall of 2017. No wonder the boat sank and Carman's mother died."

According to a witness quoted in Farrell's filing, Nathan Carman was "bending over the transom using an electric power drill with a 1 1/2-inch to 2-inch diameter hole saw hours before the final voyage."

The new documents come the same week as Nathan Carman expressly denied having any role in the death of his mother or his grandfather, John Chakalos, in a separate lawsuit.

Nathan Carman's aunts sued in New Hampshire Probate Court in July to keep him from claiming his mother's share of the Chakalos family fortune, which filings say stands at $28 million.

In the suit, attorneys for his aunts say Nathan Carman is the prime suspect in the deep-sea disappearance and presumed death of Linda Carman and the 2013 murder of his grandfather, John Chakalos.

In a hearing yesterday in Providence's federal court, Nathan Carman was ordered to turn over information about a Sig Sauer .308-caliber semi-automatic rifle he owned by U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan.

The weapon is missing, according to documents in the New Hampshire suit. Authorities say it is the same caliber weapon used to slay Chakalos.

Sullivan found that there may be some relevance to the information in the insurance lawsuit because it relates to the allegation that he may have sunk the boat to get his grandfather's money.

Sullivan also ordered Carman to turn over any phone records from Sept. 1 through Sept. 25, 2016, the day he was rescued at sea.

"I am certainly aware that there are allegations regarding Carman killing his grandfather. It's bound up in the plaintiff's theory," Sullivan said, adding later: "There is a gun that is in the circle of relevance -- in the other circle -- but in the circle."

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